Salt Lake City - Home to the Mormon headquarters of the World
Las Vegas - World Headquarters for drinking, gambling and debauchery.
Let the Good times begin.
After a brief overnight stay in Salt Lake an early departure was on the cards - After all we had a lot of ground to cover for our 3-day road trip.
STOP 1: PARK CITY, UTAH
Park City, Utah is home to Sundance Film Festival so if our trip was scheduled a couple of weeks earlier the town would have been flooded with movie stars and wannabees.
After a leisurely stroll along the quaint Main Street, it was time to hit the snow. This was really my first experience in real snow, so I admit I was a little obsessed at first - many happy snaps later and I was still obsessed.
With time restrictions in place this wasn't the occasion to schedule my first skiing attempt but it did call for a hoon on the snowmobiles - Much to Darren's delight.
Sometimes you forget how much fun you can have in a couple of hours - this was a great reminder. The scenery was absolutely spectacular and apart from the occasional jarring of the lower back it was a hell of a lot of fun. Unfortunately when Darren went really fast over large bumps - I, as the passenger felt the impact about 5 times as much and he interpreted my screams of pain as shrieks of excitement - so the more the merrier
Arrrrgghghhhhhh!!!!!!!
But the fun in the snow had to end - we had an itinerary to stick to and in 4 hours a completely different landscape to experience.
STOP 2: MOAB, UTAH
I personally had never heard of Moab, but Darren being the avid bike rider that he is had known that Moab is a must for any keen mountain bike rider.
As we arrived at our destination at night I wondered about the landscape that surrounded us, but it wasn’t until our early morning rise that we witnessed the beauty that was all around.
The landscapes of Moab have been the backdrop for many western movies and the odd Indiana Jones flick and it is pretty obvious why.
Arches National Park boasts the greatest concentration of sandstone arches in the world, I think we covered all the main features of the park – except for whatever lay on the other side of the flooded creek bed that I would not allow Darren to cross in our modest little sedan rental car.
Crossing flooded rivers was to wait for our next excursion – in a giant hummer and with an experienced driver.
In the words of our Moab Adventure Center brochure:
Access Moab’s spectacular backcountry in the style and comfort aboard the world’s most serious 4 x 4 – Hummer Vehicle. Climb to the top of seldom- seen, awe-inspiring overlooks. Discover one-of-a kind geologic wonders. Return with a new feeling of freedom and unforgettable memories.
Well the brochure is always going to put a spin on things…. But it was a fun 2 hours and there were a couple of dicey moments that I may have released a girly squeal. Hey! I knew the driver was hoping to get one and I didn’t want to disappoint him.
So safely back to normal terrain it was time to hit the road – we had a state border to cross
STOP 3: LAKE POWELL/ PAGE, ARIZONA
This was pretty much just an eat and sleep stop. But the view of Lake Powell was quite beautiful and we did receive 5 star service in our rewards point accommodation - so hey! there was nothing to complain about.
STOP 4: GRAND CANYON
After driving for approximately 41/2 hours we arrived at the south rim of the Grand Canyon – arguably one of America’s most famous natural attractions. Our walk along the south rim of the canyon may have taken a little longer than usual given the snowy/icy conditions of the walking trails – definitely spiced it up a little. Even on this fairly quiet morning the sound of so many different accents – people from all around the world converging to see this natural beauty. Unfortunately there were no Brady Bunch episode reenactments. A mule trip to the bottom of the canyon takes a whole day and they can be reserved up to 13 months in advance. Given that in true WoodWoods style this road trip was planned and booked one week in advance – Hey!!! It's how we roll.
Las Vegas was the final destination and since we were ahead of schedule it meant we could pass over Hover Dam in the daylight – Hoover Dam would also be the point where we crossed into our 3rd State in our long weekend road trip.
There are tight security measures in place to drive over Hoover Dam – All cars go through a security check in before crossing over the bridge. You can see in the pictures below that they are constructing a bridge that will bypass the dam crossing. This bridge is currently scheduled for completion in 2010.
STOP 5: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Our fifth and final resting stop was Las Vegas – resting stop you ask????? Hey it had been a long trip and I had to get up at 5:30am the next morning to fly straight into the office. So our second trip to Vegas did not include me being hypnotized and dancing like a pole dancer in front of a room full of strangers. A quick google of the top 5 buffets in Vegas was all we needed and there we settled at the Mirage resort and Casino with our never ending plate of food.
Because although this road trip was long - the next weekend was a flight to Australia - I had some ground to cover.
Link to all road trip photos here.
XX
Mel
