We left Utah at a reasonable hour - the previous night's late return from the Grand Canyon was a bit tiring, and we had made the decision that we weren't going to head to the south rim of the canyon after all. I'd been there before, and I have to say that Zion was more beautiful than the bottom of the canyon as I remember it, and we'd seen a pretty spectacular view of the size of the canyon from the north. We decided to head more or less straight to Las Vegas via the Valley of Fire, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.
The first stop was the mysteriously titled Valley of Fire - we knew nothing of what to expect, so when we arrived in the hot, arid desert, surrounded by bright red weathered sandstone, it was quite a spectar sight. It was helped by the two A10 aircraft from the nearby air force base that buzzed extremely low over our heads - quite a surreal experience! The valley is really quite close to Vegas, and I'd recommend visiting it to anyone in the area. The wide variety of desert wildlife (I saw a snake at the side of the road!), and the amazing landscape make it a fabulous trip. Pictures, as with all other holiday-related blog entries, to be made available when we get them off the cameras back home.
So, we trekked through the valley and headed for the Lake Mead shoreline - which is actually further than it used to be. The water level in the lake appeared to be well down on previous heights, though without buying a guide book or having much internet access, we weren't sure if this was intentional, or indicative of water shortages. We followed the lake road all the way to the Hoover Dam (where the car's ambient temperature monitor hit 101 degrees), where we took a few pictures and then headed for the bright Vegas lights.
The plan for the evening was to meet up with a couple of old Wrox friends and head out and see some of the sights. The plan actually worked - we had to drop the car at the Riviera - about halfway between the Stratosphere (where we were staying) and the Imperial Palace (where we were heading), though in the Vegas evening heat, it felt like quite a hike! An enjoyable evening followed, involving travelling to the Luxor, taking in a few sights along the way.
Day two in Vegas started with a room service breakfast (let's face it - who wants breakfast in the middle of a casino?!), then we headed up the tower to the top and took in the spectacular views of Vegas and the surrounding area. The afternoon was spent lounging in the Star Trek experience bar at the Hilton, where we were entertained by friends drinking all manner of strange and fabulous cocktails, then heading into the two experience rides. The new ride, the Borg experience, is a bit of fun, but I have to say I really prefer the original ride that I'd been on five years ago. Perhaps it's just that I was completely unprepared for it the first time I did it, but it completely blew me away that time. This time round, it was still a heck of a lot of fun, but I had to skip the last part because of baby. Not to worry - after all, I'd done it before :)
After a quick tour of a few more hotels, we headed back to the Stratosphere for some sleep - an early flight awaited us to New York.