Vegas baby!

We flew out of Syracuse on Delta at 6:45 am, after checking all four bags with camping gear with no problems. The flight was great and arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) early, where we had a 3 hr layover. We headed over to the Escape Lounge, which we could get into with our Amex platinum cards. This place is awesome! It was practically empty, clean, and had lots of seating. It also had a great spread of food, including these delicious little egg dishes in mini cast iron skillets. We ate breakfast here and then on our way out we went to the PGA golf store/restaurant, where our priority pass card got us a $15 credit per person to buy whatever we wanted at French Market, a bakery next door. We were full but we bought $60 worth of chips, nuts, and other snacks to bring with us, all for free! Score!

The 2nd flight was also great and we landed in Vegas ahead of schedule, around 12:30pm. We headed over to the Centurion Lounge for a quick lunch and welcome cocktail before we picked up our luggage. We could also get in here with our Amex platinum cards. So breakfast, lunch, and snacks all free with our lounge benefits from credit cards!

 

Once we picked up our luggage we got an Uber (using our $15 Uber credit from Amex platinum) to our hotel, Delano. The room, a suite, was great with a view of the strip. I paid cash for this room but was able to get several benefits by using my Amex platinum. When I booked it Amex was running a deal to get an extra 6,000 membership rewards for booking an MGM property. Delano is also part of their “Fine Hotels and Resorts” program, and if you have the Amex platinum you get early check in and late check out, $60 breakfast credit, WiFi credit, and $100 food and beverage credit. So I paid $350 but if you subtract the food credits it came out to $190.

We headed over to the pool complex at Mandalay Bay, since the two hotels are connected. It was so hot!!! But the pools were pretty cool. They have a giant wave pool, a lazy river, and a pool just for Delano guests. After a little swim we went back to the room and got ready for dinner.

 

On our way to dinner we walked through the casinos to stay out of the heat, and the kids got a kick out of seeing how they were connected but each had their own theme: Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, etc. We decided to go to the Wicked Spoon buffet at the Cosmopolitan. I had been there before but thought the kids would be amazed at the huge selection of food. (Another little perk, we were seated more quickly through the VIP line, just for having Marriott gold status). We definitely ate our fill and then left to go see the fountains at Bellagio. Unfortunately, right as we were leaving, my 7 year old said he felt sick and I knew from the look on his face he was about to throw up. We ran back into the restaurant and were not even 5 feet from the bathroom before he started puking. He ran into the bathroom and at least got the rest in the toilet. I felt terrible for the mess but by the time we left the bathroom they had it cordoned off and were taking care of it (I did apologize). He wasn’t sick, but he has a sensitive stomach and so it’s not unusual for him to throw up sometimes when traveling. Plus he ate his weight in pizza and treats at the buffet. We tried to watch the fountains at Bellagio after that but he felt really sick so we walked all the way back to the hotel. We all felt bad for him but we also didn’t want to take an Uber back in case he threw up again. He started to perk up by the time we got to Luxor and then we made it back to the room without incident. By that point everyone had had enough of the heat and the excesses of Vegas.

The next morning we took a Lyft over to an enterprise rental car in the suburbs. I booked the car by going to autoslash.com, which found me the best deal on Priceline. I had requested a standard SUV and when we got there they said they had a Mazda CX-7. They said they also had an Audi Quattro 7 and offered it to us for a $50 a week upgrade. When I hesitated because of the price the guy said he would give it to us for $25 a week. We checked out the car and it looked awesome, so we took it! The guy said the car usually goes for $120 a day. With my deal through Priceline plus the upgrade we got it for $43 a day! Score!

We headed over to Target and bought some supplies, then back to Delano to get our bags, and finally we hit to road to Zion!

