South West USA

Part 1

Friday 1 May 2015

The night before our departure to Las Vegas we stay at the Citizen M hotel at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. It is a few minutes' walk from Schiphol Plaza and the railway station. We need to check ourselves in at a computer terminal and create a room key. The room is small but inventively designed. The bed faces the window wall to wall. The shower and toilet are in the room and shielded off by sliding glass doors. We have a view of the incoming and departing airplanes. We watch some TV and drink a (free) drink at  the bar downstairs. Then we go to sleep, as we have to get up early tomorrow.

 

Saturday 2 May 2015

We get up around 7 am, get dressed and walk to the terminal building. We drop off our luggage at the machine in Hall 2 and make our way  through passport control. Terminal 2 is being  remodeled and breakfast facilities are bit sparse. After a sandwich with a drink we walk to the concourse  D where we drink coffee at Starbucks. At the gate we have to answer a few questions before we go through the full body scan. The Delta flight leaves on time at 10.35 to Salt Lake City. It turns out to be  the first flight from Amsterdam to this city ever, so we are writing history. The flight goes smoothly. We get something to eat at three occasions and watch some movies on our home entertainment system. We land at 13:10 (local time) in Salt Lake City. The time difference is 8 hours. We then go through immigration control. That takes more than half an hour. We've done all the ESTA applications at home (via the website; cost $ 14). This is a mandatory electronic request for permission to travel to the United States without a visa. In Salt Lake City we get a stamp in our passport in exchange for a scan of our finger prints and a photograph of our face. We claim our bags and go through customs. Then the cases have to be rechecked before we continue to the safety check for our connecting flight to Las Vegas.
 
This Delta flight goes smooth as well and around half past four (local time, one hour time difference) we land in Vegas. At the airport we have to walk a long way, and then take a train to the terminal building. There we find out that our suitcases will on the last baggage belt in about 30 minutes. The car rental offices are not inside the airport building, but somewhere else and we have to take a bus there. There is a huge line for the bus, but luckily the buses come and go frequently and we get away rather quickly. It is a ten minutes’ drive to the car rental building. Here are most of the big rental companies. From Hertz we get a Chrysler 200,  a large car. We drive to the Hotel New York New York. No more than 10 minutes. The hotel is in the form of a collection of New York's skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. In front is a replica of the Statue of Liberty. The reception is located at the edge of the casino lobby. We check in and at 17 o'clock we finally lie on our beds. After a rest we get some food at one of the many restaurants in the hotel. Finally, we go back to the room tired and fall asleep around 8pm.

Sunday 3 May 2015

We wake up around 7:30. We have breakfast in the America restaurant at the hotel. Fine choice, but pricey. Then we have coffee at Starbucks and go for a walk in the area. We walk along Las Vegas Boulevard, also known as the "Strip", and pass many hotels and casinos. We pass Monte Carlo Hotel en Casino and Casino and The Chrystals Shopping Centre with the most exclusive fashion brands and end up at the Paris-Las Vegas Hotel en Casino. This hotel has a replica of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Opéra Garnier. Nothing is too crazy here. We take the bus ($ 8 day pass) back to our hotel. We have lunch in the America. There is a huge map of the USA suspended from the ceiling showing miniature sets of sights for each state.
 
From the hotel we take the car and drive to the Townsville Square mall to Fry’s to buy an AT&T Unite personal hotspot. It costs $ 69. This allows us to convert mobile Internet into a wifi signal for our netbook and Iphones. This way we avoid high roaming costs when we want to use the Internet on the go. Inside the hotels there is usually Wifi, but often unsecured. Then back to the hotel to get the device to work. That works well (login, create account, obtain telephone number) until I want to upload a balance. With a Dutch credit card this does not work. We have to take the bus to the Fashion Mall to buy a $25 GoPhone voucher at the AT & T shop there. It is good for 3GB during one month. Back to the hotel. Code entered and the balance is credited. I contact the hotspot, but get no Internet connection, that is, I only get the AT & T website. Back to the store. Three sales reps get involved over the problem until they decide to call the  AT & T's customer service. It turns out that a setting in their system is wrong and they put it right immediately. It works! We can get back to the hotel.
 
Around 5.30pm it's time to head to the Paris Hotel and Casino by bus. Las Vegas has two types of public buses  run by RTC. The Deuce and the SDX. The first stops almost anywhere on Las Vegas Boulevard, the SDX is an express bus. Tickets can be bought from a ticket vending machine at each bus stop. Credit Cards accepted. We take the SDX. At the Paris Hotel we  eat in the buffet restaurant, Les Villages. For $ 33 you can eat as much as you want. The food tastes good, but is not too hot. After dinner we watch a musical called Jersey Boys that tells the history of the pop group the Four Seasons from the 60s and 70s with their lead singer Franky Valli. Very professional show with all the popular hits of the group, which all sound very familiar. After more than two hours we're back outside.
  
