Western Adventure

We had the opportunity to take an extended vacation and head to see many of the sights in the Western United States. There is a program called "Every Kid in a Park" that we took advantage of. It's a program for 4th graders (which Matthew just finished!) and their families to get a FREE National Parks Pass. David also had a work conference in Las Vegas, so the kids and I flew out after school got out to begin our adventure.

DAY 1
The trip didn't get off to the best start - our flight was delayed and we didn't leave Indy until 10:25pm. 

We had a direct flight (4 hours), which was nice, but there was also a 3 hour time difference. Only Elizabeth and Jonathan were able to sleep on the flight. We also had to rent a car. One would think that would be an easy process, but apparently, there were several flights that all got in around the same time, so the line was about 47 people long (only slightly exaggerating!) after we'd waited for baggage and took a shuttle bus to the rental car counter. We'd had a reservation, but they were out of vehicles. So, we were given a 15 passenger van and could come back to exchange later. As we were walking out to the van, the lady who checked us out found out there were more vehicles available than what was showing in her system. We were able to get a minivan (I'd reserved an SUV) and were on our way. We made it to the hotel and got checked in. At this point, I'd been up nearly 24 hours and was pretty tired!! The kiddos were troopers and helpful and we were all so tired!

DAY 2
We met up with David late morning after we'd had a little bit of sleep. He'd been staying at the Palazzo Hotel. We opted to stay elsewhere, which worked out fine since we'd gotten in so late/very early. It was a sweet reunion!! We walked around the Venetian Hotel (connected to where he stayed and the convention was held). The Venetian is pretty cool!

The "statue" pinky-waved at us as we approached and then David tried to "take" some of his tips!

It looks like you are inside as you walk through the shops. It was an eye-opening experience to the kids as we told them about the marketing aspects of these hotels and casinos. Then we opted to walk down a couple of blocks to the Bellagio hotel in hopes of seeing the water show. We should have checked beforehand as there were men working on the fountains. It was a challenging walk as there were many things we didn't want to expose the kiddos to, but we also wanted to explain to the how depraved our world is and why Las Vegas is referred to as Sin City.

After we left the strip, we decided to go out to Hoover Dam. We stopped at an overlook of Lake Mead.

The kids have all read the Percy Jackson books. In one of the books, these "angels" are mentioned. It is supposed to give good luck to rub their toes, hence why they are so shiny.

We could have driven or walked across this bridge, but we determined to skip this adventure.

DAY 3
We left Las Vegas and headed to Kanab, UT where we were spending the majority of our time out West. Before leaving Las Vegas, we went to Red Rock Canyon for a morning of hiking and exploring. It was amazing!

We stopped in St. George, Utah for dinner at Smashburger - YUM! We also found a Walmart to get our groceries for the week. It was still about an hour from our condo, but we weren't sure what all we'd find once we'd arrived in Kanab. The drive was beautiful. The terrain out west is so different from what we see everyday in Indiana. It amazes me how plants can grow from the rocky, sandy dirt and trees growing out of the sides of cliffs! I especially think the twisted, dead trees are pretty!

Our condo was pretty nice! We were on the backside of the complex and had a lovely view! I enjoyed sitting out on the back porch with some coffee on a few mornings. We also were able to visit with a few horses in the field behind us.

DAY 4
We headed to Zion National Park.

One thing we didn't consider was it was a holiday weekend and this is one of the busiest times at Zion. We thought it would only take 30 minutes to get there, but traffic was heavy, the park was FULL and parking was non-existant!! After taking the scenic drive in from the East entrance and the somewhat scary drive, we finally got to where we could park our car and take another shuttle into the park. The weather was fantastic!! In the 70's and a nice breeze. We rode the shuttle to the top and then got off at a few of the stops.

One of the downsides of coming to visit earlier in the summer is that some of the trails are closed due to muddy and wet conditions. We were able to do a few of the trails and had church while looking up at the Great White Throne.

Waterfall into Lower Emerald Pools. The trail was closed to go up to the Upper Pools.

DAY 5
Memorial Day: The weather was unseasonably cool and rainy, so we opted to have a condo day. On some of our past vacations, I have packed them so full of outings that we are exhausted, so it was nice to sleep in, have a big breakfast, watch a movie, play some games, take naps, read books and just chill.

DAY 6
After looking at the weather, we decided to take a chance and go to Bryce Canyon National Park. The weather was calling for a frozen mix or rain for most of the week. As we got closer to the park, it was sunny and partly cloudy!

But as we got out of the car, we did notice that it was much cooler and were thankful we had layered our clothing. We opted to drive ourselves into the park as it seemed like the park wasn't going to be too busy. We found a parking spot and grabbed some lunch before heading out to hike from Inspiration Point to Sunset Point. We hadn't accounted for the past rain and melting snow and encountered some squeltching mud - lots of mud!!

Caroline built a baby snowman! His name was Fredrick.

The clouds were ominous...something was brewing up there!

As we got to Sunset Point, we decided to head into the lodge/gift shop to see if the sprinkling rain was going to pass over. IT DID!! We decided to go back out and try to hike down into the Queen's Garden.

