Day 7: Leaving Grand Canyon

Waking up at 430 am to see the sunrise this morning was so worth it. Thankfully the tent held her own last night and we had no leaks. We walked about 45 minutes to the rim of the Canyon to find a good vantage point for the sunrise. There were few people around and the quiet was amazing. Unfortunately the clouds did not cooperate so much of the sunrise was blocked. But, to make up for this, mother nature let us run into 4 elk. 3 females (cows) we saw on the walk to the Canyon, just at the entrance to the campground. Then we saw a male (bull) on our way back. It was so cool! I've got pictures on my camera but not on my phone.

We packed up camp and got ready to hit the road, but not before a crow came along and ate our Franz bread right through the packaging! Bastard. And this wasn't any ordinary crow, oh no. This was a crow on steroids! He was huge!

On the road again we're making our way across Arizona to Four Corners Monument and then on to Denver tonight.

Day 6: To the Grand Canyon

We packed up and left the hotel by 8am this morning. Getting out of Vegas at that hour was fairly easy. We were excited to be heading over the Hoover Dam, but the new bridge is built such that you can't see the dam from a smaller vehicle. So that was a bust. And I was a little surprised to see that the water at Lake Mead is just as low as it was last time I was in Vegas. Hopefully the snow melt will keep helping that.

In Kingman, AZ we gassed up the car and grabbed breakfast at Sonic. Then decided to also get a Sonic Blast for the car ride. The weather in Kingman was really nice and cool compared to Vegas.

We were on the road towards the Grand Canyon by 10am again.
Once we got to the park we located our campsite. Unfortunately it started raining as soon as we parked. So we had to work fast to set up the tent and then ended up spending almost an hour in there with little to do. Finally the rain let up and we were able to make plans for the day. We grabbed the map and some water and headed for the visitors center and the rim trails.

The first views of the Canyon were spectacular. We walked along about 2 or 3 miles of trail near the edge of the Canyon. There are tons of educational markers too so we learned all about the rocks and the formation of the Canyon as we see it today.

For dinner we went to the Maswik Lodge which has a small pizza pub. There's a fire ban in the park and we wanted a hot meal, so a restaurant was our best bet. Plus we were both craving pizza. Then we stopped at the general store to get a few beers and went back to our campsite. We headed into the tent again because the rain had started back up.

And with that our day at the Grand Canyon came to a close. We had decided to get up at 430 am to see the sunrise so we fell asleep early.

Day 5: Viva Las Vegas!

Tim and I woke up a little later yesterday morning and got ready to hit the strip. A leisurely walk up to Paris rewarded us with crepes for breakfast. Then we kept moving up the strip checking out the various hotels. Tim's favorite is by far Caesar's and he's already vowed that we'll stay there next time.

We managed to catch the first fountain show at the Bellagio at noon. It was patriotic themed for the holiday. We also won a few bucks here and there on slots. I love the fishy games!!!

In pure Vegas fashion we each got drinks. Tim tackled 2 beers while I purchased an obnoxiously large glass of blueberry lemonade with double shot of vodka. After all that alcohol it was definitely time for lunch. We had noodles from an asian restaurant by the sports book in the Venetian.

A bit more walking and a bit more gambling and we headed off the strip a block for dinner at Battista's. It's a little hole in the wall place but it's good food, good atmosphere, and house wine is included. With our bellies full we practically ran (bad idea after all that food) to Treasure Island to see the Sirens show. Then back towards the Mirage to see the volcano erupt.

We had plans to meet up with Tim's aunt and uncle again but the pedestrian traffic on the strip was insane and it took us almost an hour to get back to the hotel. So we called it a night, did our last bit of gambling (and lost), packed up the room and went to sleep.

We're up early this morning to make our way to the Grand Canyon for our last camping night.