Foreword
Just came back from the trip to American South-west where me and my wife had visited a number of beautiful natural parks located in the vicinity of the Colorado river Grand Canyon in Arizona and Utah states. These notes are first of all are addressed to ourselves considering quickly fading memories but others might benefit from them as soon as might be interested in undertaking a similar voyage and save some time on planning the itinerary. In such a case we would strongly recommend this trip as wonderful and unforgettable (hopefully) experience.
Please note that our combined age is about 133 years, and the program will not fit the abilities and interests of couples outside the range of 100-160 but I can be wrong. Note that we travelled probably in the best time of the year (first decade of May) and the weather was nice, never climbing above 30oC. Summer months could be very hot and hiking less pleasant. Some parks are open all year around, others only in April – October (check!)
I inserted few trail maps and photos into the text. In some cases you will need to zoom pictures to see more details. All maps and schemes you can get on sites and many from the internet.
If you decide to go don’t forget to make a few things in advance:
a) Reserve the entry to The Arches National park (1 day - 3 months in advance)
b) Order by mail “America the Beautiful” pass providing free entry to all national parks (not state ones) – it can take 2-4 weeks.
c) Get a decent photo camera (we used cellphones unfortunately)
d) Good hiking shoes (recommend Salomon) and hiking poles
Good luck!
……………………………
Apr 29, 2022, Friday
Flight from Boston to Phoenix AZ for 5.5 hr, arrived PHX at 7 pm local time. Stayed in Radisson hotel one night. Not bad, charged us twice for the dinner.
Apr 30 Phoenix
10am drive about 30 miles west of Phoenix to our relative Bella R. to her house n Goodyear, nice house. Made a tour around Goodyear, 2 beautiful artificial lakes. Lunch with Bella.
4pm drive about 2 hours to Oak Creek near Sedona (5 m south rt 179 ). Checked in Muyawki inn 2* w pool, great view from the window of Courthouse rock, about 1 mile from. Muyawki in Indian mean Crescent moon. Walked north along Main street to take sunset pics of nearby rocks (Bell rock), too late. Drove to Sedona, dinner at Hideaway House - expensive, medium food. Most of restaurants and attractions, galleries close before 8pm.
May 1 Sun, Sedona
Very modest breakfast in the hotel. Driving to the Red Rock state park for 20 min, entry $7. Taking trail to the Eagle nest vista 2.5 miles loop, easy path, elevation 380ft, 2 hrs walking. Not too hot, 28C, very few people in the park. Stunning view of Cathedral rock and panorama. On the way saw a small snake: d=3/4", l=3 ft., later identified it as Striped Whipsnake, not venomous.
At 1pm driving to Sedona rt 95a, stop a Whole Foods market for lunch and buy some food. Decide to hike a little more, drive to Sugarloaf trailhead and park there. Taking Sugarloaf trail that goes around the same name knoll about 1.5 miles total, easy. Possible to go further following the Tea pot trail that goes at the bottom of rock massif ending with impressive Coffee pot rock. We stand at 300-400 m from it, multiple photos and turn back to parking. Total 1h 15 min. Drive back to hotel.
At 6 pm drive to Sedona airport famous vista. Great panorama of the whole valley but decided not to wait for the sunset and going for lunch to nearby Oak Creek brewery, good amber ale. Return hotel at 8 pm.
May 2 Sedona
After another poor breakfast in the Muyawki inn we were on the nearest trailhead Bell rock vista at 10am, just ½ mile north from the hotel. Decided to make a big Courthouse loop 4.2m around Courthouse and Bell rocks. Moved counterclockwise, amazing rock views were changing nonstop, so need to take a lot of pics. Both rocks are about 300 m high and we were moving just at the foothill 20-50 meters from the walls. Few people on the trail, maybe met 20, few bikers. Talked to the couple from Ohio with two little dogs, they know the area and gave few advises. On the way there was a path to climb the Bell rock - many people were climbing about halfway to the summit, we refrained. Came to the parking exactly in 3 hours at 1 pm.
