Monday April 9, 2018 - Hopefully the Marriott @ Trudeau Airport
(this part written in January) - As you can see by the heading, it says hopefully at the Marriott. Here is why it says that. Last summer, I bought a lot in the silent auction at Danny Klimas' Drive for the Cure. The lot included a certificate for a stay at the Marriott that is in the airport terminal. The problem is that it has a restriction of use only on the weekend. I contacted the person at the hotel and they said they would accept it if they had availability but we will only know in early April.
Staying there would be great as our flight for Vegas leaves at 6:30am. We would avoid traffic as you just have to walk down to the lobby to get to the departure gates.
UPDATE 04/04 - Our Monday night stay at the Marriott is now confirmed. Thanks to Flavia Franscescutti of the Marriott for arranging our accommodations including a boxed breakfast that we can pick up while getting ready to get to the plane. Breakfast is included in our certificate but the breakfast place only opens at the same time our plane departs. Now that we know we can be driven to airport at night instead of 4am, we will probably going out to a restaurant in Dollard with Lou and Maurice who are driving us to the airport.

Update 04/09 - We are having a little challenge in packing for this trip. We arrive in Nevada in 30°C weather and the temperature will be hot for the first 2 days. It then drops to a high of 15 degrees on Thursday. We have even seen -6°C for a low in Bryce while we will be there. That's a 50 degree Fahrenheit gap. How do you dress for that in one suitcase?

Tuesday April 10, 2018 - Springdale, Utah - 10pm Mountain Time
Today was a long day. We got up at 3:30am (Myrna did anyway) to get ready for our flight. It was about a 7 minute walk to check in and then we boarded the flight to Toronto and eventually connected to Vegas. We even had time to spend in the lounge in Pearson Airport. I have 4 free passes a year that weren't used and had to be used by May 5th. We were only in there for 30 minutes, enough time for a snack and a good cup of coffee. In the end the longest part of the trip was waiting over an hour for luggage after getting off the plane. Car rental went smoothly although they always try to upsell you on everything. They try to sell you a full tank at around $3 a gallon which is the going rate but then you have to bring it back on fumes which is always a panic. We decided to bring it back full as to not cost us anything when we bring back the car. If we don't bring it back full, they charge $9,99 a gallon. Just Crazy.

Once we had the car, we headed northeast to Utah. About a 2 1/2 hour drive that took over 3 as we made a small wrong turn in Vegas and had to backtrack for a few miles. Vegas' highways are under construction and the GPS doesn't always follow you  through the detours.

We checked in to our hotel around 6pm MT and we quickly headed out to a restaurant as we wanted to do a small hike at sunset (8:03pm). Although that the official time of sunset, because of mountains it really sets much earlier. Tomorrow we will be way better organized when we head out.

Wednesday April 11, 2018 - Springdale, Utah - 8pm MT

What did I say about being better organized? We were except that the weather for tomorrow changed our plans quite a bit. Originally, our plan for today was to hike a couple of 'easy' hikes as our warm up to the Observation Point trail which we would do Thursday. That plan changed when we went to the visitor centre and talked to someone who told us about Thursday weather. She recommended to do Observation Point today as tomorrow will be cold and the winds could reach 100 km/h. In that respect, it was very good advice as today was not that windy but at some points the wind was coming up the valley and blowing quite hard. At some points the sand and tiny rocks were sandblasting us, especially at Observation Point itself so I can't imagine what a windy and cold day would be like at the top. Now here why doing that trail was a mistake. It's over 8 miles long but worse it has a 2200 foot elevation change. Both Myrna and I had fairly new hiking boots. They both had a 7k walk training through Two Mo and Laval West. The boots weren't really the problem as they were pretty comfortable on the way up. Coming back down was another story. No matter what shoes we were wearing, 3½ miles of constantly going downhill will play havoc on your toes. Did I mention it was 89°F at some points? All and all the hike took us about 5 hours and when we go back to the hotel we basically crashed. We went to the market to buy some sandwiches (and beer and wine) and we are staying put in our hotel. We will probably pass out before sunset. It was a great day but this hike would have been better as the last one of our vacation after some 'training'.

