Vegas
16 August 2015 | Zion Nat'l Park UT
Rick
As many of you know we’ve taken the summer off from living aboard Makana. And with last week being Katie and I 25th wedding anniv. we decided to celebrate by taking a trip to the polar opposite of living on the water, a visit to the desert. When we lived in Colorado we often would visit the desert each spring and fall, the deserts of Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California are awesome. So we boarded a red eye from Portland and the next morning awoke to the dry warmth of Las Vegas, what a change from Maine. We spent eight days hiking and exploring the diverse geographic features of the area. We visited Zion National Park and did a spectcaular 8 mile hike up 2300 ft to Observation Point for a great view of the canyon. Hiked on alpine trails in the mts., the sandstone and limestone fromations in Red Rock Park and spent a grand total of $25 on gambling. We gave our legs and lungs a break from hiking one day and drove to Death Valley National Park. We were treated to 115F at the visitors center which was 190ft below sea level and maxed out at 122F at Badwater which was 298ft below the sea. In addition to enjoying some amazing food, we took in a show, Rod Stewart, he was an amazing entertainer, sang several songs with his daughter, kicked dozens of soccer balls into the upper balcony while singing and displayed an unbelievable amount of energy on stage.
We are back in Maine and it’s hard to believe that some of the trees have begun to show a change of seasons is approaching!