Zion National Park

When we arrived at Zion it was about 2pm and very hot. Our campsite at Watchman campground was in the new, tent-only loop and was pretty cool. We set up camp and then headed over to Zion Outfitters to ask about renting equipment to hike the Narrows the next morning. The Narrows is Zion’s iconic hike through the canyon, and for part of the hike you are wading through water so they recommend wearing neoprene socks and shoes. We rented them for the next morning and then went over to the pub next door for some cold drinks and snacks. After that we cooked some burgers, and then the sky started looking ominous and the wind started blowing. Hard. Like so hard the tents were barely staying upright. We heard thunder and lightning and then the rains came. It was a massive, intense thunderstorm. For part of it we sat in the car but it was too hot and we knew we couldn’t wait there all night. Plus we were worried about the tents blowing away and wanted to weigh them down with our bodies. We ran to the tents and my husband stayed in one and the kids and I went to another. That’s when my youngest started puking. Again. In a tent, during a thunderstorm. Awesome. The kids and I ran out of that tent, leaving a puke soaked air mattress, and into the other tent with my husband, where he kept puking into a target bag. After that he felt better. (I think he may have been dehydrated and not used to the heat).

 

For several hours we sat in the tent through what was the worst thunderstorm I can remember. There was almost constant thunder, lightening, and pouring rain. Luckily, our little Coleman tent held up pretty well and we stayed dry. Eventually we all fell asleep (four people on two twin size air mattresses) and the storm stopped. Of course, someone’s car alarm went off twice in the middle of the night, waking us up. Needless to say we got very little sleep. When I woke up at 5am it was still dark, and I worked on cleaning the puke off the air mattress. We ate some granola bars and then put our neoprene socks and shoes on, ready to hike the Narrows early before it got crazy crowded. Unfortunately we learned that because of the storm there were massive floods and mud slides all over the park, and most of the hikes up Zion canyon were closed, including the Narrows. Apparently it was one of the worst storms they’ve had in a while and they got one quarter of their annual rainfall just in that one night! Here is a story on their Facebook page about it and a screenshot of the news.

Instead we hiked Watchman trail, which was beautiful with great views. After that we hopped on the shuttle bus and made stops at the human history museum for a ranger talk, and then to the Zion lodge where we ate lunch. After that we rested at camp and spent some time wading in the river, then we went back to the museum for another ranger talk and to see the film about Zion. When the film was over and we went outside to catch the shuttle, we were met once again with torrential downpours!!! Ugh!!! We thought this was the desert!!!

 

We ran from the shuttle over to our campsite to secure everything and then as the rain settled down we decided to go out to dinner in town rather than cook hot dogs in the rain. We found a great little place with awesome Tex mex food. That night we slept very well. The next morning as we packed up our site we learned the Narrows was still closed but the shuttles were taking people a bit farther up the canyon. We decided to hit some of the short hikes off the shuttle stops such as Weeping Rock, Emerald Pools, and Court of the Patriarchs. After a picnic lunch we drove about 2 hours through more rain to our Bed and Breakfast at Bryce National Park.

 

Thunderstorms aside, I had mixed feelings about Zion. The scenery was truly awe-inspiring. However when they say Zion is crowded, they weren’t kidding! It is so jam-packed with people, it had me feeling a bit claustrophobic to be honest. I did think their shuttle system was very well run. I would love to go back when it is less crowded sometime. Maybe I’ll finally get to hike the narrows.

Bryce Canyon National Park

When I was looking to book a campsite at Bryce, I read on the National park’s website that they would be doing lots of construction at the campgrounds this summer and therefore sites would be limited and first come, first serve. Not wanting to mess with that, I booked a bed and breakfast near the park through hotels.com. After all the storms at Zion I am glad I did, as there were still more storms in the area the days we were at Bryce and frankly we were desperate for a shower and a bed by that point. The BnB was very nice with a large room with a king size bed for us and a futon for the kids. There was a private bathroom and we all enjoyed showers and baths very much! The first night we went to dinner in town at an awesome little BBQ place.

 

The next day after breakfast at our BnB we headed into the park. I’ll never forget the look of awe on my husband’s face as he peered into the big bowl of hoodoos (drippy looking rock spires) for the first time. We knew there was a chance if thunderstorms around 1:30 so we did the Queens Garden and Navajo Loop trails into the canyon first thing. It was so amazing to be walking a amongst the hoodoos, although the trail was way busier than I remembered. There was a constant stream of people to walk around. It did start thunderstorming around 1 so we took a break to eat lunch, go to the visitor center, and rest at the BnB.