I was telling Myrna that I wouldn't recommend this hike to our friends. It's not as dangerous as ones we done before, but I would feel guilty about telling someone to try it if they fell to their deaths. If you are enticed to visit these parts because of this blog, don't tell me that why you are going.

Thursday April 12, 2018 - Springdale, Utah - 8am MT

They had the weather right. This morning it's 15°C with a high of only 17. The wind was really blowing during the night. We had to close the window because it was whistling through the window, just like cars used to do when they had the little triangular window that you could open on the driver and passenger side. I think that was a cigarette flicking window and it would make noise even if it was closed.

National Park Travel tip: - To get in to a National Park there is a fee. Zion is $30 for a week but that pass is only good for Zion. We are visiting at least 3 more national park. They would each have their own fee. In the end it would probably cost a few bucks. Instead, we bought the annual pass at $80US. It will be good until next April. The senior annual pass is only $20 if you are 62 and over so I told the woman at the gate that I will be 62 in 38 days. That didn't work although it's true. She also suggested to buy the $80 one and sell it to someone because it has 2 signatures. In after my birthday in May she said to buy the the lifetime pass at $80 for seniors. She never asked me if I was a US citizen, so that part might not work for 'foreigners' like us.

Friday April 13, 2018 - Springdale, Utah - 8am MT

If you saw any of the pictures from yesterday, you will notice that we were on flat land. We walked around 14 kilometres but not much uphill or downhill. Myrna recovered from our major hike. I guess going to the gym 3 times a week is a good thing. I did not fair so well. My thighs were stiff and I was having a hard time going up and down inclines. This morning, they still hurt but we are on the road for Bryce Canyon so they will get a little break.

Right now we have something in common with back home. It's 4°C here and in Two Mo. I just looked at the weather in Bryce. It's minus 6 and snowing with a high of +4. We didn't pack for freezing temps and we are not driving by any kind of shopping center for the next 6 or 7 days. We will have to make do with layering the clothes we did pack. I will update this later tonight in Bryce. Check out the 'RealFeel' temperature. -19C

Friday April 13, 2018 - Bryce Canyon City - 5pm MT

For some reason my pictures weren't showing at the photos link on the left. I had to fix that by making them public. Sorry about that because I have been uploading pictures since day 1 and only found out today. I hope it works better in Iceland. Speaking of Iceland, the weather report I gave earlier this morning was for Bryce Canyon City. The elevation in the 'city' is 7,665 feet. The road in the canyon goes up to 9,100 so it was even colder up there. The wind was howling and we could only step out of the car for a minute at the lookouts. It felt like it was around minus 30C in some spots. There was no hiking to be done today. The drive here was very scenic. Some farmers were even trying to water their crops as you will see in the pictures.

We hope to do one long hike tomorrow as the weather will be warmer. If the wind stays the same through, it could be a little treacherous because some trails are narrow and exposed.

Saturday April 14, 2018 - Bryce Canyon City - 8am MT

We are preparing for our hike for today. The weather will be warmer and sunny all day. I got scared reading the weather report before. Although I had searched for Bryce Canyon, it had kept the city from the last time I used that site. It was giving the weather for Bethlehem New Hampshire (from the Wyder Cup) which was a high of 32 and snow. It took me a minute to realize it and I thought hiking was on hold for another day. The reason we are not in a rush this morning is we are letting the temp warm up a bit so that we don't have to carry too much clothes.

I will be posting more video as our internet access seems to be fast. The only problem with video is it doesn't sort in date taken order in Smugmug so it can be anywhere in the album.

Saturday April 14, 2018 - Bryce Canyon City - 6pm MT

There are no words to describe Bryce Canyon and pictures do not do it justice. Of course, the bluest sky we have ever seen does make the colours in the canyon even more spectacular. We were on the trails for only a few hours as it was a visual overload. We then went for a little drive and we stopped at Red Canyon again. Red Canyon is just west for Bryce and is a great little preview of what you will see in Bryce. It's also not a restricted as Bryce in that the trails are not as strictly enforced.

This morning in Bryce we had to layer our clothes because it was a little cold. It wasn't long before we had to remove layers as there was not much wind and the temperature reached 15C which was just right to be climbing the many switchbacks in the canyon.

