curiousx

First of all, many thanks to those who contributed so much advice and help in planning this trip, especially Myer.

Our trip was a little marred by colds brought on by the overpowering Las Vegas air conditioning and the 105 degree (F) temperatures outdoors. So some planned adventures didn’t happened. That said, we still had a wonderful time.


Las Vegas


We enjoyed our time in Las Vegas but, being neither shoppers nor gamblers, we will likely not return. We stayed at the Golden Nugget…very satisfactory. We were given a quiet room with a great view to the north. We used the coupons received at check in for brunch (good variety and an amazing bargain even without the coupons). The area was a bit tacky in an old-fashioned fairgrounds sort of way but full of people having a good time.

We relied on the Deuce for transit – pretty good except for one breakdown.

We went to two Cirque du Soleil shows…LOVE which was truly splendid, and O which was undermined by the fact that rear stage spotlights shone directly into our eyes (we were in the front row centre of the first balcony). We also went to see the Bodies exhibition at Tropicana – gruesome but interesting.

We wandered through most of the ‘name’ hotels (Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace, Mirage). We found them all noisy and crowded with the exception of the Venetian…we really enjoyed the artificial canal, the themed entertainment, and Zeffirino’s (for drinks and nibbles pre and post shows).

No gourmet dining, unfortunately because of the aforementioned colds. But we did enjoy our meal at Hugo’s.


National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon)


We found the National Parks spectacular, of course, but of the three we visited (Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon), Bryce was the stand-out, especially the Queen’s Garden and Navaho Loop trails.

We encountered every sort of weather – from, as I mentioned, the heat in Las Vegas and Zion to snow in Bryce, hail in the Painted Desert and fog and rain in Grand Canyon. We were prepared though – with brollies, boots, sweaters, T shirts and shorts.

We found our accommodation in each park to be very pleasant and good value – rustic of course, but unbeatable location. We loved the gas fireplace in our cabin at Bryce, appreciated the convenience of the mini-fridge at our rim-side Bright Angel cabin in Grand Canyon, and found calm on the mountain-facing balcony at Zion. We also found the food in the parks better than expected with Bryce being the best. And we discovered that the Zion Lodge restaurant has a killer sundae. We enjoyed our breakfasts at the Bright Angel restaurant and we used the Grand Canyon Village deli/grocery store for lunch supplies and evening snacks.

We took the recommendation of posters here and elsewhere to stop at the Cameron Trading Post for lunch en route to Grand Canyon from Bryce to try the Indian taco. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, the high-end Indian art shop is not to be missed.


Sedona


Driving into Sedona was a nightmare. On our first day, it took us 2.5 hours to drive from where we were staying (Forest Houses Resort in Oak Creek) to Sedona a distance of, what, 12 miles?! At least we could gape at the magnificent scenery while we waited. The issue appeared to be the massive amount of highway construction in the town centre coupled with the absence of traffic police. Fortunately, by the next day, there were police on duty and, though there were still delays, they were relatively minor.

Owing to feeling sub-par, we decided not to go out to the Sedona restaurants. Rather, we made a run to Basha’s supermarket and used the well-equipped kitchen at Forest Houses to fend for ourselves.

Our apartment at Forest Houses (Overlook House) sat right above the pretty creek. From the balcony, we watched an impressive variety of bird life going about their business every evening. The place was spotless and the management friendly and helpful. We’d love to go back.

We did less hiking than planned owing to the traffic problems, but thoroughly enjoyed the Broken Arrow trail…not very strenuous but truly beautiful, especially the vistas at Chicken Point.


Scottsdale/Phoenix


We were quite surprised and impressed by the Scottsdale Conference Centre – for the $70US a night we paid on Hotwire, it was an incredible bargain. The room was large and comfortable, overlooking the golf course, the front desk staff were cheerful and very helpful – answering all our questions and providing detailed ‘how-to’ directions whenever we needed them (like, to the rental car drop-off centre, which looked so complicated we took a dry run the day before). The hotel pool and grounds were very attractive. I’d stay there again.

We spent most of our short time in Scottsdale at the fabulous Botanical Gardens and were lucky enough to be able to join one of the tours given by a volunteer docent. Excellent. We also went to the gigantic Scottsdale Fashion Mall where we lasted maybe an hour before needing to flee (just not shoppers, I guess).

