DAY 16 - VEGAS, BABY!

For day 16, we woke up to a beautifully hot day in Jacob Lake, Arizona. After fresh peaches for breakfast, we began our journey to Zion National Park. Arriving in a town called Springdale (kinda like Stockdale!) on the outskirts of the park and after a kerfuffle with the main car park being full, we were able to catch a shuttle bus into the park. With over 3 million visitors per year, Zion is one of the USA's  most popular state parks and so cars are not allowed within the canyon during peak season: instead we ride the shuttle back in and out with a recording giving interesting information and stops to explore some areas by foot.

In the panorama we see a view of the Court of the Patriarchs, 3 mountains named after, from left to right, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the white peak just visible behind the redder one in the foreground).

Something I (Jessie) was excited to see were the narrows, an area where the cliff faces come really close together so the path through the canyon narrows to only a river which you can walk upstream through. But apparently I had never read up on this and the route into and through them involves an 8 hour hike which requires relative planning, uh oh! So instead we take the roughly half hour hike to the entrance of the narrows and have a peek down there, me making a promise to come back in the future! We saw plenty of squirrels along with dragonflies and lizards, though unfortunately still no California Condor!

After a few hours in the park we decided we had had our fill as it was getting to be one of our hottest days yet. We stopped for a mega-salad at a deli back in Springdale, only eating half and saving the rest in the cooler! Continuing on, we joined the I15 for the 3 hour drive to Vegas. Part very straight highway, part super windy mountain roads, we witnessed again the slightly crazy American  driving style of slow on straight roads, 20mph over the limit on bendy hills. Over taken by everything, including massive trucks, in the hills, I was then able to do a bit of catching up on the straights, though mum refused to stick her tongue out at the cars we caught up!

As we hit Nevada, the landscape changed to undeniable desert with casinos every 2 minutes! The road into Vegas was a little scarily busy, but nothing compared to the grand exiting of Salt Lake City (see: 2 days ago) so I obviously handled it like a pro and before long we arrived at our lodging for the next 3 nights: The Rio Suites Hotel and Casino.

Parking in what turned out to be the worst choice of car park, though we thought there was only one, we wheeled our suitcases all the way through the massive Rio hotel looking for the registration desk. We went through parking lot, shops and casino before we were finally in the right place. This place really is massive!

Upon check in, we headed to our room to find this place is not only the tower you see above, but also a whole extra tower where we have our room. The room is much bigger than we expected, and you can see it below:

2 queen beds, a sofa and an armchair, a dining table, a large dressing area with wardrobe and a sizable bathroom, our room has floor to ceiling windows with a grand view of the strip which we are just off. So far, we can thoroughly recommend this as a place to stay in Vegas. With a free shuttle to 2 hotels on the strip, it's slightly off strip location is no problem as we are roughly the same distance from the strip's center as you would be staying at a strip hotel at either end you also get a great view of the whole street from the room. 

So, our evening. After the second half of the salad for dinner, we explore our hotel's own casino for awhile, doing our first bit of gambling with 1$ in a one-armed-bandit! We don't win however :(

We headed out on the shuttle to the strip: heading first to Planet Hollywood for collection of our show tickets for tomorrow night (more on that next time!), where we take a look around their casino and shops, buying some delicious brownies for dessert! From here we take a walking trip down the south end of the strip: exploring the amazing New York New York, Excalibur, Luxor and Bellagio hotels. We walk/ catch free trams between these and wow they are amazing! In the Bellagio (where we really wanted to stay but alas, very expensive!), we decide to do a bit more gambling and sit down to play a little video poker. Margaritas in hand, which like all drinks in the casinos are free so long as you are gambling and tip the waitress $1 or so, we actually manage to make ourselves $5! Amazed at our luck, we decide to try a few other games but apparently we are only poker wizzes as this causes us to lose our money again. But oh well, free margaritas and fun!

After a lot of walking around the strip, we have tired feet and after a brief excursion to see Caesars Palace and a little watch of some street  hip hop acrobatics, we catch the shuttle home and head off for bed, me very excited for a my first trip lie in the next morning!