Change of Plan

The view from our window at the Paris Hotel, looking past the Eiffel Tower towards the fountains at the Bellagio.


After 4 sunny days in Zion the forecast turned cold and rainy for both Bryce and the Grand Canyon. In fact, the day we were supposed to drive over to Grand Canyon Village we saw in the newspaper that the coldest place in the continental US that day was ... Grand Canyon Village at +3 degrees. Much as we wanted to see the place we figured it probably wasn't going anywhere and that we could wait until it warmed up a bit later in the year. So we decided to go looking for the sun again which brought us back to Las Vegas for the last 4 nights of the trip. After surfing around for a place to stay we found that it would cost as much to stay at the Paris Hotel on the strip as it would have to stay at a Comfort Inn or Residence Inn located further out. So...we're staying at one of our favorite hotels and, as an added bonus, the weather has turned sunny and warm again.

Our time in Zion was great, but we did experience a wide range of changeable conditions that punctuated the generally sunny (but chilly) conditions in the park. In rapid fire succession we awoke to passing rain showers, a hail storm that lasted about a half hour and covered the ground, a snow storm that lasted all thru breakfast, and blustery winds that kept trying to blow the car off the road. Interesting Spring weather.





And here's the daytime view from the window

Been doing some exploring around town - away from the Strip at any rate. We've talked about possibly using Vegas as a "Wintering Over" base for 3 or 4 months per year and wanted to check out some neighborhoods. Actually, we've considered making a move from Vancouver and just establishing residency here (it's tax free for retirees too), but am not sure we're quite ready to take that plunge. Still, the area has a lot going for it what with its close proximity to the National Parks in Utah and Colorado (California too for that matter). The problem would be the heat of the summer, although I suppose we could just schedule our travel around the hottest months...sort of like what we're doing now in Vancouver but in reverse. Lots of considerations to be weighed at any rate.

One of our day trips was out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area just west of the city. Really a pretty place as you can see from the photos, with lots of red sandstone formations. Did one short but rather arduous hike up to a remote mountain pond that had a sweeping view of the Las Vegas Valley with the city off in the distance.


Along the walk...before the rock-hopping began.



The goal of the hike was this nice little pond about a mile and a half up the trail.



And about 10 minutes further on was this perch overlooking the valley, with the city of Las Vegas off in the distance...maybe 30 miles away.




We continued the drive up to Mount Charleston - a popular winter sports area - where we drove up into the last of the Spring snow at about the 7,000 ft. level. There are some great hiking trails in the area but they were still buried beneath the snow at this time of year. Should be open in about a month if the current rate of snow melt continues.

We're here for a couple more nights...flying back into the rains of Vancouver on the 29th.