Zion and Las Vegas

Dad went out West for the last 10 days or so. I met him Friday night in Las Vegas. I flew Delta which had live DISH TV, so I could watch the Olympics. I had a layover in Atlanta. While boarding there, Phelps swam his last individual event and got silver, so I missed it, but it is ok. Delta was great. I think there were at least 7 to 9 people in a row (2-3-2). We were given blankets and pillows.

I arrived in Las Vegas around 10 p.m. Dad and I ate at the Pantry in the Mirage, our hotel. It was neat to see the Olympics on in the Pacific time zone being that I had already watched them in the Eastern time zone flying over.

On Saturday, Dad and I drove over to Zion National Park. It was packed when we arrived. During the summer, the main road is only open to park buses, so we had to wait probably 40 minutes to get on the bus. We went to the Narrows which is the last stop of the line. We walked about a mile to where the water portion of the hike starts. I walked a little into the Narrows. It was fun walking the water. I probably did about 5 rock crossings.

Afterwards, Dad and I ate in Zion Lodge. We had salmon cakes and a buffalo burger. Both were really good. We didn’t leave Zion until late. Dad and I decided to drive through Valley of Fire State Park. On the way down there, we went through an area that had wifi. I wanted to see Michael Phelps’ last swim, so we waited for that. While waiting, Dad found a place that had the best snow cone I have ever had and the largest for $3. It was like eating cotton candy. The flavors were great like passion fruit and guava. We made it to the state park too late. The sun was mostly down, so we just drove through in the dark, but the snow cone and watching the swimming relays were worth it.

The next day, Dad and I ate a buffet at our hotel. We drove out to Mt. Charleston and Red Rock Canyon. Red Rock Canyon has a new visitor center which was really cool. It looked like a scene out of cars. We also went to the outlet mall. Later, we went to eat a early supper at House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. Andrea had a coupon from 2010 that we were able to use. Afterwards, we walked through the Venetian.

I left for the airport around 7:30 p.m. and made it through security by 8:03 p.m. for a 9:15 p.m. flight. I only had one boarding pass which rarely happens. Turned out my two flights were on the same plane. So, I was going to Orlando via Phoenix. I was going to stay on the plane as the layover was 1.5 hours long, but they made us get off due to the new ground crew not being on time. Phoenix’s airport is dated, but I was able to get a pillow and a hot tea. I don’t think I slept much on the way back, but the flight was fast. American didn’t give us blankets, tvs, or a pillow. Nothing. I made it back to Orlando around 6:55 a.m. and made it back to work by 8:45 a.m. Today, Tuesday, I had to be in Leesburg at 8 a.m. for a presentations, so I had to wake up at 6 a.m. I just went back to the airport to pick up a special guest (more on that in another post). Now, I am looking forward to sleeping in my bed until 8 a.m. tomorrow!!!! But this past weekend was definitely worth the time and travel.

(Dad has his camera’s time to Feb 2015, so some of the pictures are out of order.)