Zion, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon

The first weekend in April when Brett got back from California we had another fun weekend of travels. Brett was hosting a guy from Costa Rica (Jose) for work and he had never been here before. So over the weekend Brett wanted to show him around. So since he had been away from the family for the past 10 days he wanted to be with the kids too. So we packed up and headed out for a 4 day adventure!
We left Friday and headed north. We drove through Sedona and showed him the “red” rocks. Then up through Page and the Glen Canyon Dam and we ended up at our cabin that night around 10pm. It was a long drive but the girls watched movies along the way and that kept them happy. Allden on the other hand is not so happy about being in his car seat for that many hours!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Zion National Park it’s about 45 minutes from our cabin. We packed a picnic lunch and spent the day there. What a beautiful place! We went to the visitors center and enjoyed a video about Zion and then we rode on a shuttle bus on a scenic route that had various stops along the way. We did the river side walk which ends at the beginning of the Narrows (a beautiful hike through the river and the canyon) The water was 45 degrees and people had to hike up to their chests in the water so they were wearing drysuits. Maybe someday I would like to do that hike, in the summer and without the kids. The hike was beautiful along the river and canyon, the girls are pretty good hikers but we had to take turns carrying Allden since we forgot to bring the hiking pack and the stroller. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery beautiful!

Sunday we got up early, cleaned up, packed up and headed to Las Vegas. We arrived around 3 in the afternoon and checked into our hotel on the strip. We stayed in a giant pyramid called the Luxor, it’s all Egyptian themed. The hotel was giant with a huge casino in it. After we checked into the hotel we headed out for the night. We walked over to Mandalay Bay and went to the big aquarium in the hotel. The kids really enjoyed looking at all the fish and sharks. After that we pigged out at a nice buffet at the Mandalay Bay….they had so much food! After dinner we walked and walked and walked the strip. We were so tired at the end of that night. We forgot to bring Allden’s stroller so we had to switch off carrying him. I liked the Bellagio and seeing the big water show.

We also walked through Ceasar’s Palace. It looked just like the places we saw in Rome, Italy with the Trevi Fountain and all the pillars. It was a fun night on the town but I think I would get tired of all the noise and lights all the time.

We drove home Monday and on the way home we stopped by the Grand Canyon….we couldn’t let Jose come to AZ without seeing the Grand Canyon! I wish we had one more day to explore the canyon. It really is amazing and beautiful! I haven’t been there since I was a young teenager, and you don’t appreciate it as much then. The kids didn’t really care too much about it either. What a fun and whirlwind of a weekend!