Sunday April 15, 2018 - Moab, Utah - 11pm MT

Today, we drove from Bryce Canyon to Moab Utah using the Highway 12 and 24. We must have stopped 30 times on the way. Instead of taking the 4½ hour drive it should take, we left at 8:45am and arrived in Moab at around 5pm. The drive was one of the most awe inspiring drives we have ever taken. At one point we were almost at 10,000 feet elevation. The scenery would change every 5 minutes. Wow was the word we spoke the most through most of the drive. I added a section of the photo album just for the drive.

Hotel Reservation Travel tip: I booked the hotel in Moab over 2 months ago. At the time, all hotels in the area seemed very expensive. The Best Western Greenwell Inn in the middle of the price range. The nightly rate was around $225us a night. The total bill with tax was supposed to be $718 which we thought was very expensive. This morning, before leaving the Bryce Canyon Best Western, I checked the going rate for hotels in Moab. The Greenwell Inn was showing up at $169 a night. Using Skype, I called the hotel directly and asked what their policy was when I had booked at a certain rate but it was now lower. The guy said that since I was a Best Western Rewards member he would reduce the rate to $149 and $157. The total with tax instead of being $718 was now $526 a savings of $192US (about $242CAD). All that for a single call and the fact that I registered with BW Rewards. As a bonus, BW is giving a $10 gift card for each night's stay on top points for the stay. Also, BW points never expire so I will be trying to reserve with them for the rest of the trip if possible. Moral of the story, book your hotels in advance, but check the going rate before arriving to see if it has gone down. Just don't do it on the morning of your stay.

After checking in to the hotel, we headed to Arches National Park. It is really busy between 9am and 3pm, so we thought it would be nice to visit while it wasn't as crowded. We arrived at the gate at 5:30 and spent about 2 hours scouting it out for tomorrow morning. We are planning to get there before the crowds at 7:30am and hike to Delicate Arch. We already know what we are doing for the next 2 days but I will wait to divulge anymore info.

We have also decided where we are going for the next 3 days before Vegas. Originally we were thinking of heading north to Salt Lake City but our plans are now to head south and we may even go into western Colorado and northern Arizona. We have 3 days/nights before our Saturday Las Vegas reservation. We have to be in Vegas for a 9pm show at the Wynn called Le Reve.

Oops-Myrna just looked at tomorrow's weather report. A wind advisory will be in effect from midnight to 10pm tomorrow. 50mph gusts. They are supposed to be worse in the afternoon so it's good that we are planning an early hike. The problem is that we just reserved a sunset cruise on the Colorado for tomorrow. We are wondering if that will be cancelled.

Update 7am- The wind is starting to come up but the worst is supposed to be at noon ( I read 12pm as midnight last night). We should be out of the Arches by then. Tomorrow it's cooling down again and our plans are to rent a Jeep for the day and head into Canyonlands National Park as well as Dead Horse State Park. That's about a 100 mile loop that takes 6 to 7 hours on the trails. There is a slight possibility of rain so a jeep is a better option than an ATV (or UTV as they call them here).

Monday April 16, 2018 - Moab, Utah - 4pm MT

Myrna's opinion of the day: As planned we headed out early this morning and headed to Arches National Park. Though not as busy as later in the day, we certainly had company on the road and on the hikes. We started with a 6.4km walk to Delicate Arch. The trail was fairly smooth though we did have to climb up steep rock formations. When we got to the top, we rounded a corner and we were rewarded with a view of a beautiful and majestic arch. We were in awe. The winds really gusted so we had to be careful not to be blown over. Word of warning; the pictures do not do justice to what our eyes drank in. For you ladies out there. There is no such thing as a good hair day out in the open with gusting winds. The winds make for nature's hair 'straightener' and messer upper. I wouldn't be caught dead walking around home looking like I do here. I have only 2 options when hiking - flat hat hair or wind blown ugly! Anyway, the walk and the wind was all worthwhile. We also hiked the South and North Window, the Turret and the Double O arches (4.4k). We had several "wow" moments. I climbed up some rocks that I know most of my friends would never attempt. We were going to hike Park Avenue but there were no parking spaces available. Paul was a very happy camper.

The wind seems to have calmed down so it looks like our cruise on the Colorado river is on after our supper. We are not sure what to expect since it starts at sunset and goes for 2 hours after that. I hope that we don't make the news.

