Day 26 (7/24). (Lin) We were out by 8 am from our hotel in Las Vegas – it is amazing how quiet the city is at that time. And yet, there were still hundreds of people in the huge hotel lobby gambling. Such a strange and crazy place. Harrison loved it (the strip, the look-alike buildings and monuments from around the world); Elliot hated it; the other kids seemed indifferent.
From Vegas we headed southeast to the Hoover Dam, which was definitely impressive. One stat the kids liked was that there is enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to pave a sidewalk the entire way around the earth at the equator. And, yes, we all had some dam fun with words – we’ve never fake/pun cursed so much in our lives. After browsing the visitor center, taking lots of photos outside, and crossing from Nevada into Arizona and back again, we hit the road and headed to Zion National Park.
No pun intended, my religious studies friends, but the road to Zion was unexpectedly gorgeous. At one point someone remarked that we basically had already arrived at the Grand Canyon! Soaring red and multi-colored canyons jutted out of the ground all around us for at least the hour prior to arriving at Zion. We felt at times that we had entered the Cars movie set – so much so that we blared the soundtrack. There might have been singing (it’s a blur, sir).
Zion itself is amazing, but in a different way than Yellowstone or Yosemite, two other family favorites. There are the soaring canyon walls, but they are beautifully red and multicolored with white peaks, compared to the relative uniformity of Yosemite granite. No sweeping Lamar Valleys here, but there is vegetation and wildlife – we saw several deer on our hike tonight, plus squirrels that think they own the place, lizards, and birds (something Elliot has suddenly become passionate about).
Since we arrived at Zion at approximately 4:30 pm (having lost an hour entering the mountain time zone), we decided to head straight for one of two really anticipated hikes: the Narrows canyon. Put simply, the Narrows is a long slot canyon that runs for 15-16 miles, has steep canyon walls on either side that go up 1,000 feet and more, and has a shallow river that runs through the entire width of the bottom. The only way to hike it is to walk through the water almost all the time. It was—wait for it—gorgeous. Seriously, though, the sun starting to go down a bit and was shining so prettily on the upper levels of the canyon walls. It had been such a hot day (111 F), so the cool water and canyon felt so great. The only thing that dampened the experience was the slight chance of a flashflood, which, while rare, would have been catastrophic. Overall, a really fun hike, even though we probably only did one-half to three-quarters of a mile in.
Since the 1990s, Zion has not allowed visitors to drive the canyon road. Instead, everyone takes a shuttle that has 9 stops at important and scenic places. We enjoyed the shuttle drive in and out again (the Narrows is at the north/far end of the canyon), with super high and beautifully colored canyon walls and peaks on both sides of us the entire time. It was hard to capture the beauty and grandeur.
Our hotel is just outside the park, but has a magnificent view of the southern end of Zion’s canyon. After a brief swim and a late dinner, we all admired the bazillions of stars and—much to our delight—the Milky Way, which was a first for most of us.
(Click on the pictures below to see a larger version of them or slideshow.)
Fisher Family Travels 