We are lining up at the pond in front of the Bellagio hotel across the street to see  the water organ that plays every fifteen minutes. The performance lasts only three minutes, but it is beautiful with the huge hotel in the background. We walk through the very luxurious Bellagio, which we know from the movie Ocean's Eleven, in which it is robbed. The shops at the Bellagio are very luxurious with top brands such as Tiffany's, Cartier, Vuitton, Fendi etc. In the courtyard it holds over-the-top manicured gardens with tulips. It smells pleasantly though. From the Bellagio we have a great view of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel. We take the bus back to our NewYork New York hotel and drink a cocktail on the side walk terrace of Tom's Urban bar.

Weather: sunny 30°C / 86°F.

Maandag 4 May 2015

 We sleep until a bit past 8am. We have breakfast today at the Italian cafe in the hotel. This is fine and a lot cheaper than the American. After breakfast we take the bus to the Stratosphere hotel. This hotel & casino has an observation tower that is 350 meters (1150 ft) high. At the  top deck of the tower there are some hair-raising attractions where visitors are suspended outside the tower or can do bunjee jumps with a drop of 235 meters (770ft). The Stratosphere is on the edge of the Strip (with all new casino and hotel developments) and the old downtown with the more sedate traditional Las Vegas hotels and attractions. By bus it is a 40 minutes' drive from our hotel. Once we have taken in the views, we take the bus back south and get off at the Wynn hotel and the Fashion Mall. The mall holds many stores for flashy fashion brands and department stores like Neiman Marcus and Macy's. We eat here in the Food Court. Then we visit the luxurious Wynn with its floral artworks and the special courtyard with a lake and a water wall.
The afternoon we spend at the side of the pool of our hotel. Particularly quiet, it is not. There are not too many visitors, because it is cloudy and the wind actually makes it a bit chilly. The music is pretty load and  every 5 minutes the roller coaster with screaming passengers coms roaring by over our heads. After swimming a few laps and a little soak in the whirlpool we go back to the room.
Around 5 pm we take the bus to the Venetian. This hotel is themed as a miniature Venice and the old city is more or less reconstructed here. There is a Rialto Bridge, Campanile, a Doge's Palace and the Grand Canal starts outside the hotel and you can take a ride in a gondola boat. Inside, besides the usual gambling there much to see as well. Wonderful collonades, frescoes and marble floors. The shopping center is located along the small version of the Grand Canal. Some gondoliers have show off their vocal qualities. the spacious Piazza San Marco is also fun, with restaurants and terraces. The high ceiling is painted with a summer cloud sky, which really gives an impression being outdoors. Atmospheric artists perform with singing and dancing characters based on the Venetian carnival. At 18.30 we check in at the restaurant Bouchon by chef Thomas Keller, who has been named America's best chef by Time Magazine in 1996. The main branch in California has a Michelin star. Keller's main restaurant The French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York have 3 stars. The food here is traditional French bistro style and has good quality. The style is a bit loose and sometimes the staff allows itself a few minor mistakes. I take six oysters (selection of the East and West coasts), Daurade and for dessert a Île flottant. The wine is a delicious Californian Pinot Gris. For dessert we take a glass of Sauterne.

Weather: sunny start, but increasingly overcast. 18°C / 64°F

 

We start off around 9:30 on Interstate 15 in a northeasterly direction. Once outside the city, the landscape is empty and desolate at first, but then we enter the mountains of the Moapa Valley and we are humbled by the spectacular rock formations. We stop in Springdale for lunch at a deli. Then we drive on and arrive shortly after at the entrance of Zion National Park. We buy the America the Beautiful Annual pass, which costs $ 80 a year and allows access to all National Parks. We cut through the park in order to leave it again on the east side. We drive through Zion Canyon tunnel. Here, big cars and buses must drive on the middle of the road in order to avoid hitting the tunnel wall. This only possible between 8am and 8pm when traffic is regulated by traffic lights. We arrive at the Thunderbird Zion Lodge in Carmel Junction by 3pm. It is a hamlet in the middle of nowhere, but the hotel is conveniently located midway between Zion and Bryce National Parks in. We relax  a bit and walk around. There's little to see. We drive 5 miles north to Orderville, which has a general store, which sells any conceivable item. Back in Carmel Junction we eat in the restaurant at the Thunderbird Lodge.