Update on the photo albums: The last gallery in the SmugMug album now contains only videos. Somehow the videos don't show properly with regular photos. There are some interesting videos but many of them have wind noise. I will eventually edit some of the noise out and make one video on YouTube but that could take a while.

Monday April 16, 2018 - Moab, Utah - 10pm MT

Tonight we went on a trip run by Canyonlands by Night. It's a Dutch Oven meal in a 'Cabane a sucre' environment, After supper, you get on a boat that seat over 100 people. We were 60 tonight. You cruise up the Colorado River 3 miles. By the time you get there it is completely dark and then a truck follows the boat and shines huge lights on the canyon walls. This show has been going on for over 50 years without much change I assume. We enjoyed it and were actually surprised it wasn't cancelled due to the high winds. Aside from the commentary that was a little dated as it still referred to natives as Indians and kind of portrayed the Mormons as 'saviours', the trip was enjoyable, even the part at the end when we were fighting the wind getting out blankets wet. If you are looking for a fancy laser light show don't do this trip. If you want to relax for a few hours and are lucky enough to have a cloudless night as we did, then it's worth the $70 price tag.

We asked to be picked up at the hotel (a free service). Luckily, Rod picked us up and ended up been the Light truck driver. We got the inside story on how everything works. The captain of the boat did an incredible job guiding this huge barge being pushed by high winds. I talked to him after and he said that if the river level was down one more inch the trip would be cancelled. He also said that when we hit bottom once, that if the boat had 30 more people on it, we would have gotten stuck and would have had to be rescued. According to Rod we would have been there for a few hours before getting towed off the sand bar. It very unusual that the water is this low at this time of year. It's down an inch from yesterday if it continues, the cruise would have to be cancelled.

Tomorrow, we are off on a 100 mile Jeep tour.

Tuesday April 17, 2018 - Moab, Utah - 7am MT

A fairly cold day today with Frost Warning for tonight. Glad we opted for a Jeep rather than an open ATV. If it gets too cold, we have a heater. We are packing our lunch and leaving at 8am. Pictures and video to follow.

Tuesday April 17, 2018 - Moab, Utah - 5pm MT

Just when I thought you couldn't top what we have experienced so far, we took this trip on our rented Jeep. Other than the bit of snow we experienced during lunch, we will remember this day forever. Pictures and videos won't do it justice except that the video that my new phone takes is unbelievably stable. You might get a little queasy as we did a few times ourselves. Don't forget, the videos are in the last section of the photo album.

Update from days later: Near the end of the trip I was looking for how to spell Shaffer. My search sent me to this site describing the Shaffer Canyon Road we took for 18 miles. Not sure I would have ventured on this road had I read this first. Myrna definitely would not have let me take her there. Still alive to be typing this.

We are now getting ready to go out to the Sunset Grill. We are getting picked up at 6:30 form our hotel. It's good because after dropping off the car, there was world renowned Woody's Tavern between our hotel and the Jeep drop-off. I met someone at the bar but that's a story to be told later.

Wednesday April 18, 2018 - Moab, Utah - 9pm MT

We didn't set an alarm this morning because we don't have that long a drive to our next destination which is Cortez Arizona. Last night we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the Sunset Grill. The restaurant opened in the old house of Charlie Steen, the discover of Uranium in Moab in the 1950's. The restaurant is kind of a museum to the Uranium and Steen as the U.S. in the 50's was looking for a domestic source for the Cold War. If you click on his name, you can read his rags to riches back to rags story. There was a free shuttle to the restaurant and the owner of the restaurant picked us up and once again we got the inside story on the history of the restaurant. Our server was a tiny woman called Ivone originally from Costa Rica by way of Toronto. It was only her 3 night working as a waitress and could barely uncork our wine. She was a wonderful addition to our evening. Then Myrna and I had a nightcap at Woody's Tavern and watched the Capitals/Blue Jacket overtime there.

