Friday Morning, we set out to Zion National Park in Utah.Its approximately 6 hours drive from Maggi's house. We rented a new Pontiac G6 car and Sunil was burning tires!! like crazy. Utah is a moutainous state. The Drive had great views all along with the roads winding through the hills.These hills were made of different colored (white,red,black etc.,) rocks in layers giving you an impression that hill are painted strips by some one. There is not much vegetation in Utah just the hills. Zion National Park had deep gorges made by the flow of rivers and land slides. There are trails where you can take a trek. The one we trekked on is by a river surrounded both sides by steep hill rising 300-400 feet.The weather was nice 50 deg Fahrenheit. It was very refreshing to trek listening to the flow of the river and wondering how this timid river cut the hills into two like hot knife through butter. We stayed in Kanab, a town close to the park.
Saturday we left for Grand Canyon in Arizona. Arizona is south of Utah and very similar to Utah in its geographical features. The south rim of Grand Canyon is approximately 4 hours drive from Kanab. We stopped at a scenic view point which had a small unpaved road leading to a elevated viewing area. The 360 degree view didn't yield any sign of civilization other than the highway and a small boat yard. It was just mountains stretched all along till the horizon. It gave a sense of being lost in the wilderness, of being escaped from the day to day monotony, of being completely free and live for just that moment. I enjoyed it immensely.
We reached Grand Canyon Saturday afternoon. There were many view points Lipan Pt, Moron Pt, Hermit Rest, GrandTrail Pt. The view was awesome from all of these points. The Grand Canyon is a big Canyon formed by the Colorado river.Its 270 million years old. It was so deep (7000 - 8000 Ft)that you can barely see the river at the bottom and soo wide (few miles) that you can barely see the other rim. So when you see the canyon its like a big depression dotted with pine cones of small hills arranged zig-zaged. The hills in the Canyon are made of different colored rocks from red,blue, grey, black et., It was quite a site.
We left for Vegas Saturday night(4 hours drive) and reached by 10 pm. Though vegas is more beautiful at night, we were so exhausted to even think of going out. So we slept and set out to explore the city Sunday morning. It was such a contrast between Grand Canyon and Vegas. The city was exploding with humanity, with gamblers and tourists. We didn't gamble much. I lost 10 dollars in the slot machine and called it quit.
We spent lot of time running around and looking at the casinos. My favorite is 'The Venetian'.Its like a replica of Venice with water ways surrounding the the building and with people riding the gondolas(small boats propelled with an oar). Inside of the casino,the shops are built in such a way that their front facade resemble the streets in Venice. The ceilings are covered with drawings. I couldn't make out what the drawings mean but they are one of the prettiest I have seen. The walk ways through the shops have ceilings painted like the sky and they are well lit that you feel that you are actually walking through an outdoor street in broad day light.Almost all the casinos are built with a theme like the 'Paris' representing the city of Paris, the 'NewYork NewYork' representing New York City, the 'Alladin' representing a city in Persia. Oh! I almost forgot about 'Luxor'. Its a casino shaped like a Pyramid. The hotel rooms are lined alongs the inclined walls of the pyramid. They don't have elevators like normal hotels but inclinators to go from one floor to the other. It has a big Sphinx guarding the entrance. The inside of the casino has drawings and sculptures portraying the Egyptian Civilizations. It just amazing to see these casinos and the way they were built.
We saw lot of shows like the water show in front of Bellagio, the volcano show infront of Mirage, the clown show in Circus Circus, the acrobatic air show in Tropicana etc., We were dead tired at the end of the day. It was one hell of a day! and one hell of a trip. I will remember it for a very long time.
I took the overnight flight to New Jersey and spent the Monday like a Zombie in the office.
Skely said...
looks like it was an exciting and a packed trip...
Post the pictures too....
ck said...
sure, I don't have the pics myself. I should get it in a week. I will post them then.
DD said...
Great time you folks had, eh? Me too waiting to see the pics :)