After light lunch followed advise and from our hotel drove about 7 miles to Baldwin TH via Verde valley school road, last mile unpaved. Parked at 3:15 and went to 2.2 m hike on trail Baldwin loop counterclock (easy to find). Trail goes around unknown knoll type rock. When we made a semicircle on the right side opens fantastic view on the Cathedral rock. Trail is almost easy but there are few up and downs of 10-20 m. Done in 1.5 hr but the most exciting part was waiting at the end: at the last trail fork (0.3 m before parking) take right to the Oak creek (you will hear splattering water) and go about 100m to the spring. You can wade in the cold water and there is a deep place also to swim ( don’t forget swimming suits!), plan an hour to relax there. In addition, the spring area is dominated by the magnificent Cathedral rock with 5- 6 spires. If you don’t want to hike the Baldwin trail just drive to the Red Rock crossing
Back to hotel at 5:30. Went for dinner to the Colt bar and grill (Oak Creek) - simple food, cheap, not recommended.
May 3, Sedona – Grand Canyon
Early wakeup, decided not to consume hotel breakfast - ate WH leftovers.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 6 Little Horse Trail, Sedona Checked out and drove to the Little horse TH (trail head) on rt 179 2 miles north from Oak Creek. Started trail at 9:53am - our earliest record, following Little horse trail all the way to Chicken point, about 2.3 miles, easy but last section marked black (advanced)? on the map. Beautiful trail around the Madonna and the Nuns rock massif. Also, two rocks on the right called Twin Sisters. Weather 22-24C, nice. Finally climbed the round knob called Chicken point, great 360 panorama. Very strong wind - can hardly stand on the top. Saw there a group on pink jeeps with tourists - point is accessible to 4x4.
Went down 0.9 mile and at the first split took right to the Chapel. Easy flat pass, we saw the modern concrete church, a lot of people and turned back. Probably the best of our hikes in Sedona area. Total 4.4 miles in 3.0 hrs. Many mountain bikers.
Had a brief stop in Sedona Whole Foods for lunch. Drove to Flagstaff rt 89a north 30 miles, scenic route along Oak creek spring, few places to swim. Got very good coffee in Kickstand Kafe in Flagstaff. In about an hour (50 miles, flat and dull roads) via rt 180 and 64 reached town Tusayan where we had reservation in the Grand Canyon Plaza hotel. Very good for 3 stars, recommended.
At 5:30 pm checked in. Immediately drove to the Grand Canyon, passed the checkpoint with our "America the beautiful" pass for free (need to order on the web 3-4 weeks in advance, $80 for seniors), and parked at Mather point in 20m from the rim and… saw it: grandeur magnificent! You wait something big but be prepared to shock. Time was 1 hour before the sunset, red, orange and violet colors of the walls. Waited for the sunset at the observation point Yavapai nearby.
May 4 wed, Grand canyon day
After breakfast we watched IMAX movie “Canyon Secrets” - 35 min, not bad for 12 years olds. Drove to the canyon, as yesterday and parked the same at Mather point.
Walk total 3 m along the rim passing Yavapai point, then to Verkamp visitor center (closed), El Tovar hotel - very impressive old-style lodge, built in 1901, the same year when train came to GC from Flagstaff. There are still trains moving from Williams to GC Village. This place is actually called Village.
From here starts the most popular hike “Bright Angel trail” to the bottom of the canyon, about 12 miles roundtrip. It is highly recommended to take a night stop at some lodge on the bank of Colorado. Total elevation 1500 meters! It is possible to make in 5-6 hours roundtrip to the 3 mile stop, but we even did not consider - too steep and looks dangerous at least at the top portion that is visible from the rim.
One of the most important advices to my fellow travelers is to make your cell phone securely attached to your wrist. Another option is to hang the phone on your neck. To some reason Olja resisted the idea claiming that the string strangulates her and, of course… At the famous Yavapai viewpoint, she was taking photo above the rail and her phone slipped into the abyss of about 1500 meters deep. I practically did not say her anything but we kinda walked in silence for about an hour. When we came to the Visitor Center a young man approached us and asked: - Sir, didn’t you lose your phone? - I smiled wryly, - Sure we did. - What model Sir? - Samsung S10. - So that should be yours, and he extracted Olga's phone from the bag, it was intact and even not scratched??? The boy explained that the phones are going loose so frequently that someone smart came to the idea to hang the nets below the most popular Grand Canyon viewpoints and catch the phones. Most people never see them since it is scary to look down. The franchise is highly profitable and given exclusively to the native Navajo Indian tribe. Our Savior boldly asked for a $120 tip. I tried to negotiate saying the phone is insured and we will get a new one. - But you will pay a deductible of $150, - counterargued the guy but agreed for 80 bucks... Just remember that the string with a hook for the phone case is only 9.95 on Amazon.
