9 PM Is there something about Las Vegas that keeps calling you back? I just washed off the dirt from my grubby body in my 4 Queens hotel room and am waiting for Nothai to finish his washing ritual so we can head down where I can see the Freemont Experience street lights through my window as I type. This wasn’t a part of the plan! Sure, maybe a drive through to show him the strip, but then there I was actually getting a bit excited to be back in a city I thought once would be enough.
1AM We don’t appreciate the small things nearly enough, like a comfy bed and a hot shower, or crappy Chinese food takeout at 11:30 PM when in our home town everything would be closed! I was in Vegas last a few months ago and so was my step father, Neil. I later found out that my friend Jeff had also been in town too. I sent Jeff a text message as Nothai and I headed for dinner and guess what! Jeff was here and we met for a drink - what a small funny great world!
Earlier -
We went and explored the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We went to all the viewpoints and went hiking a bit too. It was great weather and a beautiful day, although pretty hot and dry of course. A wildfire had started with lightening late July that was still burning a bit and the smoke is visible. There were a lot of elderly folks running around the easy views that got me thinking about the time and money I’m spending right now. Maybe I’m financing a lot with credit cards and putting myself back a bit, but I’m so glad I am. I don’t want to wait to see the world until I’m older and then can’t fully experience it the way I want. An couple in their late 50's or early 60's maybe asked us as we were returning from an outlook how far it was and how difficult. After explaining it was maybe a quarter mile and not too bad they opted to skip it because we were out of breath. Yeah, it is nearly 10,000 feet up! On the other hand, I want to look forward to physical vacations when I’m that age too! We were finished running around a lot earlier than expected. Honestly, that is one of the great parts about traveling with Nothai-we both waste little time and go for the heart of the experience.
We debated driving to the south rim as well just to be sure we didn’t miss anything good, but after talking to a local she said that the north was not only better, but the south is a bit disappointing after starting on the north not only with the views but also the south is so heavily visited you have to fight against the crowd too. The south rim would put us out several hundred miles, no thank you - we got it! We saw an advertisement on the way for a hotel right over the Nevada border for $24.99! After stopping at the information center I found a phone number for a hotel service that found a room at the 4 Queens for $25-DONE! Lastly, driving through the Arizona mountains was surprisingly beautiful! Nothai jokingly asked if we were back in Zion because the mountains were so huge!
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