I can't wait to be Leaving Las Vegas

Christina and I got to Las Vegas, NV yesterday. I've been here once before with Rice Bowl (my all Asian ultimate team) and really hated it (except for the part of playing ultimate). But we decided that we were done with the Grand Canyon - having seen the lovely north rim and the overcrowded, over developed south rim. So we kept on driving, stopping at the Hoover Dam and jumping in Lake Mead to cool off in the 110 degree weather.

We got to the strip and it only cooled down a couple degrees at best. We drove past and visited Red Rock Canyon for a scenic drive. Our attempt at walking a trail had me running back to the car to get in some shade. The sun is brutal out here!


About a mile on Calico II, 10 on the Grand Circle - where did we go? The choice was clear - about 50 feet back to the car and some sweet air conditioning.

I also finally realized that I never bought my ticket out of here! I had only reserved it a month ago. I guess I'm not used to the nwa site - I assumed my last button click was a 'purchase'. Ugh. It was also the day that I was doing a million things (packing for the long road trip, wilderness trip, searching for flights to Taiwan, finding out visa information, etc), so I can see now why the lack of a confirmation email from nwa would have gone unnoticed.

So I just bought a new ticket out of here, leaving a bit earlier and arriving in Seattle about a day earlier than originally planned. This should give me the time to organize my life a little better to prepare for the unknown future.

Hot in Utah and a Dip in Arizona

Christina and I freed ourselves from free internet at the Peace Tree cafe in Moab, and returned to Arches for some more hiking. We viewed Delicate Arch from the Lower and Upper viewpoints. I gotta say I wasn't that impressed or psyched for the 1.5 mile trip to get up close to it. But the hike was pretty easy and up close it was a lot cooler. There's a cool bowl near it and a few other interesting formations. I think Devil's Garden was still my favorite, except for the exhausting heat on the way back.

We did some more driving around the park, seeing Balanced Rock and some of the Windows before heading back into town to the Lazy Lizard hostel, just south of the main area of Moab. Plenty of space left. We opted for the nearly empty coed dorms instead of the single occupied female dorm with an older woman who seemed to be examining her coin collection on the floor and talking to herself. A quick dinner at the Slickrock Cafe in town (corner of Main and Center) with a delicious salad (except for the really dry grilled chicken, that I tried moistening with some ketchup from a bottle that wouldn't aim straight) and then we were off back to the hostel for a much needed shower (I could rub the dirt off my legs -- it was disgusting) and sleep. I finally got a good night sleep and slept through past 7 am. Lately, because of outdoor camping, the sun wakes me up around 6:15.

Today we drove to the north entrance of the Canyonlands National Park. Had we known better, we would have gone to the south eastern entrance at the Needles. Instead we ended up at Island in the Sky, did a quick 1 mile rim trail to Grand View, took a quick peak at Green River and then left to return to Moab. We refilled groceries and ice and then continued south on 191 and then 163 to go to Monument Valley. The drive was beautiful. We took a side trip to Newspaper Rock (on the way to the Needles entrance), saw a half dozen deer (and cute spotted babies) grazing on the side of the road, and down further passed Valley of the Gods which was really impressive and continued to the MV visitor center. Unfortunately, they pretty much just had a 17 mile scenic drive on an unpaved road for a $5/person entry fee - which didn't seem worth it in our rented PT Cruiser.



So we turned back round and kept heading south on 163 til we got to Kayenta, AZ. We enjoyed the views of lightning striking behind the distant mountains and even a full arched rainbow during a brief rain. All the rooms at Holiday Inn and Hampton were booked...and the one room at Best Western was out of our price range ($109). The Anasazi Inn 12 miles west was also too much for lack of internet ($88), so we headed back north back to UT. The views during sunset were just amazing. We stopped in Mexican Hat, UT and found a decently priced motel with free wifi (Canyonlands Motel).