 

Later that afternoon we went back to the park to do a couple more short hikes and drive the whole 18 miles of the park highway out to Rainbow and Yovimpa points. I took a million pictures but none of them can do it justice. The landscape and rock formations are so other-worldly. It’s something you have to see in person. We did the Bristlecone trail at this end of the park which offers some incredible vistas.

We headed back to town around 7:30 and ate dinner at a great little pizza place and then crashed at our BnB. Overall, Bryce was just as amazing as I remembered it. It seemed like there were more tourists than there were 20 and 30 years ago, when I was here before, but It was definitely less crowded than Zion, which was very nice.

Capitol Reef National Park

I don’t even know what to say about Capitol Reef…it has rendered me speechless. To get there, we drove on scenic route 12 from Bryce through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This drive was incredible. The scenery continuously changed and went from sweeping vistas to an other-worldly rock-scape, to an Aspen forest, and finally to the bright red rocks and huge formations rising out of the earth as you enter Capitol Reef National Park. We had AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” playing on the stereo as we drove in, and it was oddly fitting with the huge bright red rock formations looming all around us.

Very quickly the landscape started to become greener as we drove into the Fruita historic district, where the campground sits. The Fremont River flows between the massive rocks and created a fertile valley for indigenous people and later some Mormon pioneers in the 19th century. The Mormons planted several orchards and the trees still produce copious amounts of fruit today. Our campsite was pretty close to the orchards and after we set up camp and ate lunch we were able to pick some apricots! We then headed over to Gifford House, a historic building from the old village that is now a museum, gift shop, and pie shop!!! We bought some ice cream to eat now and some pie for later. Then we headed over to the visitor center, the historic schoolhouse, the Petroglyph wall, and went on a hike to the Hickman bridge, a massive arch. The hike was great and the boys had fun finding little caves to sit in, We ate dinner at the campsite and the kids started to make friends with some of the other kids at the campground. For the rest of our time there they would find each other and have “apricot wars” in the orchard with the fruit that had dropped to the ground.

After dinner at the campsite we went to a fabulous ranger program on astronomy – they have a nice modern amphitheater right in the campground, and then we stayed up pretty late to star-gaze (Capitol Reef is designated as an international dark sky park). The stars were incredible and we could just make out the Milky Way.

The next morning we did the Cohab Canyon trail which takes you through a desert canyon with some cool slot canyons on the sides and has a couple climbs to viewpoints of Capitol Dome and Fruita. It was an awesome hike but got hot pretty quickly, so when we were done we escaped to the air conditioning of the car and went to town for lunch, more supplies, and to check email.

We were still pretty spent by the time we got back so we went to a ranger talk on the Petroglyphs and the Fremont Indians, and then did the 10 mile scenic drive which ends in a drive through Capitol Gorge, a dirt road that goes through a canyon and used to be the only way through the whole area. It was both exhilarating and kind of scary to be bumping along in the car so close to the canyon walls. That night we hiked a little of the Fremont river trail and went to another ranger talk. The next day we packed up our camp and left to drive to Vernal, Utah near Dinosaur National Monument.

I can’t say enough good things about Capitol Reef. It was so much less crowded than Zion and Bryce which made our stay much more enjoyable. At the other parks the trails felt as crowded as walking down Broadway in NYC! Crazy! At CR, there were other people hiking but you would run into them maybe every 15-20 minutes, and the rest of the time you could have a little solitude. The landscape was just out of this world. It really seemed like an alien planet at times. The park also had lots of different things to offer, from the amazing vistas, the desert and canyon trails, the rock formations, the night sky, the ancient petroglyphs, and the historic pioneer town. We went the three ranger talks and all were awesome. I could have easily spent a week just exploring this park and was sad to leave. But, onwards we went!