Sunday's Tri-State Travels

As we left Utah, we were surrounded again by enormous rock structures- look far ahead on the road and you'll see a semi for scale! It's dwarfed by the mountainous terrain we drove through.

We stopped at a few scenic overlooks just off the highway. The moon has often been quite visible during parts of the day, we've noticed. Seeing it over the cliffs and canyons was picturesque, but this photo doesn't do it justice since the depth of the real scene isn't apparent!

A few members of a family of Najavo descent were selling jewelry they make at these overlooks. I asked Patrick to pick me out one he liked when we were at Dragon Canyon, so I have a nifty souvenir I'm wearing in later photos. :)

Farther west in UT, there were pink-red layers of color in the distant mountains.

It wasn't a free park pass day, but with Denny & Candy's (Patrick's parents) senior pass, we got into Zion National Park for free anyway! Many of the attractions are accessed by hiking we just didn't have time for, but we drove a 5 mile path in the north section that was still enough time for us to see how the park received its name!

This is one of my favorite scenes from our whole trip. I felt like I was observing a landscape in a fantasy movie.

Not just the rock and skyline have changed- so has the vegetation! Not surprising to see cacti in desert region, but definitely intriguing to people not used to it.

There are strange trees out here. These ones just weird me out!

The drive through Arizona was an hour or less, I'd guess, but it was eventful, considering. The road took you through the middle of a giant, gorgeous canyon that words, and not even pictures can depict. But before we had time to enter it, or even get 1 mile into the state, a cop pulled us over! He claimed it looked like U-haul had altered the Arizona license plate on the moving truck and he needed to make sure it complied with the law. Wish he could have made the determination w/o making us park our large vehicle on a slanted shoulder of a slightly more congested portion of highway! Some welcome, Grand Canyon state! :P

At least he let us go immediately, without ticket or any other issue. There was a truck inspection point we skipped upon entrance into AZ (thinking it was only commercial/oversized), and got worried that perhaps the officer considered us to fall in that category, so we were happy to find that wasn't the case.
Nevada still had mountainous terrain, but with seemingly sawed off tops! I'ts amazing how flat and smooth they are.
The haze and the distance created a mysterious and lovely effect that gave a layered look to the mountains.
We arrived in Las Vegas during early evening, and ventured off in search of dinner. It was hard to make a decision, so we walked around a bit first. This ceiling decorated with blown glass was a brilliant distraction along the way.

The first convenient/reasonably priced place to eat we came across was the PBR Rockbar & Grill, which was more money than our typical eatery, but served some pretty good food. Patrick had a side of potato salad we swear was one of the best versions we've ever had. On our way back to the car, we paused for a picture with the Bellagio in the background.


Since that's also where we parked, there was no way we were leaving without watching at least one fountain show. It was a short, slow operatic song that was an elegant and romantic contrast to the busy, party atmosphere around us.

Oh- forgot to mention! What's the other thing you can't leave Vegas without doing? I was determined to at least make one play on a slot machine! :) Patrick gave me $20 to make some luck with, but after it dwindled to $13, I called it quits. Fortunately, his winnings made up for mine and actually resulted in a net $11 profit that was not staying in Vegas despite it happening there. ;)