Game over!

Another road trip draws to its conclusion! We decided to spend most of it on The Strip, but first we took a short drive to the Outlets on S Las Vegas Blvd. Its a wide-variety of branded outlet stores worth a visit if there's something you particularly want to go shopping for. (On our way there the GPS temporarily 'did one', which didn't enhance the driving experience!)

By noon, we had returned to the Strip and having parked behind Harrahs Casino, we made our way to the Venetian, which didn't impress us! Accordingly, we took a turn around Paris and then the Bellagio. The latter is quite classy and its Conservatory is worth seeing.

We reclaimed our car via a trip through Caesar's Palace and then made our way to Hard Rock. Yep, three days is probably enough in Vegas!

Although I can hear the fat lady singing as this trip ends, the track I've chosen today is none other than "Willy and the Hand Jive"!

The darker side of Las Vegas

Another pleasant day, weather wise, as we drove into the Downtown area, our point of interest being The Mob Museum! Its situated in the old courthouse building and charts the history of the mafia and other organised crime gangs in America.

Why Las Vegas? Well, clearly the City has a history of criminal activity linked with the Casinos and in the 1950s, the courthouse was one of those used in the hearings held across the US, in relation to eradicating organised criminal activity.

The museum is interesting, to say the least and contains some very unusual artifacts. Consider, the actual wall involved in the St Valentine's Massacre and the spent bullets extracted from the victims! Its a must do!! Exiting the museum, we took a walk around the Downtown area. In fact we walked down to the famous Fremont Hotel and the infamous street entertainment area, which is apparently very noisy in the evening. We didn't stay long! Returning to the Strip, we parked at the Linque and spent most of the afternoon wandering around Caesar's Palace, where things are never knowingly understated!

All in all, another pretty good day.

To mark the day, the following piece of music by Duane Eddy has been selected. We heard it many times on the road, but only discovered its title, today "Because they're young"

Rocking into las Vegas

We have been so lucky with the weather on this trip and yet again, we were greeted by a blue-sky day. The Windham was a nice place to stay in Hurricane and I'd defiantly plan to stay there again, to tour the Canyon lands. In fact, the usefulness of Hurricane as a base was reinforced as we made our way to Las Vegas. We simply turned right from the car park and drove 138 miles along State Street. Our final drive through desert landscape was very pleasant, but soon over.

In addition to arriving early, we gained an hour moving into Nevada. So, at the risk of being told that it was too early to check into Hard Rock, we first visited the nearby National Atomic Bomb Test Museum. Wow, who knew?! In fact, it turned out to be a really slick and interesting place. And why is it in Las Vegas? Well, throughout the 50s and 60,s, the Nevada Desert was the centre of USA's nuclear testing programme.

In the early afternoon, we eventually got to Hard Rock and checked in, having upgraded to a very nice suite. Needless to say, it came with a fully stocked fridge bar, which you simply don't go near!

All in all, we made a a good day out of our trip here.

And a track for today? Well, like the last time we visited, "Viva Las Vegas" , but this time, by ZZ Top

A town called Hurricane!

In fact, there are no hurricanes around here, but in the 1800's some guy experienced a few snowflakes whilst out riding and hencefore referred to as 'Hurricane Hill'! And today there were neither hurricanes or snowflakes, it was a perfect morning .... sunny skies and not too hot. As our main purpose for coming here was to visit Zion National Park, we set out to drive there, after breakfast. We got there at ten and were surprised by the volume of traffic already there. (The Park was teeming with people in hiking gear and carrying newly purchased pole-sticks.) Anyway, we paid our entrance fee, took a couple of tours of the main car park and then, fortunately, found a space in the overspill parking lot. In fact, the only way to see the canyon is by taking the free hop-off shuttle buses, so we took our place in line and did the round trip through this impressive canyon, carved through by the Virgin River. A bit reminiscent of the Valley in Yosemite Park, the river runs through a series of high peaks, each more impressive than the last.

 On our return journey, we hooped-off at the Park Museum and then walked the trail back to the Visitor Centre. With hardly a soul around on this path it was a very nice way to reclaim our car, in the once land of the Paiute Indians. Zion is very impressive! Before returning to Hurricane we drove through the busy town of Springdale and before leaving, called into a neat, small, cafe for lunch.

A nice way to round off our day out!

An odd musical choice, today, but we heard it played on our drive to Zion .... The Stones and "Paint it black"!

A long way across Utah!