Remember I said I met someone at Woody's yesterday and I had a few beer with him. He was 85 year old Gerald Cory who is boondocking* in his RV in our hotel parking lot. Dr. Gerald Cory is well known in the tech industry and one of the founders of the University of Phoenix. He has written over 20 books and speaks, reads and writes 10 languages including Chinese and Japanese. His home base is the state of Washington and he is starting his way back there today. We had a great conversation in Woody's tavern and this morning I bumped into him as he was heading out for his morning walk. His books are on Economics and Brain Disorders which maybe be related in this country. Check out some of his books on Amazon here.

* Boondocking is the RV term for staying somewhere without hooking up to electricity and water. Actually, in the morning we met with Gerry and he is actually staying in a room at our hotel and he uses his RV as a travelling suitcase.

Wednesday April 18, 2018 - Cortez, Colorado - 9pm MT

Today was the first of 3 days that weren't panned ahead. We talked to a gentleman at a Visitor information on our way to Moab a few days ago and I asked him for advice on heading South instead of going to Salt Lake City. He gave us lots of ideas and one of them was Cortez Arizona. For 'normal' people it's a 2 hour drive From Moab to Cortez. We did it in just over 4 hours. We stopped at Hole N the Rock which is on Roadside America's website. We took the tour inside the 5000 sq feet 'house'. It's big but not 5000 sq ft. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but there is a website with the history and pictures here.

After we took a detour back into Canyonlands and through another national forest called Manti-Lasal. That where we saw a dozen deer or so. We drove and saw no one else on that road and stopped to eat lunch on an overlook. We had not seen another person for at least 30 minutes. I told Myrna how nice it was to be travelling alone. Less than 10 seconds after that, we met another car. The following hour drive to Cortez was lunch bag letdown as the scenery was just ok and fairly flat. We hadn't seen a straight road in a while. When we got to Cortez, we realized that we were near Mesa Verde National Park (Our 6th or 7th NP, We've lost count). From our hotel in Cortez, it's about 15 minutes to get to the gate. From the gate, it's a 45 minute drive to where all the action is. I should say where the action WAS since no one has lived in these cliff dwellings for over 750 years. It was an interesting visit although the main attraction there is the ranger guided tour through one on the many 'villages'. Since it's still off season in this park, the next available tour was the next day at noon.

We topped off the evening by eating at a little restaurant called the Farm Bistro. Very good food and I had the Yak burger with blue cheese that was the special of the night.

We had a little mishap today. Actually a couple of them. Myrna dropped her camera in the parking lot of the hotel. It took a beating but after snapping it back together it seemed to work, There was a little interference on the screen so we weren't sure if it would show up on the pictures. To make sure our pictures would be OK I told Myrna to start using my camera. In Mesa Verde, Myrna came out of the car and the camera fell out of her pocket. A small drop of about a foot onto the sidewalk. It looked no worse for wear, so no biggy. When she went to take a picture at the view point, about one third of the screen was black and the rest had lines in it. We took pictures anyway and they are ok but the screen is almost unusable especially to change the options in the menus. That was our newest camera (a Canon SX710-HS) but I never really liked it because it had a hard time focusing on certain things. We had barely used it on this trip as my new phone was taking amazing shots. Myrna felt bad about her camera day but that's what you get when travelling with 3 cameras and 2 phones that can take pictures. The GoPro is still intact.

For tomorrow, we just booked in Page Arizona. We have been staying at Best Western hotels as we find the staff has been extremely nice at every one so far. This time we are staying at the Best Western View of Lake Powell. Still haven't decided where we will be on Friday night before hitting Vegas.

Thursday April 19, 2018 - Cortez, Colorado - 8am MT

Here we go again. Another day - another Weather Warning for the place we are heading. This time it's a dust storm warning for all of northern Arizona. Click here to see the warning which states 'avoid travel if possible'. Persons will respiratory problems should make preparations to stay indoors. I had pneumonia 2 weeks ago so I might be one of those people. No worries though I will be on the lookout for brown clouds. I think Myrna and I are the perfect people to be storm chasers. Actually it looks like it's the other way around. Going to breakfast now and packing my ventilator within close reach.

The good news is that there is no chance of taking a helicopter ride in Lake Powell so we are saving money. Actually after last month's heli crash in the Grand Canyon, that mode of transportation is not in our stars anymore. We've been on 4 helicopter rides and we will probably leave it at that number.

Thursday April 19, 2018 - Page Arizona - 4pm Pacific time since Arizona doesn't use Daylight Saving Time.

