Photos: here

I'm trying to accept the fact that my trip is over, and Heather and I are back
in our respective workplaces. We had a wonderful time in Sin City, and
visiting Hoover Dam, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Zion National Park.
All are awesome places.

Our trip there wasnt the best. Our flight was delayed several hours. We
arrived at about 2 am, (instead of 10 :30) yet there was still a line at
the rental car agency, and at the hotel. By the time we got to our room it
was almost 4 am. Once there, we spent Monday through Thursday in Vegas. We
stayed at the Flamingo, and were very satisfied. We enjoyed several meals
at their buffet, overlooking a nice courtyard with water flowing all over,
with lovely, huge Koi, goldfish and carp, flamingos, various rare and
beautiful ducks and penguins. Very cool. Bill Cosby was a "entertainment
guest" at the conference I attended, and I got Heather in to see him. He
was very funny. We also went to a comedy show at the Tropicana, with three
comedians who were pretty good. Don't ask me their names..Besides the Trop
and Flamingo, we also visited most of the other big casino hotels on the
strip- the MGM Grand, the Bellagio, The Venetian, Luxor, Treasure Island,
Rio, Caesars Palace, the Mirage, Paris, "NY, NY", Mandalay Bay, and
Excalibur.

Those that are familiar with Vegas in recent years can skip the next couple of
paragraphs. I hadnt been there since the late sixties, so it is very
different. The Bellagio has a fabulous fountain, music and light show
right out front on the Strip, The Venetian (which hosted my conference)
has gondola rides with singing gondoliers, both inside or out. Inside is a
long row of fancy shops lining a canal with the ceiling pretty
convincingly painted to look like the sky at dusk (something we also saw
on the row of shops at Caesars and New York, New York, and maybe
others..It seemed ubiquitous. Mandalay Bay has a water park, complete with
wave pool. New York NewYork has a roller caoster that starts inside, but
is mostly outside, over the replica of the skyline, and Statue of Liberty,
even a harbor tugboat. Paris has a large replica of the Eiffel Tower, with
a restaraunt on the fifteenth floor. Outside Treasure Island is a replica
of a ship, and a colonial town inthe Caribbean, on which they do a show
complete with acrobatics and diving. we missed that- the one time we
tried, it was cancelled because the wind was too strong. It was cancelled
at the last minute, and there was already a large crowd there, so it would
have been hard to see. The sidewalks are lined with folks, mostly
Hispanics, trying to hand people cards for call girls, with their naked
pictures on them. There were people inside th entrances of many of the
casinos making offers of free stuff, always as a come-on to attend a time-
sharing sales talk. these things were only minor annoyances. Really, we
found most people friendly and helpful, and we didnt have to wait long for
much we wanted to do. We were pleased with our room at the Flamingo,
although the day we left some rowdys moved into the next TWO rooms, all
men as far as we could hear, banging around wrestling and yelling,
apparently, and as we left one guy got locked out in his underwear and was
banging on a door. Also, early that morning some very drunk man banged on
our door, and insisted he be let in (thought it was his room) I called
security, who helped him to his own room down the hall, but not before he
had collapsed on the hall floor.

In Vegas, we stuck to the Strip We didnt
bother to go downtown. We heard it is the seedier side of town.

We enjoyed the $1 margaritas and Michelob at the Harrahs Casino Royale, just a
few feet off the Blvd. And $2 beers at our hotel, with outside seating. We
spent a while sitting there one day. WE restrained ourselves at the slots.
Heather showed the most restraint, since she had a number of hours
to herself across a few days while I attended my conference. I think she
lost about $10, all told, and I lost maybe $2. A drop in the bucket
compared to what we spent for food. Meals on the strip werent cheap, but
what we had was good. We DIDNT go to Dennys.

We took an afternoon to go to Red Rock Canyon, which had been touted as a
place to visit, and it was nice, but not terribly impressive, especially
compared with what was to come. Namely Hoover Dam, and a place called the
Valley Of fire. They are both an easy drive from Vegas. the Valley of Fire
was almost void of people when we went,and quite a sight. We went for a
couple of short hikes there, marveled at the colorful and odd rock
formations, and spotted lots of interesting petroglyphs. We also enjoyed
spotting the lizards and cliff-dwelling chipmunks along the trails.

We drove out of Vegas heading for Bryce up I-15. It crosses over into the NW
corner of Arizona (also known as the Strip- the part of Arizona separated
from the rest by the Grand Canyon) by way of the Virgin River Canyon,
which is quite impressive. We stopped at a little cafe for lunch after we
hit Utah, with a few bikers. We were impressed how green it looked compared to SE Nevada
(still not real green, but there are some trees and grass). I think it is the
runoff from the mountains. We were driving through obvious river valleys.

We stayed at Ruby's Inn, a Best Western just outside the park at Bryce Canyon.
Nothing remarkable, but it was fine. We had some time to start looking at
Bryce the day we got there. BTW, Bryce canyon isnt really a canyon. Rather
it is a series of natural amphitheatres in an escarpment, an obvious edge
between one layer of rock and another. The remarkable formations at Bryce
were carved from sandstone. Photos: here

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© 1996-2005 Thomas R Coleman