Happy we took the red bus (shuttles are free, need to take a map at the gates) to the Hermit rest end station. Road goes 12 miles from GCV along the rim west. Shuttle goes every 10 min, and you can hop-on hop-off at any stop. We stopped almost on each station, the best views are from the Trail viewpoint, Mohave point and Pima point. Canyon looks very different from each point on the rim, hard to stop watching and taking pics. Hermit rest is a stone house designed by Marie Colter, she is also the architect of the Desert View Watchtower (read her story).
During our walks along the rim we have seen a number of reckless people, crossing the ropes and posing on dangerous rocks. Looking at them is not fun and somewhat spoils the mood. Keep safe! If you don’t believe then make sure to check out “Over the
Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon” by Thomas M. Myers. Myers, a prolific journalist and author, painstakingly documents every death in the Grand Canyon breaking down the casualties into categories. According to Myers, up until 2001 there were 53 fatalities from falls,
65 to environmental causes, 79 drowned, 242 in airplane and helicopter crashes, 7 caught in flash floods.
Came to the Village on the same red bus, changed to the blue bus and in 20 min were in our parking lot. At the hotel skipped the dinner (almost) and fell asleep at 8 pm! Too many impressions.
May 5 – Upper Grand Canyon
Checked out from our hotel at 9 am and entered again the GC park gates. After that turned right to rt 64 and followed it to the Eastern gate Desert View about 20 miles. Road goes all the way east direction along the south rim with 4-5 stops at beautiful vistas of canyon. Almost from each of them you can see green patches of Colorado river, took many panoramas on camera. Total time to reach the park exit is 2 hours (with stops).
Driving 25 miles on 64 to Cameron and turn left on 89 north. After 50 miles took left at the split to rt 89a, another 14 miles and we crossed Colorado at Navajo bridge (built 1929). Great view of the river from the bridge, reminds the Corinth canal in Greece. Stopped at the place called Marble canyon but we did not find where it is really (poor travel preparation). Never mind, after the Navajo bridge we immediately turned right to Lee's Ferry and it is in the Glen canyon. After 5 miles very scenic road ends: there is a parking and boat ramp to the river where the boat trips start downstream direction. We saw two groups loading a lot of stuff on the rafts. River is quite here and 50-70 m wide. Could rent a kayak here.
From the parking we made a short Riverside trail (1 mile) along the river upstream. On the path met a couple that strongly recommended Antilope canyon (I was hesitant before). Air temp was 35oC and I decided to swim a little: sandy beach but fill like quicksand - it sucks your feet. Water temp about 15C, maybe all immersion time was 30 sec.
Drove back to the Navajo bridge, then took back south 89a and made a sharp turn to 89 north to the town Page - our todays destination, 20 miles from 89a. On the way just before Page turned left (see sign) to the famous Horseshoe bend overlook. Gated parking $10/car. About 3/4-mile easy walk to the Colorado river rim where it makes almost 360 turn around a rock - don't miss it! Maybe better photos will be in the morning, we were close to 5 pm. Returned to the parking and in 10 min were in Page in the Best western hotel (3 *) that claims view of the lake Powell (sadly I could not see any water from the terrace).
Booked online guided tour to the Lower Antelope canyon from Ken's tours $129 for one hour, indeed. Will see tomorrow at 10. Dinner in Page at the Mexican restaurant El Tapatio - very good!
May 6, Antelope canyon
Day started very well, reasonable hotel breakfast, good weather for travel 22C in Page. At 9:30 were at Kens tours place near Lower Antilope canyon, 3 miles from Page. It is a guided tour by Navajo Indians, no way to get inside without group, but it all worth the money: absolutely incredible walk, cannot stop taking pics. All tour lasts 1 hour with a group of 10, easy but requires climbing the metal ladders. Out guide Tyler was nice, leads such tours for 9 years, told us about 3 incidents: 1) a boy dropped a cellphone on the head of one guy walking at the bottom, 2) woman slipped from the stairs and broke the arm, 3) 11 people drowned when the rain started unexpectedly, and water rushed from the upstream canyon.
After Antelope we briefly stopped at the Glen dam on Colorado river that creates artificial Powell lake . Here it became clear why we could not see the water from the hotel: the lake level dropped 178 feet from the normal - big draught this year!
