Las Vegas and Grand Canyon

After camping outside of Zion we headed to Las Vegas for the night. The short 3+hour drive wasn't bad. Our hotel about 15 min off the strip, so it wasn't too bad. We ate at the Rio Carnival World Buffet, which was as you could imagine, way too much food. After eating at Rio(a casino off the strip) we took a shuttle over to Ballys on Las Vegas Boulevard. We decided to walk up the strip stopping at the various hotels and casinos. Caesars palace was impressive as a resort, but the casino was average. The Bellagio was the most impressive inside and out. Paris definitely had the coolest casino. The ceiling is painted and designed to look as if you are outside in the open air, with the Eiffel Tower replica's base inside the casino. Overall, Las Vegas was much seedier and less like the Hangover than I expected. Not too much to do if you aren't interested in gambling, prostitution, or Barry Manilow.

The next day we went to the Hover Damn. We parked near the newly constructed bridge spanning from AZ to NV and walked to the center of it to take pictures. It was impressive to see the size of the dam, but we didn't stay long. There are only so many pictures you can take of a dam. The Grand Canyon was our next stop. We decided to go to the Skywalk on the West end of the canyon. The skywalk is a glass platform that overhangs the canyon, which was really cool to look through. After seeing the other national parks in the area, the Grand Canyon seemed slightly less impressive that we would have liked. Maybe it is because the canyon is so large that one little section does not give you a good appreciation for its magnitude. We stayed in Kingman, AZ that night in a hotel room with 3 queen beds, which was amazing.

We went to LA yesterday and stayed in Santa Barbara last night. I would write about them now, but we have to check out of our hotel in 20 min. We most likely won't have internet until we reach Salt Lake City this weekend. Until then, we are going to stay in a redwood forest near San Fransisco for one night and camp near Yosemite National Park for 2 nights. Maybe we'll stop at a cafe to tap into the interwebs.