They weren't kidding about the wind. It wasn't a sandstorm but the sand was really blowing especially when we got to page and went to Horseshoe Bend a couple of miles out of Page. We were going to go to Antelope Canyon which is a slot canyon just outside of Page but there were hundreds of people going there. The least expensive trip there is $40 a person and some as high as $75. There are 6 tour companies, all run by the Navajo, that take people to three different areas of the canyon. We decided to save some money and not go. It was so windy that we were afraid that the and would blow into the canyons and it wouldn't be pleasant. We saw a group come back from there and there boots were filled with sand. Instead, we went to Horseshoe Bend which was amazing!!!. Other than the sand blowing into our ears it was good and hope the pictures do it a little justice. The videos will give you an idea how much wind there was. It was actually scary to get near the edge.

We got an extra hour today since we are now in Arizona. We will lose that hour tomorrow as we have booked in Kanab Utah. On Saturday, we'll get back that hour as we head to Las Vegas to rest and maybe recoup some of the money we spent., but I'm not betting on that.

Just went to Nemo's Fish and Chips for supper. The owner was born in Westmount but left for Connecticut when he was 4 years old. He remembers sliding in the snow in the streets of Westmount. After that we just took a little drive above the dam on Lake Powell. It was only 7:30pm and it was completely dark when we got back to our hotel at 7:45. That's what not following Daylight Saving does.

Since we only have 79 miles to do tomorrow to get to Kanab, we will go back upstream to see the Lake Powell marina and sites there before heading west. I posted a picture of an RV park here in Page. Actually, it's a Wal-Mart parking lot with about 100 RV's and trailers in it.

Friday April 20, 2018 - Page Arizona - 8am PST

You may have noticed that I am having a hard with dates here. I fix them retroactively but when I actually wrote the date I have been wrong at least 4 times so far. I always seem to have the day of the week right but the date has been off by one a few times.

Today is the first day that the weather is totally cloudy and there is definitely a chance of rain, It's only going to get to around 17°C in any part of the journey into Kanab. We want to stop in a slot canyon about half way there, so hopefully the weather will cooperate. There shouldn't be the crowds of Antelope Canyon at Buckskin Gulch where we will be attempting to hike in.

Our last 3 days will be in Vegas where the highs are 29c, 32c and 33c respectively with only sun. We will finally get to wear some of the clothes at the bottom on the suitcases. We will probably be complaining about the heat.

Friday April 20, 2018 - Kanab Utah - 5pm MST

We weren't sure about the weather today and it proved a little shaky. At about the halfway point is a dirt road that leads to Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass Trail. There are 2 ways of entering the slot canyon(s). One is by driving about 4.5 miles and going upstream to the Wire Pass trailhead. The other way is driving 9 miles to the Wire Pass trailhead and heading towards Buckskin. We did it the latter way. This was a good thing because there was impassable water in Buckskin. There were only a dozen people on the entire trail which meant you could be alone if you wanted. Compared to Antelope where you would have paid $100us and been lead through with potentially mobs of people this was the right choice. Also, it as free with our national park pass as it unofficially part of Glen Canyon and/or Escalente NP.

We had 2 minor scares in the canyon(s). Once we got to the end, we heard 3 good claps of thunder. You haven't heard thunder until you hear it echo through slot canyons. We were at the very end of the trail where couldn't really go any further. That's about 2.5miles (4 kilometres) in. The thunder itself is not a big deal but if a downpour follows it, it's a potential for flash flood. At this point we were pretty well alone so we hurried back as I was always looking to see where we could get to higher ground. In the slots themselves there is no higher ground or at least it's a vertical climb of 100 feet or so. At this point it wasn't raining hard at all but most people started back upstream but a couple were still venturing down.

