Ooh Las Vegas the devil made us for you!

We came to this place over 30 years ago and a thrilling small plane ride down The Grand Canyon was a definite highlight but we didn’t really “get it” then and as non gamblers we still don’t quite “get it”. Vegas is definitely a marmite place. To me its just a more exotic seaside resort, amusement arcades taking dollar bills rather than pennies and with a warmer climate justifying the show of flesh, and there is a great deal of it on show here. The Strip is busier than ever and we were quite unable to get our bearings as to where we had stayed and wandered on our visit all those years ago. There were certainly lots of ‘new’ hotels and our disorientation was possibly due to seeing New York, Paris, Venice and Ancient Rome all within a few blocks of each other. People flock here from all over the US and indeed the World and Vegas it seems no longer has to entice them in with free chips, free drinks while gambling, or cheap show tickets as it once did. This is not a cheap place to visit although there is no cost to watching the low rollers or the dancing fountains of The Bellagio.

We had travelled to Sin City from Death Valley through featureless scenery. The highlight was seeing a sign indicating the direction to Hidden Canyon. Who says the Americans don’t do irony. Even if not deliberately! Incidentally we also saw a sign offering “Organic Wood” for sale. A USP if ever there was one.

We’ve never been on safari but can well understand the excitement and anticipation of those that have when they anticipate ‘bagging’ the Big 5. Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo.

The last fortnight has been our own safari but not in the sense of bagging those animals. Instead, we have bagged the Big 5 National Parks in USA; Zion, Bryce, Monument (technically not a National Park), Arches and Canyonlands in that order. You may argue that Yosemite and Yellowstone should be in there but for our purposes they are the Giraffe and the Wildebeest. Personally number one has to be Jellystone but that is for another day.

Each was different, thank goodness or we would have been well and truly “parked out”. Monument Valley is probably the best known outside of the USA. Home to John Wayne’s Westerns, it evokes the Wild West. However, Pat and I felt that in the grand scheme of things it was the least impressive. Perhaps if we had visited it first on our list we may have had a different impression but it didn’t quite have the Wow Factor of Bryce, in particular…and boy did that have the Wow!

Maybe the lack of alcohol in Monument, in deference to the Navajo population, on whose land it lies, coloured our view!

Zion was first and we had a couple of longish walks. We left via the Mt Carmel Tunnel, a more than 1 mile tunnel blasted through the rock.

Before arriving at Bryce we stopped at Red Canyon Arch and did the one mile circular walk to stretch our legs. A delightful little canyon.

Bryce was the highlight of the trip so far. Around every corner was another awe inspiring view. There are other places in the world that have elicited similar reactions in us. Angkor Wat in Cambodia and The Treasury at Petra come to mind. Indeed looking out over the Amphitheatre at Bryce was to see an amalgam of Angkor and Petra. Towering steeples in red sandstone and a narrow canyon entrance.

Monument Valley followed and our accommodation, described as overlooking a car park turned out to be on a gas station forecourt, literally, next to the car wash. At least on the way we were able to stop off at Horseshoe Bend, a superb example of a bend in a meandering river. This was just along from Lake Powell created by the damming of the Colorado River. The dam is called the Glen Canyon Dam. So nice that such a good singer had a dam named after him!

Monument as I mentioned above is not a National Park. It is on Navajo Tribal lands. Harry Goulding and his wife set up a trading post here in the 1920’s. To help at the time of the depression Goulding contacted a movie location company in Hollywood and told them of Monument Valley. In 1939 John Ford used the area as the set for Stagecoach starring John Wayne. It was the first of many of the Duke’s films made here and he holidayed here as well having fallen in love with the area.

Heading from Monument Valley to Moab, which was to be our base both for Arches and Canyonlands, we took a detour to Goosenecks. this turned (sic) out to be a multi horseshoe bend in the river. (The Colorado of course).

On leaving Goosenecks we wrongly turned left instead of right and found ourselves going up Moki Dugway. I now know that a dugway is a road carved out of a hillside. Moki is a local name for the ancient tribe from this area. Luckily for me Pat was driving. I’ll take the blame for the misdirection. Glad we’ve done it though.

Moab is a lively place with a good choice of eateries and a bar. $10 (£8) for a bottle of Corona and a pint of Sir Veza Mexican lager was very reasonable. Turns out that all drinks were $5 each no matter what! At least I think they were as $10 for two drinks was all I heard charged over our three visits there.

Arches NP is famous for well…its arches, although much of its appearance is a mix of all the other parks.

And so to Canyonlands. We started with a 3.5 mile out and back hike along the Murphy Point trail. Not sure who Murphy was but his point had terrific views.

And finally, with apologies to those of you who are Facebook friends and saw the following at the time…

Thursday 19th May 2022

What a day.

Pat and I visited Bryce National Park in Utah USA. It exceeded all our expectations and is truly one of the Wonders of the natural world.

Being there meant being out of internet range for most of the visit other than near the Visitor Centre or a couple of other places.

Of course I needed to know how Everton were doing in their last home game of the season. A must win if truth be told with Arsenal away to come.

I got a signal and saw 0-1. Signal lost. Was it a lucky goal against the run of play?

Signal recovered for a few minutes. 0-2 at half time.

Bugger it. I vowed not to look again until after full time. I explained to Pat that only twice have we come back from 0-2 to win an important game 3-2. As I was explaining we passed a sign for Inspiration Point. An omen?

We were back at our car just after the final whistle would have blown. My phone buzzed. Messages on WhatsApp and Signal groups

A message from a fellow Evertonian. We did it. 3-2!

Two Wonders of the World in one day.