Posts Tagged “nevada”

Out of the city and into the desert. That was the plan for today… and it was a success.

We actually sort of forgot that we wanted to see the Hoover Dam while out here (that’s what happens when you have a bajillion things to see and do… eventually one will get lost along the way). By the time we remembered, we were too far along to turn back. We decided that we would save that outing for the next time we visit Las Vegas. Below is the route that we DID take.

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Now we’re in the little town of Kanub, UT. Not long after we got here, Isabel stepped off a curb, turned her ankle, and collapsed epically into a heap on the ground. She’s fine, but it seems that the bad luck cloud that she picked up in Vegas is still following her. I thought what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas…

Unfortunately, I was still pretty sick for most of the day today. However, we don’t have time for sick days anymore, so we did walk and drive around Las Vegas a bit before we left!

Brian and I both think we need to go back sometime, no sickness allowed. Oh well; this was supposed to be just a taste anyway.

So we got on the highway and drove north! We passed (very briefly) through Arizona!

This was very exciting since Arizona is a new state for both of us, but today was just a drive through. We got to see some pretty neat stuff, though!

Then we were in Utah!

As many of you know, it’s actually Utah’s fault that we wanted to come explore the west. We came to Salt Lake City last spring for a conference; while we were there, we rented a car and drove out to the salt flats (in fact, the photo in our header at the top of this page is from that day trip) and to Antelope Island. We were soooo pleasantly surprised by how fun and interesting and beautiful and alien Utah was that we had to see more… and now, here we are again. Hooray! Our first Utah destination was Zion National Park!

The part of Zion we were in is Zion Canyon, which is basically made of sand (!), and one of the interesting aspects about it is that it was formed by exfoliation rather than erosion (meaning that big chunks of rock slide off in huge pieces after getting waterlogged, rather than the formations being slowly eroded away by water).

They don’t allow cars through most of Zion. That’s because it’s the 8th most visited national park, and apparently it used to be a constant solid traffic jam, so in 2000, they implemented this shuttle bus system. You have to take the shuttle bus up through the canyon. The bus stops at a few points along the way where there are trails you can take and the like. With me being in the state I’m in, though, I just wasn’t really up for that, and we got there kind of late anyway due to the fact that we forgot about the whole time zone thing. But!! We actually got really lucky because the bus we happened to choose was driven by one Chris M., who is extremely passionate about Zion and told us all kinds of interesting information about the park as we rode along (in fact, he had made his own mp3 recording that he played as we went). That’s how I know about that whole exfoliation thing. Chris was truly informative and a delightful guide! So we stayed on his bus all the way up the canyon and all the way back.

In general, though, I don’t know if I’m 100% behind the shuttle bus system. It’s definitely a greener choice for the park, which is awesome obviously, but the design of the buses is such that it’s extremely difficult to see anything while you’re in one (there are heavily tinted windows and lots of blind spots), and also I don’t think the other bus drivers tell you all kinds of fun facts. Because we had Chris, we had a really good bus experience, but sans Chris, it might have been kind of lame. Oh, but Chris did say that winter is a really good time to visit Zion. It’s not too cold, it’s not crowded, it’s cheaper to stay in the lodge in the park, and the shuttles aren’t running, so you can drive your own car in.

Anyway, here’s something else I learned:

See that? That’s a trail you can take. The walking path up there is only about 3 to 4 feet wide… and it’s a drop of 800+ feet on both sides. But people do it all the time, apparently! I would pass out and die, I think!

We did enjoy Zion, and now we’re holed up in a Super 8 that’s in transition to become a Rodeway Inn in Kanab, Utah. Tomorrow, I think we may stay in Kanab but move to a different motel — this one is okay but kind of expensive and there’s no guest laundry (and I am about to be in a desperate laundry situation). Other than the laundry situation, though, I think I’m starting to feel better, thank goodness!!

Now we know what it’s like to drive through the desert! It’s hot and it’s dry… go figure. It’s actually really hot. I know it sounds silly to mention that, but really… it’s extremely hot. And dry. If you wish to test it out yourself, here’s the route you should take.

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We left Bakersfield this morning and drove through the desert on our way to Nevada. We saw about a million wind power plants in Tehachapi!

We also got to see some Joshua trees near the highway! This was very exciting because we thought we wouldn’t see any (since we ended up skipping Joshua Tree National Park). One Joshua tree grove was near a rest stop so we got close enough to hug one!

Our route took us alongside (but not into) the Mojave National Preserve (and not, alas, through Death Valley — we considered going that route instead, but it just added too much time). Hopefully some other trip can include those adventures!

