Utah Road Trip & Vegas – A holiday of a lifetime!!!

So I shall continue the journey from when Simon and I were dropped and left to fend for ourselves to travel down through Utah finishing in Vegas.  What no-one to organise transport, organise meals and leave a lovely gift on our pillow at night!!  How would be cope????  I was a little nervous after our wonderful incentive trip on whether we had done the right thing.  Our road trip would involve lots sights and long spells in the car and staying in three separate guest houses.

But I need not have worried, it was just what we needed.  It was different enough not to compare and so lovely to have a bit of time together alone, just chilling, taking in the sights and listening to our favourite tunes.

We could not resist a cheeky little upgrade on the car to an SUV which was very posh.  Seeing as we were driving up to 5 hours a day it was important to be in comfort :0) 

What more could a girl need, her man by her side, twizzlers (my favourite US sweets!) and some water to keep the altitude sickness at bay! 

Our first stop was Zion national Park where we stayed at a Guest House for the night before venturing in to the park to see the scenery.  They had upgraded us to the Anniversary Suite which has a jacuzzi bath for 2 in the room but the thing I loved most about staying in guest houses was the local knowledge.  They would recommend where to eat, cool places to visit and the best routes – just perfect!

Silly me trying to embarrass Simon {I think I succeeded}.

I was a bit of a scaredy cat after seeing this sign and once the owner of the guest house had told us they had lost a few people at Zion!!

So we ventured on the safe trails to see the waterfalls.  It was about 90 degrees and it was quite a hike but the scenery was just beautiful.

 

 

 

We met some nice people on our way who kindly took a photo of us together which was quite a rarity!

Just breathtaking and this was the scenery we saw when we continued in the car to head to Page for the next night of the road trip…

The journey to page was a long one {approx 100 miles longer than expected due to a land slide}.  We drove for about 5 hours and had to take a diversion as there had been some damage to one of the routes into Page.  We almost did not continue but I am so glad we did.  First of all a comfy bed and a lovely breakfast of homemade pancakes were delightful. And the owners of the guest house were so helpful to help us get on a tour of Antelope Canyon.

The weather was not what you might expect, we had showers and thunderstorms the whole time in Utah but it did not stop us doing anything we wanted to, We wanted to see the Horseshoe Bend which is a famous land mark where the river snakes through a canyon and has created a massive ravine in the shape of a horseshoe.  We had to walk about 15 minutes to see it and on the way I was beginning to wonder where it could be??

But as we got closer this was what we had come to see….  There is nothing to stop you going over the edge and some Japanese tourists were freaking me out by going too close to the edge.  I don't know about you but I seem to get more scared the older I get!!

I was pretty brave getting this close to take the shot :0)

We then headed off to Antelope Canyon for a tour.  The canyon is sacred and was discovered by the Navajo people.  They run guided tours so we headed off with what seemed like hundreds of other people to see this famous landmark….

And we weren't disappointed.  The guide told us that they had so much rain the previous day that the sand had dropped in the base of the canyon by 5ft overnight!  It was threatening to thunder and rain whilst we were there too.

But it was spectacular….

Half way through the tour one of the guides shouted for everyone to get out as the rain was coming and there was another chance of flooding.  Thankfully we had some great shots but I would love to go again one day, it was so magical!

We then headed off to Williams got the night to stay at another guest house.  We arrived at about 4pm after a good 3-4 hour drive.  The owners recommended a lovely restaurant on route 66 where we had a lovely dinner and then got to bed early for the last day of the road trip before arriving in Vegas.

We had a lovely breakfast whilst sitting on the front porch whilst the owner shared a wonderful quiet and secluded vantage point to see the canyon.  We got going and got to where we parked the car.  We walked on a forest trail for about half an hour and started to wonder if we were going the right way.  But we started to glimpse something in the distance through the trees…….

And as we continued this is what we saw – I have never seen such a beautiful spectacle in my life.  It did not even look real.  It was so quiet too, only another couple of people and just canyon for as far as the eye could see.

How brave was I to sit on the edge like that? It was not a sheer drop, there was another ledge underneath but it wasn't pretty getting me to sit there and I think Simon may have had finger marks on his arms from where I was holding on so tight!

I was happy that the other people were there to take our photo and for us to do the same for them. She asked us to pose for a loving photo which made Simon and I crack up!!

Stunning, simply amazing and as if no one else was there!

So reluctantly we got back to the car and headed of too Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam on the way.  We arrived in 100 degree heat and checked into our hotel the Aria.  This was in reception.

And can you believe we got a room upgrade, and I don't mean a little one.  They actually upgraded us to a suite that would normally cost $1200 a night.  I have never stayed in a room like that – EVER! How lucky we have been and what a wonderful experience for us both. This is the bathroom!!!

We ventured outside in the scorching heat and wondered along the strip…

As saw some of the crazy sights!

Including the Venetian hotel which makes you feel like you are outside when you are actually inside with air conditioning!

And we had to see the fountain display at the Bellagio Hotel….

And once we were back in our suite, this was the view of the strip from our room.

We enjoyed all Vegas had to offer including a little bit of gambling.  We are not big gamblers to be honest and I put $20 into a slot machine and managed to win £2.50 and printed out a coupon ready to use again another night.  In the meantime we saw Zarkana a Cirque de Soleil Show which was jaw dropping with acrobatics and stunts which was fantastic.

And before we knew it , it was almost time for us to spend out last night in Vegas before flying back to our family in the UK.  It was after midnight which was late for us and we were pooped.  We decided to spend the last voucher on a slot machine which Simon chose.  We were down to our last spin when the machine started flashing and bleeping telling us we had extra spins.  I think we had 35 extra spins and with each spin the total winnings kept climbing and climbing!! 

It finally stopped at $228 and before you could think, I had cashed out and was off to bed. I wanted to finish on a high and that was certainly it!!

So we headed out to the airport to catch our flight to Detroit and then onwards to Heathrow.  No incidents, we received all our luggage and the house, the kids and dog were all in one piece.  What more could a girl ask for?

Perfect just perfect and memories to last a lifetime.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me, and thank you to everyone who has made this possible for me. 

You are amazing and so thankful!