By the time we got out of the slots, we could see very dark clouds in the sky. About 200 yards from our cars it started to hail and yet another lightning strike within a kilometre. We ran to our cars and we were now safe, or at least we thought so. On the way in to this dirt road it said road impassable when wet. I thought that meant that if it rained enough there would be water in the washes and you would be able to pass. It turns out that's not the reason the road is impassable. For around 2 miles at mile 7 to 9, when the rain or melted hail get the red mud wet it sticks to your tires. You tires then lose traction. At one point it was slipperier than driving on snow with bald tires. The 4 wheel drive car in front of me had to stop to try to scrape the tires off of the red mud. Had I never driven in the snow before, there is no way I could have done that part of the road. I was sliding sideways at one point and it felt like the car was going to hit the rocks on the side. There was no video taping this white knuckle moment. Eventually, the road turned to 'regular' gravel. When we finally got on pavement again, the white car had a fiery look down below. The wheel wells were coated with about an inch of red mud. When we got to Kanab, our first stop was a car wash. After an 8 dollar automatic car wash which was needed before, the wheel wells were still completely coated. on the outside of the car wash was a pressure gun. For another $1.25, I managed to get 90% of the gunk off. I still have an inch of it on my boot when I got out to help Greg and Tina scrape their tire with my hiking stick. We will be back to the pressure washer tomorrow to do off my boot and hiking stick.

Another 'funny' story happened after we checked in to the Red Walls Best Western in Kanab. Firstly, when we got there we were assigned a room (151) that was part of a separate building with only 3 rooms in it (see picture). Room 151 was a handicap accessible room. Room 150 was beside and room 250 occupied the entire second floor of the building including right above us. Both rooms were filled to the brim with, I assume, sister wives and many children, all preschoolers which could mean any age in these parts. We are after all only a few miles from Colorado City of Warren Jeffs fame. We are actually driving through Colorado City tomorrow but we shouldn't bump into him. If you are wondering why, click on his name above. Anyway after hearing the kids screaming around the building and then stomping on the floor above us, I had had the biscuit with the commotion, Myrna and I looked at each other and said do you think this will go on forever. So Myrna went back to the front desk and asked if we could possibly change rooms. The woman at the desk said no problem but asked if we really needed a wheelchair accessible room. What's up with that? This is the third time in our travel history that we have been assigned a handicap room. The last time was at the Grand Canyon Bright Angel cabins back in 2012. If you didn't read our blogs then, that was the time that the mouse used the easy access ramp into our cabin to munch on Myrna's trail mix in her back pack at 2 in the morning.

Why are hotel clerks assigning us easy access rooms? Is it because I walk into the lobby after a long hike and they think I need help? Do we look that old? I have to check my online profile on the hotel websites to see what info they have on me....

Update-If forgot to say that we did eventually change rooms to a room with a view...of the 2 families that were our neighbours. We watched from our room as the kids were using the bed as a trampoline. They weren't as described before 'sister wives' but they were 2 families who had never heard about Ritalin.

Saturday April 21, 2018 - Kanab Utah - 8am MT

I haven't written about this part yet but when we packed back home, I didn't pack that well. I had a bad dream about 2 weeks before leaving that I had forgotten chargers, memory cards, cameras and my laptop wire on this trip and only realized it between flights. When I woke from that dream, the next day I made a list of things not to forget. Sure enough I didn't forget anything electronic that I had to needed. My other concern was packing our hiking sticks. We tend to have the 22inch pieces of luggage instead of the huge 26 inch that lots of people use for vacations. Our hiking poles were causing a little bit of an issue in the smaller bags, but I found a larger bag that was at least 25 years old in the basement that fit the poles and the 2 back packs (Knapsacks as Myrna and I often call them) that we brought for hiking. After Febreezing it for a week that old suitcase became my bag as Myrna wouldn't be caught dead with it. The zippers are green from oxidation. The wheel are rusty and barely turn. Also because it's so big, it didn't feel full when left. A few days in, I realized why it didn't feel that full. I barely had packed any clothes probably still worrying about electronics. Other than a lot of socks and underwear, I only have 6 tops, 3 of which are t-shirts, 4 pairs of pants, one of which is a pyjama, and 2 shorts, one of which is my jean shorts which are now filthy. For Vegas, you will see me in my black golf shorts the entire time.

On the way to Vegas, probably in St. George Utah, we will drop into a Wal-Mart and check the luggage section. I found a way to make the hiking sticks a little shorter by completely taking them apart so they might fit into a 22 inch suitcase. We will be looking for a new suitcase and a large trash bin for old faithful. We will take pictures of the burial. While at Wal-Mart, I may dip into the men's wear section to 'enhance' my wardrobe. Our Best Western days are over now so that suitcase that was inconspicuous in these parts would be an embarrassment while checking in to the swanky Wynn hotel in LV. I would have to at least stop at Ace Hardware for some WD-40 for the wheels before a Wynn bellman tried to figure out a way to pull this monstrosity.

