From Zion Back To Las Vegas

First thing in the morning, we went out to the Mean Bean Coffee House, a small coffee shop in Springdale, and got a muffin and a cup of hot chocolate. The muffin was for me, and the hot chocolate was for Nick, but Nick and I practically fought over this drink--definitely the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Today we would be heading to Las Vegas, but we still had a few stops to make in the Zion National Park before leaving.

First we headed to the Weeping Rock. A short walk away from the main road took us to a beautiful magic place where water was coming out of the rock. Someone told us that it takes the water 2000 years to travel from the top surface of the cliffs through the sandstone to the impermeable shale where it is forced back out. The constantly dripping water and abundant moisture created a beautiful hanging garden. There was perfect stillness around us with nothing but the sound of dripping water.

Next we headed to the Emerald Pools. As the trail led uphill along the side of the canyon, we enjoyed beautiful views of the cliffs around us. A tall narrow waterfall came down into the first pool. Walking along the wall, we walked behind it, and even enjoyed a little rainbow. The third pool was the largest and probably the deepest. The most majestic of the three, it was hidden away between absolutely vertical red cliffs, while its truely emerald waters reflected the lush greenery around its steep banks.

After a brief stop at the Court of the Patriarchs to admire three large peaks named after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we took the shuttle back to the Visitor’s Center. Here we picked up the horrid news about 2 people who have died while hiking the Angels Landing trail since we hiked it on Wednesday. After a short postcard shopping spree at the gift shop we said goodbye to Ryan and Talia, and they headed to the more remote and much less visited part of the Zion National Park, the Kolob Canyons, for one more hike, before driving back to LA.

Nick and I drove back to the park’s East Entrance. Our car climbed out of the canyon and back through the tunnel. Now we were almost as high as the rim of the canyon. Here the rocks bore amazing patterns on their surfaces and were a lot paler in color—apparently the minerals slowly seep down and out of these rocks with age, causing the tops of the peaks to slowly lose their bright color. We did a short hike among these round “scratched” looking rock tops and admired the Checkerboard Mesa Rock.

Now it was time for us to leave Zion for good, and headed back to Las Vegas. Once again we stopped to inspect some dinosaur tracks at St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm in St. George, Utah. The tracks here were numerous and extremely well preserved, including such rarities as some skin impressions and dinosaur swimtracks.

It was after 7pm when we plunged back into maddening civilization and reached our hotel in Las Vegas. Tonight was our one chance to see the strip at night, so we took a shuttle from our hotel to Mandalay Bay and joined the curious crowds of tourists gawking away at the Las Vegas Boulevard.

We quickly learned that pretty much all the casinos in different hotels looked the same, with a distinct odor mixture of cigar smoke, perfume, and alcohol, perfect to inflict a headache. We walked into Bellagio and were swapped away by their amazing flower arrangements everywhere and even grander flower displays. After a nice dinner in one of the restaurants, Nick and I watched the fountains--perfect coordination of music, water and lights. Happy and tired, we decided to call it a night, and caught the shuttle from Mandalay Bay back to our hotel.