Christmas 2018 Trip Part 2

Let's pick up right where we left off, shall we? After the Grand Canyon, we made our way to Las Vegas via the Painted Desert and southern Utah. I have never really been in a desert before and as we drove, I was surprised to see all the colours. I always thought deserts were just beige.We also drove up into the mountains and past Jacob Lake. It was interesting to watch the scenery change as we went from the desert to snowy mountains. 

We had a great room in Vegas, overlooking the Strip. We could see the Mirage volcano show from our room! We absolutely loved being in Vegas. What a fun city. We enjoyed seeing all the theme hotels. The Venetian was my favourite. They have a canal with gondola rides inside the hotel! I have never been to Venice, but this hotel is exactly how I imagine it would look like. We also watched the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere. Wow! What a show. The agility, the strength, and the flexibility of the performers was unbelievable. We spent the majority of our time just wandering the strip and taking in all the sights. Since our next move will put us just a few hours from here, we are looking forward to going back and experiencing more of what Vegas has to offer.

After Gary the Elephant lost all our money playing the slots, we had to head back to Phoenix. We stopped at the Hoover Dam because it was on the way. It was pretty cool to seen such an iconic American landmark. Unfortunately, they weren't doing tours of the dam because of renovations, so we didn't get to see inside.

In two states at once! 

I could almost fit the rest of the pictures in this post but that seems like it would just be a bit too much so those will have to wait for another time. Stay tuned for part 3, coming soon. 

Christmas 2018 Trip Part 1

This year our winter escape brought us to Arizona and Nevada for a week. We spent time with my brother, his wife, and their 10 month old baby, Jimmy. Gary the Elephant loved meeting Jimmy. Jimmy loved meeting Husband, sealing the friendship with some baby kisses.

We made a stop in Sedona. While there we visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a chapel built into the rocks. We also stopped at an overlook near the airport. I wish we had more time to spend in Sedona. It was a beautiful place.

Next we headed to the Grand Canyon. As we drove, we had the most beautiful desert sunset. The colours were so vibrant that we had to pull over on the side of the road to take a few pictures.
We got to Grand Canyon Park after dark so we had to wait until morning to see it. We enjoyed a great meal in one of the hotels and we got to watch a ring-tailed cat play on the beams in the lobby. When the staff told us that many people mistake the ring-tailed cat for a lemur, Husband quickly dubbed the animal "Linda, the lemur."

Early the next morning, we headed out to see the canyon. Oh my goodness! What an amazing sight! I know the word "amazing" gets thrown out a lot, but I can't think of a better word to describe the Grand Canyon. The colours! The layers of rock! Everything was amazing. The canyon seemed to go on forever. Every view was unbelievable. A few Arizona friends warned us that it would be cold. It wasn't so much the cold as it was the wind that made it cold. It was rather warm compared to Alaska, only 25*F/-4*C, but that wind: it goes right through you. I am so glad we brought winter coats.

Okay, I think that is enough pictures for now. Stay tuned for part 2, which will include the Painted Desert, Vegas, and the Hoover Dam.

Tacoma, Washington

In September we went down to Tacoma, Washington so I could have a surgery. We weren't able to do much sightseeing in the area, but we did visit Point Defiance Park a couple of times. The park is located right on the Puget Sound. On our first visit there we were able to enjoy watching jelly fish and seals in the water. As we were driving through the park an owl dive-bombed our car and then landed on a tree. We just had to stop the car and get out to take some pictures. Neither of us had seen an owl in the wild before. It was an absolutely gorgeous bird. 

The day after surgery, I woke up to this view of Mount Rainier out my hospital window. The mountain was visible all day long. We were told that it is rare to see Mount Rainier. I guess we got lucky. We saw it the next day as well. 

A few days after surgery, I was feeling well enough to take another trip to Point Defiance Park. This time we did the Five Mile Drive in the park. We saw over 15 raccoons on the drive. They would come right up to the cars and beg for food. They were not shy at all. Crazy trash pandas! We also enjoyed some nice views of the Sound. Tacoma seems like the perfect place to live: You get both water and mountains. The plethora of trash pandas is icing on the cake!