A Tale of Two Rooms

Maree had never been to Utah so this fall i took her to Zion. We also decided to spend a couple of nights in Vegas. I personally wouldn't mind if Las Vegas was wiped from the face of the earth (although i do like the location of the airport) but Maree wanted to go there so i dutifully showed her around.

We went to the Hoover Dam and took a tour. I didn't know that there is a huge bridge being built over the river as part of a much needed bypass of the dam. Construction had just been completed on the arch, and when finished it's supposed to be the 4th highest span in the world.


Looking South at the smoke of distant fires near Flagstaff.


From Vegas we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Maree hadn't seen that either (she really hasn't seen the Colorado Pleateau at all), and although i worked on the South Rim many years ago, i only visited the North Rim for one day in all that time.

I really like the North Rim. It's much more peaceful, far less crowded, and higher than the opposite side. It took a long time to get there and we were not looking forward to a twisty, nightime drive to Kanab. It was already close to sunset, so i asked if a room was available on the rim and, amazingly, they had a vacancy! Usually you have to reserve those rooms up to a year in advance.

We had a very old log cabin with holes in the doors that the moonlight would shine through. I was very thankful that the cabins had modern indoor bathrooms. That made all the difference. In our cabins in Glacier Park, you had to walk 50 yards through watever kind of weather was happening in order to get to the bathroom.

Our little log cabin room.


Maree gazes down into the abyss.

Although it was just one night, i had a good time up there on the North Rim. The lodge has a very cool ambience and is built literally on the rim of the canyon. At night you can stand outside by the heat of a huge fireplace and gaze out over the moonlit canyon. The surrounding lanscape is hilly and heavily forested with numerous large subalpine meadows to drive through. Although there are no Antelope as in Bryce, we saw plenty of deer in the evening. They also have a cool, unique species of squirrel (Kaibab Squirrel).


The lobby of the spa was about the only place i could take pictures and feel safe about it.

Days later we returned to Vegas for two nights. I thought that to wrap up our vacation it would be nice to stay someplace "classy", so we stayed at the Wynn Encore, which had just opened up earlier in the year. Our room was huge, as was the bathroom, and as far as casinos go, i haven't been in one that was nicer. Vegas seems to have changed it's gimmick over the last 10 years. Whereas before the city would build a hotel focused on some kind of gimmicky theme, they now seem to be using all that money to simply make places that look damn nice. The new theme must be "you are a high roller, so throw your money away"



Our room at the Wynn Encore was huge.


The water level now is very low at the Hoover Dam. Our guide said Las Vegas will be short on water in 3 years at current levels.


The original generators from the 1930's are still running strong.




In these pictures you can see the newly completed arch for the bypass bridge.


Deep inside the dam are cool secret base tunnels.


This whole area vibrated from the power of the water flowing through these huge pipes in the bottom of the dam.