Utah-Vegas

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Aug 29th Friday

Drove to Capitol Reef park from Torrey- just a shortish drive. We bought a National parks pass for $80 which has been well worth it as it cost $40 to go in Yosemite. Anyway did a walk at Capitol Reef- very hot again , saw more arches and canyons- really beautiful. Continued to Escalante which was very small town - just convenient for Bryce Canyon the next day. We had pizza in the evening at a restaurant which had feeders for hummingbirds and they were right next to our heads as we ate!!!Tried to take photos of the but our camera wasn't quite up to it!

Aug 30th Saturday

Drove to Bryce Canyon- one of the most amazing parks so far- full of huge red rocks a bit like Cappadocia in Turkey- did really step walk into valley back up -bit cooler so walking easier. Drove to Zion which was a fantastic drive - last part actually through the park. Had booked ahead as it was labor weekend ( like bank holiday) Stayed in Springdale just on edge of park - worst motel room and the most expensive! Zion was very very busy!
There was a storm forecast that morning so we went to a diner and had a buffet breakfast!! Weather cleared up about 12. We did walk up the side of the canyon to the Emerald pools- lots of people walking! Then caught bus along to the end of the canyon and did short walk. Overall I think we both preferred Bryce to Zion- partly due to it being so busy on Labor weekend.

September 1st

So instead to being back at work we were on the road to Vegas- hardly took any time at all to drive - just over 2 hours- no traffic either. Luckily our hotel was really easy to drive to being downtown and not on the strip. We were on Pacific time then so we checked in about 11.30! it was really hot so we went tp the pool which had a huge tank full of fish and sharks in the middle of it! there was also a slide which went through the tank! It took a bit of getting used to just lying about all day but we managed. Found the strip very overwhelming the first night. We went to Japanese buffet in the evening. Did the same thing for the next 2 days - saw the Bellagio fountains, went in The Venetian which is very impressive and in NYNY which good - had dinner in an Irish Pub wihc had been transported from ireland brick by brick apparently. Played some roulette - managed to keep going on $20 for about half an hour and kept even got a bit boring in the end and it was so smoky - no atmosphere in the casinos at all- no one seems to be having any fun!
Stayed an extra night as we realised we only had short drive to Yosemite and hotel same price as a motel!

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