Before we knew it, we were in Las Vegas!!

We’re staying at Bally’s. We chose this place on the strip solely because it hosts the show we saw tonight, Jubilee!

Brian and I really wanted to see a classic Vegas show involving showgirls with huge feather headdresses, sequins, and crazy over-the-top tackiness (often referred to here as “opulence”). You guys, Jubilee! could not have been a more perfect choice. It has been running in Las Vegas since 1981 and has seven different acts, including performances by former Polish hand balancing champions, an aerial silk artist, and a juggler; the main company enacts the stories of Samson and Delilah and the Titanic, among other things. Please don’t ask me to try to explain it. I’m just not up to the task. But it was like opener!! Finale! Finale again! Another finale! Juggling! Finale!!!! Also, we were in row H (maybe 50 feet from the stage), and the woman sitting in front of me was totally using opera glasses (dude). The show was both amazing and horrible, as Brian said.

Moving on, I also have to report that shortly before the curtain went up on Jubilee!, I started feeling pretty sick (most likely from a dubious taco I ate for lunch). Unfortunately, my problems persisted into our post-show exploration of the Las Vegas strip, so we couldn’t quite do it up the way we wanted to. We did go into some of the other places nearby, and we did attempt to play some slots (and we came out about even, I think). I don’t really understand 99% of the slot machines here; they seem pretty complicated and confusing, or maybe I’m just unfamiliar. But anyway, we both enjoyed seeing the fountains at the Bellagio!

The fountains put on a show every few minutes set to music and everything and it’s really fun and pretty.

Now we’re in our hotel room, which is by far the nicest room we’ve had so far on this trip (but not the most expensive, by the way! Hotels in Vegas are cheap; I think they just [rightly] assume they’ll get more of your money from gambling, food, shows, etc.). I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll feel up to seeing a little more Vegasy things before we move on. Whew!

Can you believe we’ve actually made it to California?! No, we haven’t touched the Pacific Ocean yet… that will have to wait until tomorrow, but we are here. Once we made it to Idaho, it feels like we rocketed through the west. Do you think that’s because the average speed limit out here is 75 mph?! Could be.

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Today was mostly just a driving day, so I don’t have too many interesting stories to report. We began the day in Nevada and drove through miles and miles of deserty Nevada-ness:

We took a quick detour through Reno, but there was a huge street festival going on, so we couldn’t really check anything out. Sorry, Reno!

Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves in California!!

That was an important milestone for us… the goal was coast to coast, and now we’ve hit our west-most state. Hooray!

Shortly after we crossed into California, we had to go through this checkpoint thingy, which looked like a tollbooth plaza but wasn’t. A guy there asked us where we were from and whether we had any animals, plants, or fresh fruit in the car (um… is crossing the state line of California like going to Canada??), then inspected our trunk for gypsy moths before allowing us to pass. It was weird. Can someone explain to me what that was about?

Anyway, we passed inspection, so we were allowed to drive along and enjoy the sunset and palm trees along the way to Sacramento.

We’re now at the lovely Sunset Inn & Suites in West Sacramento. Tomorrow we will touch the Pacific!

During our drive today, we finally passed into the Pacific time zone. We are now three hours behind the East Coast. It’s been great passing through each of these zones as it gives us an extra hour each time. Coming home will be a different story, however… losing three hours will certainly be a challenge. Here’s the log for today:
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We left Jackson Hole this morning, and soon we were in Idaho!

Check out these amber waves of grain:

But when you think of Idaho, you don’t think of grain, do you? Neither do we. So we went to the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho!

The museum contains the world’s largest potato crisp:

And a huge collection of vintage potato mashers:

We also got to watch a video produced by the Idaho Potato Commission all about how potatoes are grown and harvested and see a lot of old-school harvesting equipment. Then we got to go to the potato gift shop! They have a variety of potato items such as potato-shaped soap, potato-shaped recipe cards, and this:

It’s potato fudge shaped like a baked potato in foil with butter and sour cream! NICE!

We also each received boxes of freeze-dried hashbrowns for visiting the museum — delivered to us in a genuine Idaho potato sack:

We drove through some really beautiful parts of Idaho. Check out this crazy bridge we drove over:

It’s the Hansen Bridge, it goes over the Snake River canyon near Twin Falls, and it is over 400 feet tall!

Eventually we crossed over into Nevada:

Now we’re at a Days Inn in Elko, Nev. Tomorrow’s another driving day!