Nevada, Arizona, and Utah (USA):
21st
September 2009 - 5 October 2009
A summary:
What an amazing time! Our journey took us from Nevada, through
northern Arizona, to Utah, and back to Nevada. We experienced
the bright lights and sounds of Las Vegas, and a perfectly
silent, beautiful sunrise at the Grand Canyon. We saw the
fantastic dancing water of the Bellagio fountains, the
astounding Lake Mead, and put our hands in the Colorado River...
and also drove through hundreds of miles of hot, dry desert with
empty riverbeds, through Dixie National Forest, surrounded by a
variety of autumn colours, and other times we drove through
forests devastated by fires, with no colour at all. We met lovely people (Americans are so
friendly), ate delicious food (a lot of Mexican influence in
this region and we also had some native American food), saw
amazing places, and caught plenty of warm sunshine. It was an
incredible trip; the holiday of a lifetime.Below are some photos and exerts from my travel journal about
the different places we went to...
Las Vegas
Las Vegas was essentially only on our itinerary for this trip
because it was the closest airport to the Grand Canyon. Neither
of us were particularly excited about going there, but we loved
it! The atmosphere was brilliant, the casinos range from tacky
to classy to the truly bizarre. We absolutely loved the Bellagio
Fountain (see pic below) which can only be appreciated via
looking it up on YouTube (go on). We went on a wonderful
helicopter trip from Vegas to the Grand Canyon, and flew over
the strip at sunset, and also saw Cher at Caesar's Palace.
Grand Canyon
No words or photos can ever do the Grand Canyon justice, you
really do have to see it for yourself. The canyon is almost 300
miles long, and at each view point, you see something new. We
hiked along the South Rim, taking in the various viewpoints, and
also visited the North Rim about a week later, which is much
greener and less touristy. If you've ever wanted to see the G.C.
- I urge you to go. You will never experience anything else like
it. Second photo below is of the Colorado River at the start of
the canyon, from the Navajo Bridge. There are people in this
photo down on the sand on the right side of the river, to give
it some perspective! The heat on the bridge was almost
unbearable.
Monument Valley
As you can see from the first photo below, Monument Valley is
instantly recognisable from various movies, it really does
symbolise the true Southwest. The park is run by the Navajo
people (native Americans) who couldn't have been more welcoming.
We ate fry bread and bought many of their souvenirs. Amazing
place. In the photo on the right, the lighter shade of orange
streak that runs through the photo, about a third of the way up,
is a road and there are cars on it. The scale and size just
takes your breath away.
Arches & Canyonlands National Parks
Compared to the Grand Canyon and Mon.Valley, these two national
parks didn't seem quite so spectacular, which is ridiculous
considering they are still amazing places with dramatic
landscapes. Canyonlands is so huge we didn't have time to see it
all, apparently some parts of the park are the furthest away
from a city in the whole of the USA. More photos below.
Bryce Canyon
I am so pleased we decided to include Bryce Canyon, what a
beautiful place this is, and I think I liked it as much as the
G.C. The pillars of rock (hoodoos) are beautiful shades of beige
and orange, and we hiked down into the canyon and walked among
them. Another amazing place, I'd happily go back there to try
out more of the hiking trails. We also stayed at the best hotel
of the trip here, really beautiful place and chat to a lot of
other folks staying there, over breakfast. Americans seem so
friendly.
Zion
Another place I'd definitely like to go back to, Zion is like a
paradise. Very green (esp. compared to the deserts we'd been
through) with an incredibly dramatic, beautiful landscape. I
could easily spend a week here hiking. We stayed in Springdale
and enjoyed a fantastic meal at Wildcat Willies, check it out if
you are ever lucky enough to go to Zion.
All the bits in between
Driving around was a dream. Most of the roads are very wide,
long and straight and you can see for miles with very little
traffic. We got the chance to drive along Route 66 (get your
kicks) and also witnessed evidence of forest fires.
An amazing trip... if anyone would like any tips on a similar
trip, I have plenty about where to stay, what to do/avoid, and
so on. Feel free to
email me for advice!
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