Weather: sunny 22° C / 72° F , late night thunderstorm

After the traditional American breakfast at the Thunderbird restaurant we drive  to Zion National Park. We are early enough  to get a parking space at the visitor center. Space is limited, especially now that part of the parking lot is under reconstruction. If there is no space left visitors have to park in the center of Springdale and take the shuttle bus to Zion. The park itself can only be visited with the park shuttle bus system, at least outside the winter season. The buses run at least 4 times per hour and make eight stops in the Zion valley. We ride the bus all the way to the final stop at the end of the Zion Drive at the so-called temple of Sinanava. This is where the Riverside walk starts along the Virgin River, through the narrow part of the canyon. It is a beautiful walk with lovely views. We walk to the end of the paved path. You can carry on if you want  wading through the river. There are guided groups that come prepared with waterproof clothing. In the narrow canyon there is a danger of Flash Floods. These are very fast emerging floods caused by heavy rainfall upstream. During such a flood you should ascend as quickly as possible up  the mountain to the sides of the canyon.
We return and take the bus to the Big Bend. Here's a nice view of some mountain peaks such as the White Throne and Angel's Landing. After that we continue by bus to the Zion Lodge. Here we have lunch in the cafeteria. After lunch, we walk uphill to the Lower and Middle Emerald Pools. A beautiful walk with views of the canyon from a higher vantage point. The lakes are small and so are the waterfalls.. Back down on the valley floor we take the next bus to the Court of the Patriarchs. Here we have a view of three peaks named after the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They can be seen from a viewpoint that is about 20 meters uphill from the road. We take pictures and take the bus back to the visitor center. From there we drive via the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway (UT9) to the east. Passing  numerous hairpin bends we reach the tunnel built in 1930. Just beyond the tunnel is the trailhead of a trek to the Canyon Overlook. The first 15 minutes are a very steep climb, but then it becomes easier, although the trail skirts the edge of deep ravine fromt time to time, which is a little scary. The reward is a beautiful view of the Zion Canyon.
We drive to the hotel. There we have a rest, take a shower and around six o'clock we drive to Kanab, a town 19 miles to the south, where there is plenty of choice of restaurants. We eat at Rocking V Cafe. The owner thinks he recognizes us - he says "Welcome Back" a number of times The case is quiete  packed, but there is room for “returning customers”. We really have never been before. The food is fine, but pricey. We pay over $ 100 for the two of us. Ignorant as we are, we go along with the addition of the service charge to the bill. That turns out to be 18%. Do not do this ever!
We drive back to the hotel. Unfortunately, there are problems with the hotel wifi internet, which can not be resolved.

Weather: sunny. In the morning cool, 17 °, later it gets warmer 22 ° C

 

The breakfast at the Thunderbird Lodge was high on calories again, although we do our best to avoid the fattest foods. We drive north on US89 to Bryce Canyon National Park. The weather is crisp, if not cold, yet sunny. We arrive around half past eight at the National Park and on presentation of our card we enter the park. We drive towards Sunrise Point. The route takes us through a forest, without any signs of a canyon or a mountain landscape we are looking for. When we park the car we still do not see it, but we see some light in the distance. We walk in that direction and only beyond the last of the trees the beauty of Bryce Canyon is revealed. The views from Sunrise Point are breathtaking. Red rock in the Valley is made up of hundreds, if not thousands of pillars, arches and ledges, which are called hoodoos and windows. Bryce is not really a canyon. It is not a narrow valley that has been carved out by a river, but rather the edge of a ridge. After Sunrise Point Drive to Sunset Point. Here we start on the Navajo Loop trail down to the valley. It is not really a round trip, because construction work blocks part of the trail. We descend steeply and enjoy the beautiful views, but now with a somewhat different perspective.  After a while we get to the so-called Wall Street. This is an increasingly narrowing path which descends steeply down. When we reach the lowest point , we return and climb back up. It took us about an hour.
We then drive to the Bryce Lodge, the hotel and restaurant of the National Park. We take the lunch buffet, which is arguably the healthiest option. Fine food. After lunch we drive to Bryce Point. This is the southernmost viewpoint of Bryce Amphiteatre, the semicircular part of the mountain ridge. Again lovely views. From there we drive to the south, along a number of viewpoints. It is impossible to them all. We stop at the Natural Bridge, which is not really a bridge (which is carved out by a river), but an arch (which is formed by wind erosion). It is nevertheless very impressive. Next stop is the most southern point in the Park, the Rainbow Viewpoint overlooking the "Canyon" and the nearby Yovimpa Point which overlooks the Kaibab forest and in the distance the Grand Canyon. There is here a strong and cold wind. It is not more than 8° C (46° F). Then we drive the 18 miles back to the exit and then 97km to our hotel in Carmel Junction. Back there it is 20° C (68°F).
After a shower and some rest we drive again to Kanab, where we eat in a Asian diner called Fusion House. Good food and not expensive. The food is served at a high pace and after an hour we are out on the street again.
We drive back to the hotel.

Weather: Sunny. 8 °C (64°F) in Bryce NP. 20° C (68°F) in Carmel Junction.

 

 

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