We filled the gas tank and took off to a 270-mile ride to our next stop at Moab, Uta. Somewhere in the middle around 3 pm I felt that cat is not stable and decided to check tire pressure at the gas station with a funny name Sinclaire Dynocare decorated with a nice sculpture of the green dinosaur. The right rear tire was really almost flat, but the station air pump was broken. Ok, decided to change the wheel, but our car had no such feature as a spare wheel. Called Avis and in an hour, they manage to localize our place on the map. After that Avis decided to send us a replacement car but logistics was complicated: The guy from the garage in Farmington (90 miles from us) went to the Durango, CO airport another 50 miles to pick up the car and now eventually driving 135 miles from Durango to save us. It was already 7 pm.
... New car arrived at 8:30 on a towing track drove by Austin, a young Avis employee. He gave us the keys from a big black Toyota 4runner, pulled our Mitsubishi on the platform and we never met again. Next 2 hours we were moving in the complete darkness and solitude on the roads of Uta to the town of Moab. Need to say that during this debacle with car change we were constantly communicating by SMS with our Moab host Loretta who was waiting for us in her Bed and breakfast hotel - house named "Hideout on the Rim". Her last message was: "I think you are so tired that I left all the doors unlocked for you". We have reached the house at 11:58 pm.
May 7 sat. Moab. Arches park day
Loretta's breakfast was incredible: omelet, pancake with pineapple, soufflé consisting of the granola and yogurt, all fruits you know, orange juice and real coffee with preheated milk, ginger cookies. We skipped the fried bacon in spite of the incredible smell that actually woke us up in the room.
We had some time before 12 pm (our reservation entry to Arches park) and decided to go to the petroglyph and dinosaur site. It is about 7 miles from the Hideout but can be skipped. I saw two footprints of medium size dinosaurs (less than two tons weight, obviously triceratops) on the lime rock, but could be fake as well, no petroglyphs indeed. We drove another 10 miles along the very calm Colorado river rt 279 and reached the Potash Plant, just like the Dead Sea Works potash plant in Israel, with evaporation pools as well. Interesting parallels: Moabitans leaved in Israel in a very similar landscape as in Uta, Antelope canyon reminds Petra, and in both places Potassium Chloride is industrially produced.
At 11:20 we joined the car line to the Arches national park checkpoint, two parallel lines, about 50 cars before us. Our reservation was at 12 pm, and we crossed the gate line at 12:03 (advisable to come earlier by 30-60 min. Reservation should be bought online in advance, free). Our “Senior pass America the beautiful” was accepted, otherwise $30 per car.
Park is absolutely one of the world wonders, plan 4-5 hours inside. Mostly move by car from one point of interest to another and then walk to see closer the arch and take photos. Total drive in the park 40-50 miles. We started from the “Park avenue” trail 1 mile , easy, 40-50 min roundtrip. Very impressive rock "Three gossips" see photo. On the way back I took a sharp stone and make few my own petroglyphs ( in despair), thus, if you see somewhere on the sandstone carved the Egyptian triangle with short proof of the Pythagorean theorem don’t be surprised by the depth if the knowledge of the neolithic people.
Next stop was a Balance rock - a huge boulder about 10 m in diameter standing on 20 m thin stone also leg. How long it can balance this way is unclear.
There is an interesting story about the Balance rock. In 1928 the weight of the boulder was estimated to be about 450 tons after its circumference was measures with a tape. Volume was calculated and density supposed to be the same as for typical rocks scattered around. When the data were published in the Nature Magazine few scientists had questioned the number and wanted to know the volume more accurately. The project financed by Google and Facebook had started in 2016. First, the basin was dug out nearby the Balance rock and filled with water that was pumped from the Colorado river at 2145 ft high. The balancing stone was gently moved onto the hydraulic platform and then rolled into the basin. Following the Archimedes law, the volume of the displaced water was accurately measured, and the actual boulder weight was found to be near 3500 tons. Everyone was shocked by such a difference, but a doctorate student Xing Xu from MIT decided to recheck the original calculations from the school archive. Surprisingly, he really found the error: the engineer used a known formula to calculate volume of a sphere V = 6 π D3, but instead of the diameter put the value for radius, thus getting the volume 8 times smaller. Now the accurate weight is 3512 tons and 122 kilograms. The boulder was put in place on the pedestal and meanwhile also fixed with a concrete patch (you can see white at the neck).
