We marveled (actually choked) at the cost of everything (our ice cream from the night before put us back $12 & didn't come close to the quality we get from Graeters!), at the abundance of waste (electricity, food, "bodies" & of course money), at the number of visitors from other countries (oh to have a healthy dollar again) & at the utter creativity that spills out no matter where you are! The sheer number of people that it takes to make this place buzz 24/7 ... and the dollars that must be lost in order to cover just the electric bills of one casino - much less the hundreds that operate here! It would've been easy to stay cynical (and I apologize for this tyrade), but seeing Vegas through the eyes of a 10-year- old made it tolerable.
We had a blast watching the automatron show at Caesars, snickered at the fact that "man parts" were exposed as much as ladies' in Roman times, decided that the Chihuly exhibit at the Indy Kids Museum beats the one at Bellagio, fell in love with the work of photographer Peter Lik, missed our vegetables, saw the coolest scuplture/architecture at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Brain Studies, and walked for the better part of 5 hours...
After hanging out with our favorite M&M characters, we decided we'd had enough of this man-made spectacle. It was time for us to embrace the surroundings that truly call our souls! Our trusty chariot was juiced up & ready to take us to "UT"-opia....
The ride into Zion was completely breathtaking. Kate had to keep the cameras close at hand so I wasn't tempted to "click-n-drive". We checked into a hotel in Hurricane & set out to get our first taste of Zion National Park. The natural beauty was breath-taking & the "welcoming" rainbow made it clear that we were exactly where we were supposed to be. It was getting close to dinner time, but we wanted to pick up some trail maps so we could plan for tomorrow's hiking outings. Plus, we learned that the road between Zion & Bryce (our next destination) was closed & needed some local suggestions on how to keep our plans on track.
We enjoyed some healthy (truly) pizza at Zion Pizza & Noodles. Sorry, Todd, but it put Bearno's pie to shame! Sat outside and got choked up at the beauty that surrounded us! Met a lovely park ranger at the National Park who gave us the scoop on getting through to Bryce (we must hike until 4 pm when the road reopens). Met a guy who loaded us up with $50 worth of freebies in return for a $45 donation to the Zion Natural History Association. Took about a dozen evening-time pictures of the awesome formations & started planning our "Day 4".
Before calling it a night, we took another look at our proposed itinerary & decided that there was too much to do and see in Zion & Bryce. Our trek to Arches would have to wait for our next visit. I was so grateful that we didn't make hotel reservations for the next 3 nights. We'll take our time and enjoy the magnificent beauty around us!
Check out the slide show from our Vegas escapades!
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