We had an early start today, breaking out of Moab's Motel 6 via Eklectic Coffee and heading north, to link up with I15 south. The scenery on-route was once again, fabulous. The scale of the horizon and the mountain settings giving the impression of watching an Imax screen.

We made a couple of stops along the way, but it was a long drive, during which we saw more mountain peaks than people. (Around 320 miles across Utah!)

About 130 miles north of Las Vegas we turned off the Interstate and drove a further ten miles to Hurricane and the Wingate by Wyndham, our berth for the weekend. On arrival, we were immediately impressed by this brand new hotel and its location. (Interestingly, some of the staff wore traditional Mormon garb.) As there was a cinema close by we decided to take in a film before having dinner at Lonny Boy's Barbecue. The latter has to be seen to be believed! The food is excellent, but as it says on the label, it has to be 'barbecue'! We had the sampler platter .... delicious! Lonny has won lots of awards and the results of local independent reviews suggest  that he's discovered the meaning of life. One comment scribed on the wall simply stated "If there ain't a Lonny's in Heaven, count me out"! A good day.

And to mark today, musically, a piece that always seem to be played whilst we're on the move, Sandy Nelson's 'Teen Beat'

Arches

Our main aim today was to visit Arches National Park. Staying at Motel 6 meant that apart from coffee (available in the lobby!), breakfast meant a trip downtown. Fortunately, found the Electric Cafe, where the atmosphere, fare, and value for money were excellent.The park entrance was only four miles away and when we arrived the traffic queue wasn't too long. Entering the park, we joined a steady stream of vehicles through the winding road, to Devil's Campsite and back again. Along the way we stopped off at several places, including Delicate Bridge and Balancing Rock, to take in the spectacular views, colours, and rock formations.

After completing our tour, we called into the Visitors Centre and viewed the in-house film of the area.

By now it was early afternoon, as we headed back to Moab on Highway 191. We parked downtown and spent some time exploring shops and watching the High School Parade!

To commemorate our visit to Arches, it has to be a piece of rock music!So here it is, Eddie Cochran and 'C'mon everybody'!

On the road again!

Today we had a big drive ahead of us, from Flagstaff to Moab UT, some 326 miles. Fortunately, it was along good highways with no interstate, so the route was a scenic one, passing through Canyonlands. We passed close by to Lake Mead, at Page, and were not far away from the Grand Canyon, catching sight of some of its rim. We stopped, briefly, at Kayenta, a small crossroads town close to Monument Valley (and associated with the Navaho 'Windtalkers' story). Initially we called at the Blue cafe, but soon beat a retreat for McDonald's! (It has to be the slowest McDonald's in America!) We then drove to Monument Valley (home of the John Wayne movies!) and as it was a beautiful day, the sights were astounding.

Now in Utah, we carried on towards Moab and were soon seeing the fabulous palette of colours on offer.

Not far from Moab, we spotted our first arch!

Once in Moab, we found our hotel 'Motel 6'. (For anyone thinking of staying there .... don't)In the early evening, we found a nice place to eat in Moab centre (The Spoke) and reflected on our day, a long and very scenic drive. I was reminded that so far, I haven't posted the following piece of music on the blog, so here it is: 'On the road again' by Willie Nelson!

Bearizona!

Well, I guess that at least once during each road-trip, we visit somewhere zany and today was the day! Leaving Scottsdale behind we headed north on I15, heading for an overnight stay in Flagstaff, on Historic Route 66. We had previously stayed in Flagstaff and toured the surrounding Canyon lands area, but our stay this time was primarily to break the long haul to Arches National Park. The journey was estimated at around two-and-half hours, gradually ascending into higher ground and leaving the desert behind.

We decided to call-in the nearby Bearizonia, first, which is situated about twenty miles west of Flagstaff, in Williams. Bearizona, as it turned out, is basically a mountain zoo with a drive around safari loop, passing through enclosures of bears, wolves, bison etc. We spotted a few of each animal and managed to get out! Then we parked-up and walked round the zoo area. Its a bit quirky, but a nice place nevertheless.

The place already has a classy bar and restaurant and it appears that plans are in train to open the place up, as a tourist resort. It will probably be a success! We finally docked in Flagstaff at three o'clock and our bargain rate Green Tree Inn turned out to be just that, a real bargain (and there's an 'Olive Garden' nearby)!

My musical pot today is a sixties track that played as we drove north, today, which I don't recall using, before. Its Catch us if you can' by the Dave Clark Five (Where are they now?!)