We slept in due to the late night of disappearing water pools, and we decided to hit the REAL pool at Excalibur before we checked out… since we could only really take the heat for about 45 minutes, we showered and hit the road. We took advantage of our last in-n-out burger of the ‘west’ coast…. so we packed up, headed to the car and had our last animal style burgers…
We decided to play one last hand of blackjack at the Palms, since neither of us had been there….and in three days they were hosting the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) (which we later found out that Derm’s ‘gal’ Britney was an unfortunate train wreck)
Derm won about $40 on blackjack– and we were happy to report that we came into Vegas with the same amount of money we left….so much for the ‘house always wins’!Back on the road again… for a short 3 hour drive NorthWest into Utah to see Zion National Park. We passed through Arizona and into Utah where we somehow brought our Vegas luck and snagged the LAST campsite in all of Zion… phew! We set up camp on site 18, met a really cute group of 50 year olds next to us, and decided to get a hike in for sunset.We drove over to Canyon Overlook Trail, passing through the Zion tunnel created in 1930…. scary! and had a lovely hour hike into the Canyon. The rocks were beautiful with their changing colors, and we hurried to get back down the hike to avoid night hiking!
The park ranger had waited for us, since our lone car was in the parking lot (oops!) and we made our way back to camp. We decided to really make the camping trip authentic, and we headed to the grocery to pick up groceries to grill on our fire. (now that we can have a fire, since the previous campsites forbid fires due to high threats of spreading).
Well, about 10pm, we finally had hot charcoal and nice crispy hot dogs… and were proud of our cooking creation. Then of course, the very nice 50 year old couples next to us brought over their left over homemade apple pie…yes. they made in the wilderness, so Dermot and I obliged by eating almost the entire remaining part of the pie. We decided that we would come more prepared next time we camped…After several rounds of cards, we hit the hay… or air of the aerobed.