Yesterday did not end with the Vegas strip meandering…we each gave the pokie machines $50+….
Was hard to choose our machine! Then it was time to don the evening glad rags and head to the Eagles concert in the newest music venue on the strip “ The Globe”
Lit up with an ever changing light show from the outside..Tona and I both chose green as the wardrobe code..
Inside the globe the graphics were amazing and ever changing, moving images
Even though we were enclosed in the sphere it felt like we were at an open air concert with the sky image.
With an hour to kill, having been given strict etiquette instructions, that there was no standing, dancing or phone lights allowed, we decided that a beer or two was the only alternative! Three pints came to $138.00NZD so we really lashed out with two rounds and kept the cups as souvenirs, as I’m sure we paid a premium for these too!
Don Henley and the band, including Glen Fry’s son pounded out two hours of fantastic music accompanied by ever changing images and graphics on the inside of the sphere! I knew almost every song (and words)…..I didn’t realise I knew so many Eagles songs…it was an amazing concert, sounds wise as well as visuals! Probably puts it at my number 1, ahead of Cooper Alan and Cat Stevens. The walk back to the hotel was a challenge…to find an open door to enter our maze of a hotel and possibly added another couple of thousand steps onto an already big count! Midnight bed time after a very action filled day!
We left our Venetian Hotel, yes even with their own gondola river, around 8am and headed northeast to the state of Utah, destination: Zion National Park.
We had been spying these road side cafes and fuel stops (in Nevada) called Terribles…also touting clean bathrooms (like Buc-ees in Texas) so in need of a comfort stop we decided to check them out…
The entrance to the toilets was pretty impressive but the toilets not a patch on Buc-ees!
Onwards and upwards to the township of Springdale on the edge of the Zion National Park….an afternoon of hiking on the agenda..
Too early for check in, we dropped our car at the hotel and caught the (free) shuttle buses into the park and disembarked at stop number 6 to start the walk to the emerald pools and waterfalls!
The walk started with a horizontal zigzag of about a mile uphill…by now warming up, this climb was interspersed with tree shade rests and water sips!
It was pretty much a narrow rocky, orange dirt track with human (lots of them) traffic both ways…we soldiered on….
Stopping to admire the sheer cliff faces on either side of us.
Lots of pancake rocks
And prickly pear cactuses on the side…
The rock towers were orange, white, black and every shade thereof!
The emerald pools were a little unimpressive, as were fairly dry waterfalls feeding them…did manage a steep side track to catch this trickle…
However the towering cliff faces were spectacular!
As it was only mid afternoon and we were still standing after this two hour hike we decided to venture further into the mountains to walk (the easy) highest 2 mile track following the riverside walk up to The Narrows..once again on the shuttle bus(no cars allowed in the park) we commenced this trail, somewhat heartened by the sight of prams returning!
Following the river on a flat concrete path, only slightly undulating, we encountered some local wildlife…
Little squirrels starting to hop around the many walkers….increasing in numbers (walkers and squirrels) the further in we ventured…
A couple of young deer sunning themselves at the foot of the cliff faces…
Hand rails on this trail unlike the last more precipitous one, where there were no barriers!
The mountains closed in and the river became more rapid…super pretty bush and rock formations…
The end of the track, The Narrows, where one can continue on a three day wading hike further in and up the river…
A quick selfie, the Texans and Kiwi, still standing….but feeling like we had legs that were starting to scream out for a rest(food and a cold beer)
Back down the trail at ground zero…
Drinking in the sights and sounds and the last of our water…and trying not to step on the scurrying squirrels running beside us!
Back at the visitors centre with the crowds these two deer sent us a sign….bottoms up….so it was burgers and beer at the pub before catching our final shuttle back to our hotel, to check in, shower and put our weary feet up…another great day of adventures!
All who wander are not Lost girls 