After the Balance rock we came to the Windows section where the most famous arches are located: North , South and Turret. Worth to see it in person, photos cannot express how weird they are. After that we stopped at a few other points and finally reached the Devils Garden. There is a 5-hour difficult trail from there that we decided to skip it this time. Left the park at 5 pm and stopped for dinner at the “Hidden kitchen” restaurant in Moab. Try their lamb shank.
May 8 Moab
At the second Loretta's breakfast we got acquainted with a couple from Los Angeles who strongly recommended visiting the Canyonlands national park that was not on our plan. We took off at 9:30 and reached the park in 40 min: first took 191 north from Moab and then turn left on rt 313 for another 20 miles. Since it is a national park, our senior pass worked well, and we get there for free.
We moved directly to the Mesa point (5 miles) and after a short walk saw the famous Mesa arch that can be seen as a mascot of all canyon parks. Unlike gigantic arches in the Arches park here you can touch the Mesa arch, or even climb on it (Verboten! $100 fine). It is almost must see it, meaning that Canyonlands park also cannot be missed, at least an hour to spend there. Not very crowdy, maybe 50 people around the Mesa.
Then we drove to the end of the park to the Grand overlook of Colorado river. There is a nice 1 mile walk along the rim from the viewpoint right. For future it is worth to take a 4x4 ride along the Schaefer road that starts just after the check point left into the canyon down. The road seems to be safe enough, but your car should be reliable. This road was built to transport uranium ore.
From the Canyonlands it is only 15 min to the Dead Horse point state park ($20) that we also visited briefly, just to see the magnificent view of the Green river meanders. The panorama can be compared with the Grand Canyon. There is a short pass along the rim that we used looking for better shots. At this time wind’s force increased significantly, was difficult to stand, maybe gusts to 50-60 mph.
At 2 pm we were on the way to the Bryce canyon, 250 miles from Moab. The roads I-70 and last 90 miles on the rt 98 along the good kayaking or rafting river Sevier were very nice and scenic but the wind was so strong that I could hardly keep the lane at a speed of 55-60 mph; it's a little bit strange considering that our 4Runner is a very heavy car and should be more stable. Anyway, we did it all in 5.5 hours and arrived at our hotel Bryce View Lodge just near the Bryce canyon check point.
May 9 - Bryce!!!
This is probably the strongest impression from the whole trip to the American Sourh-West nature parks. If somebody will ask me : - I can visit only one park, where to go? - I would say: - Go to the Bryce canyon! - Even not to the Grand canyon.
We got to the Sunrise point of the Bryce at 10 am, maybe a little late, but the first impression was absolutely overwhelming, it seems that you see these red rock formations as a 3D picture through the special glasses like in the Avatar movie. The total volume of the Bryce canyon is much smaller than GC and you feel it incredibly close, and the tiny details are sharp like in a high contrast picture. This is where you really need a hi-res camera with as many pixels as possible. After the first shock we started descending along the trail path to the Queen’s garden. Taking multiple photo stops we reached the bottom ( Queen Victoria point) at 11 am, continued another 25 min to the split of Navajo loop trail and took the left uphill path called the Wall Street. The Queen path is popular, but most people prefer to go back from this point: Navajo trail is really steep: it is 1 km long, but elevation is 200 m, anyway we did it in 40 min and at 12:05 reached the rim of the canyon but now at the Sunset point.
From thee we walked another mile along the rim to the Inspiration Viewpoint. From there the Rim trail continues to the Bryce viewpoint 2 miles more but we decided to take a shuttle bus that brought us back to the Sunrise point. After quick lunch we drove in our car 18 miles to the end of the park to the Rainbow point with a few stops at vistas. On the way don’t miss the Fairview and Natural bridge. Along the road there is a lot of trees burned by recent fires, also there was a visible smoke at a distance of 2-3 km from us - another wildfire started. From the Rainbow point ( also amazing panorama) we made a 1-mile easy Bristlecone trail loop. Left the Bryce canyon at 4 pm.
Our next stop was hotel La Quinta at a small Utah town La Verkin about 150 miles from Las Vegas and close to Zion park. Dinner at a nearby “Stage Coach Grill” restaurant - highly recommended; their specialty is a Tomahawk steak.