It was a pretty steep climb and if you go down, you have to come back up! We found out that the Navajo Loop trail was closed, so we could only go down and back up. We got to see some of the amazing formations! As we were about to the top, it began to sleet on us!! We caught the bus and headed back to our van. The bus driver was very friendly. He was retired from the Navy. He and his family moved to southern Utah and now they all work around Bryce Canyon National Park.

We stopped here for dinner. They are known for their pies, but at $20/pie, we opted to pass!

DAY 7
Today, we decided to stay closer to Kanab and try out some of the local trails. We headed out first to the Huntress Trail. As we started down the dirt path, we noticed some pretty large paw prints. Matthew also found a partial deer leg. We decided to play it safe as we weren't sure of exactly we could encounter and headed to Coral Pink Sands State Park.

Celebrity chairs!

The weather was sunny, but it was still a bit chilly. We opted to get a sand sled and headed off to conquer the slopes!

Matthew

Caroline

After we were completely exhausted from climbing up the sand dunes and covered in every nook and cranny with sand, we came home to get cleaned up and headed to the pool.

We ended the day with a yummy meal back at the condo.

DAY 8
We went to Best Friends Pet Sanctuary for a tour after having lunch there. It had been recommended to us by some friends who had visited previously. It was an all vegan buffet meal. We also had some interesting observations of several of the people who were volunteering there. It was an interesting place for sure!

We came back and the kiddos wanted to go swimming again. After swimming, we decided to hike the K-Hill trail that was near to our condo.

It was supposed to be a 3 mile out and back hike. As we ended mile 2, we decided to walk through town back to the condo. It ended up being almost 5 miles!! We were tired to say the least!

DAY 9
Grand Canyon North Rim today! The weather was supposed to be 70 degrees and mostly sunny - the best for the week. We headed out after a big breakfast at the condo. It was a beautiful drive. We got to see several deer along the way. As we neared the highest elevation, we saw lots of snow. The elevation was over 8,000 feet! The North Rim only opens on May 15 due to the amount of snow they receive at such high elevation. The weather for most of this week was in the 30's at night. We drove the twisty road into the Visitor Center and Lodge. We hiked out to Bright Angel Point.

 It was an amazing view! The heights were affecting a few of us as it was quite a drop off if you got off the path. We hiked a bit along the Rim. It was neat to see the view from different perspectives along the path.

We had a picnic lunch along the side of the Canyon and decided to drive out to some of the other points. The road was closed to get out to Cape Royal, but we were able to get to Point Imperial. As we got out of the car, we had noticed a change in temperature and it was a bit breezy. We did see snow alongside some of the cliffs.

We drove back to Kanab and headed to Escobar's for dinner. It was AMAZING!! So good!!

DAY 10
Left Kanab and the condo and headed to Pahrump, NV for a few days of exploring into California. Along the way, we stopped at an In 'N Out Burger - Yum!!

We again had a teachable moment when we saw what we thought to be homeless man approaching. He headed to the trash can, started digging through and eating what he could find. We had some leftover food that David took over to him. He took it and then proceeded to head to another trash can. 

DAY 11
Death Valley today. It was HOT! 107 degrees!

Matthew went through his first Jr. Ranger program. Sad he hadn't wanted to do this at the other parks we'd already visited.

We hiked up to Dante's View (5000+ ft above sea level)

Matthew almost falling!

What a stud!

Caroline found this lizard! She named him Gerald.

These were my favorite of the flowers we saw along the way!

Zabriskie Point

and also went out onto Badwater Basin (lowest point in North America -282 ft below sea level!).

Looking up at Dante's View

Also drove through Artist Drive and stopped at Artist's Palette. It was beautiful!

DAY 12
We originally were going to go to the Mohave Desert National Preserve today, but after realizing it was a 2 hour drive, the temps were going to be in the 90's and we were a bit desert-hiked out, we asked at the hotel for other options. We ended up at Ash Meadows Refuge.

Matthew got to be a Jr. Refuge Ranger!

There were several springs under this area and they were working to restore the area. At one point, there were people who had wanted to build a community on this land due to the natural water source and much of it had been destroyed. The waters were so clear and beautiful!

We passed this along our way to Death Valley and the Wildlife Refuge. It was what we considered to be a ghost town! In case you can't see it on the structure, it said "Karma x 10".

Hung out at the hotel in the afternoon and headed out for star gazing on our final night.

DAY 13
Heading home!! We have had such an amazing vacation. I have enjoyed not seeing cars everywhere, but seeing blue skies, big, puffy white clouds, various shades of color in the mountains and so much family time! We have seen so many great parts of our country, visited 4 states (Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California), but we are all ready to go home and sleep in our own beds!

David and I had made part of this trip nearly 19 years ago in September 2000. We talked about how it would be fun to do this trip again in another 19 years. What will our family look like at that time?? We could be a pretty big crew as our kids will be in their 30's and possibly with families of their own! David and I hope that we'll be retired, but only time will tell. Maybe I'll still have this blog and will share our adventure...