Phoenix/Scottsdale was where our two week trip ended. We had to drop off our rental car and were very grateful that we had received advice from other posters to fill up with gas first as there is a dearth of gas stations in the Phoenix Airport area and the ones that are around look fairly seedy. The drop off procedure (Alamo) was very efficient as was the transport system to get to the departure terminal.

The terminal itself was a bit of zoo. We were pleased (and probably shouldn’t have been) that there was a separate processing line for people traveling first class…otherwise we would have been considerably held up although at no risk of missing our flight as we arrived very early. We waited out the time before the flight in the First Class Lounge which, I note, is the only one I have ever been in where one has to pay for a glass of wine.

I should mention that we thought that there was a need for a lot more judgement to be applied to the security screening process…example, the guards made an old man in a wheelchair walk through the metal detector gate even though he could barely stand using two canes. Then they sent him for a body pat-down! The poor old boy was clearly not all there and had no idea why he was being treated in this way. Very sad and I really don’t think he was a terrorist.


In closing, just another round of thanks to the Fodors posters. You are a great bunch

Samsaf

curiousx, I'm glad you had fun, but sorry about your colds.

Could you tell us what accommodations you used at Zion and Bryce? How did you find your cabin?

Thanks!

curiousx

Hi Samsaf, at Zion, we stayed at the Zion Lodge and at Bryce we stayed at the Bryce Canyon Lodge. Both lodges are inside the parks and we booked through Xanterra which controls all the reservations. http://www.xanterra.com/

Note that we booked a year in advance!

Thanks for the sympathy about the colds; fortunately they didn't get in the way of enjoying these fabulous parks.

Myer

curiousx,

Looks like you had a great time in spite of the colds.

So you hike to the end of Broken Arrow in Sedona. All the way to Chiken Point. What a great view!!!! Broken Arrow was on my seconadry list and I went there on my second day. Was I glad!!!! Did you come across any Pink Jeep groups?

Too bad about the traffic. That really puts a damper on things. But, better than rain.

Any way we can see photos?

Thanks for the report. Brings back great memories of a trip only a year ago.

curiousx

Hi Myer, as I mentioned, your advice was really invaluable. We also stopped at the dam in Page but decided not to go to Antelope Canyon - a mistake perhaps!

As for photos, we really don't have the technological savvy to upload ...yours are SOOOO much better!

sg92

Glad you had a great time. We did virtually the same itinerary about 10 years ago (Vegas, Zion, Bryce, North Rim, South Rim, Sedona, Scottsdale), and your post made me reminisce. What an amazing, beautiful part of the country.

Among the great memories:
-- unzipping the tent on a chilly morning to see the sun rising onto the red rocks at Zion
-- first view of Bryce's otherworldly landscape
-- hours on the patio of the North Rim lodge, alternately reading and looking out at the canyon.
-- Buffalo Brochette at a restaurant in Sedona, and our first luxurious accomodations of the trip.

emd

Anyone planning a trip to Sedona in 2008 should check the website below for details on the road construction. As the above poster experienced, it may put a major damper on your trip, esp. if you do not know what to expect and where the construction is going on at the time you'll be there.

I have been going to Sedona at least twice a year for 10 yrs and my last trip was awful due to the traffic. Took 1.5 hrs to get from Cathedral Rock to the Y, bumper to bumper, and sometimes just not moving, as work was being done in front of Tlapapaque.

Then after we drove up into Oak Creek Canyon, it took us an hr to get from one mile of the Y into the Y area, just like this poster. That was in late April.

This site has weekly updates on exactly where the construction is that week:

http://www.scenic179.com/

curiousx

EMD, I wish we had known about the Sedona road construction website - it would have been a great help. We were there at the end of May.

Myer - I forgot to answer your Pink Jeep question. Yes we did see a couple of them. We spoke to one of the drivers for a while and he was kind enough to take a photo of us at Chicken Point which turned out to be one of our favourites from the trip.

wanderluster

Nice trip report, sounds fun.

Regarding the construction:
EMD had posted on the
construction issues last may.
We're planning a trip for October
so saved part of her report, including the link.

Prior to a trip I've learned its
best to *search* this forum
even before I ask questions,
because its a plethora
of help and information.

Doing a quick search now under
*Sedona*, the posts on construction can be found on the first page.

(You'll just have to plan
a return tripLOL)

Myer

curiousx,

I was amused the way the Pink Jeep drivers scare the cr^&*^&*^&*ap out of the passengers.

I have a picture on my web site taken just before Chicken Point. It shows Chicken Point at the bottom left and what appears to me to be Bell Rock off in the distance.

I wonder if it is.