May 10, Zion
It is about 20 miles drive along the rt 9 from La Verkin to the South entry to Zion National park. There are 2 other entries: North and East also from rt 9. Technically one can cross Zion park by rt 9 but need to
pay entry fee to the park and another $15 for the oversized cars that need to go through the narrow tunnel called Zion - Mt Carmel (we did not go through it). At 10 am we entered the park from Springdale town. Normally you need to park immediately after the checkpoint at Visitor Center, but it was full, and we continued 2 miles rt 9 inside the park to the point called Junction and parked the car on the roadside about 1 km after the bridge over the Virgin river. All Zion park is aligned with this Virgin river and from the Junction to the North park is accessible only by shuttles that go every 4 minutes (free). So, the best way is to park at Visitor Center or even in Springdale and use only shuttles inside the park.
From our car we walked along rt 9 to Junction and walked nice and easy Pa’rus trail south to the Visitor center along the Virgin river that formed the Zion canyon. It is surrounded by very steep rocky mountains and has a depth of 200-300 m. Gigantic stones crack and break from the rocks and fall down from time to time. The last one fall in 2019 near the shuttle station #7 and after that the Weeping wall trail was closed forever for good (no station on the map).
From VC we hopped on a shuttle and hopped off at the station #5 Lodge. First made an easy walk to the Lover Emerald pool (40 min roundtrip) then decided to go to the Middle pool but in the middle of the way turned back.
Took shuttle to the last station #9 and went to the riverside walk, about one mile north along the river. At the end of this path many people get into the river and continue up to 6 miles wading in the water sometimes reaching the waist. To do such walk ( called Narrows) you need to rent special overall and boots at Zion Outfitters located near the VC. It costs $55 and can be rented the day before to avoid morning lines. The Narrows are very popular : on the Riverside trail we met at least 200 people having this gear and still at 3 pm you can see a lot of wading in the water. The walk could be dangerous: we saw a Zion park rescue team transporting one person on stretchers - was alive but probably broke something.
We came back to the #9th station and in 20 min shuttle delivered us to the Junction (station #3) and we walked to our car. At 4:30 returned to La Quinta hotel.
In spite of the spectacular rocks the Zion canyon left much less impression than Grand Canyon, Arches or Bryce. Maybe walking in the water is worth to experience, otherwise, could skip Zion. Meanwhile, it was by far the most crowdy park of all that we have seen in the last 10 days.
May 11, Valley of Fire
Packed our stuff once again and after the modest LaQuinta breakfast were ready to take off. Generally, Laquinta is a good 3* accommodation but the impression was slightly down because of the poor quality of the pillows: all filled with some crappy chunks of semisoft fabric - just shameful.
On the way to Las Vegas on behalf of Julia G. decided to check the Valley of Fire state park and it was not disappointing. After 2 hours of driving, last 30 miles in alarming solitude, we entered the park. It reminds Arches but smaller and has more concentrated scenery: a lot of weathered wind-carved rocks of various colors from black to magenta, red, pink, yellow and white. The first sculpture was "The elephant" - just near the road but you need to climb 5-10 meters to take a good photo. In 4 miles we have reached the Visitor center and then turned right. The first stop was Rainbow vista, from there go right for a nice and easy roundtrip of 1.2 miles for 45 minutes. Just unbelievably weird rock formations with multiple deep caves, arches, bridges, etc. On the way back saw two lizards about foot long, one of them kindly posed for a photo.
After that we drove few miles north to parking lot #3. There is a 2.4 miles loop trail called "7 wonders", go clockwise. In about half mile you find yourself on the famous “Wave” formation - striped pink and white rocks, all curves are smooth, and you can climb easily every knob for pics. After that continued the loop marked with reflective yellow poles: not too many poles and some of them had fallen and not visible. In a few places we went through the very-very curved passages made of white and pink sandstone (dry riverbed). At the end we were a little lost but managed to return to the parking #3 in 1h 40m. We decided with Olja that it was the best trail of the whole our Canyons adventure.
In about 1.5 hour driving in a very windy conditions, we checked in the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas. Dinner in the Paris casino restaurant “Mon Ami Gabi”, food is good but not really cheap. Good night.
May 12-13 Las Vegas
These two day we spent just walking along the Strip and looking at the hotels-casinos each built to replicate some famous locality: Venice, Paris, Greece, Rome, etc. Original plan was to dedicate one day to a 2.5-hour trip to the Western rim of the Great canyon and Hoover dam but decided that its enough: eleven parks in eleven days is already an achievement. So, maybe next time…
Appendix
Total travelled distance 1700 miles
Budget $8000-$9000:
Flights $1100
Rental car $1200
Hotels $3000
Gas $500
Food $2000
Entertainment $300
Gifts $500
Gambling …
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