We are on our way for our 3 hour drive to Sin City. We will use the one hour we are getting back for Pacific time for shopping.

 Sunday April 22, 2018 - Las Vegas, Nevada - 8am PST

We made to it to Las Vegas and checked in to the Wynn around 2:00pm. The traffic was pretty bad since it was a Saturday. We ended up stopping in Mesquite, Nevada at a Walmart to look for luggage to replace my bag. We bought kind of a collapsible duffel bag. It wasn't expensive, only $30 and the bottom is hard. Since it's 30 inches long, the hiking sticks will fit perfectly in the separate section below. We also had to get rid of the 2010 Drive for the cure backpack since once of the seems had torn open. The new duffel bag looks like this. For the price, we hope it survives the plane ride home and at least the 2 flights to Iceland. It's says it has a 15 year 'limited' guarantee which probably excludes leaving it to the gorillas in baggage claim.

Now we have a small problem. On the way to Vegas we were looking for a place to get rid of the old bag. Leaving anywhere could cause a major commotion. We are looking for a goodwill box big enough to put it in or or least a large enough dumpster. We even though of bringing it to the police so that a bag left somewhere would be looked upon as a bomb or something. It's now in our almost empty trunk waiting for disposal. Oh yes, I also bought 2 golf shirts to add to my wardrobe.

Our room at the Wynn is on the 53rd floor (of 60) as I had asked for high floor. It is facing the strip but the Palazzo is blocking the view to the full strip to the south. Also somewhat spoiling the view to west is Trump tower, which is not large but looking at those 5 golden letter at the top are a constant reminder of something we would rather not think about. On this trip, we talked to 2 different couples, one from Phoenix and the other from Chicago that has this to say. The conversation started like this in both cases as they found out we were from Canada. 'You guys must think people here are all nuts' they exclaimed. They needed to say no more. Also both asked if we didn't mind that when they travel overseas now they tell people they are Canadian. It was quite a revelation that some people are that embarrassed of being associated with a country led by the Trumpster. After visiting these parts, the 'Again' part of MAGA doesn't really make sense. America (at least the landscape) has always been great. If anything, the Trump dynasty seems like it wants to give some of that precious landscape back to big industry (his friends) to exploit it instead of leaving in its pristine state.

That's it for politics. Last night we saw le Rève here the Wynn Theatre. It was quite a show and we had perfect seats (7th row Aisle). Too close and your neck would be taking a beating as the action is everywhere. It's mostly a water show but the stage and props rise up and enter from all directions. During the day, we had taken a walk down the strip quite a way. It was quite a show just people watching. Anything goes here and I not sure Nevada has legalized weed but you could probably walk down the strip for a couple of hours and get a buzz. It wasn't even 4/20 yesterday but they were still celebrating it. We had lunch/supper, we call it lupper, at around 4:30 at the sports bar here, probably the cheapest menu in the Wynn. the bill with tip was over $80us. That did include 1 beer and a glass of wine. I told Myrna it's a warm-up for Iceland.

We are headed out to look for breakfast. It's the first morning that breakfast hasn't been included in our hotel stays. This is our current mission and it will probably be lunch by the time we get there.

Sunday April 22, 2018 - Las Vegas, Nevada - 5pm PST

We finally found a place to eat breakfast at 10:45, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. It was a large breakfast so we walked it off by walking from our hotel to the Bellagio and back. That was a total of 14 kilometres as we cheated a bit by taking the monorail from the Bellagio to the Excalibur. I lied about being on the 53rd floor of the Wynn because it's only 50 floors. No floor has the number 4 in it since that number is bad luck in the Chinese culture. The elevator goes 38, 39 , 50 and 51. There are 9 floors above us therefore we technically on the 41st floor.

Monday April 23, 2018 - Las Vegas, Nevada - 9am PST

Our last in Vegas. We are taking our flight at 15 minutes after midnight and taking the red-eye to Toronto and then a 10am flight to Montreal. As mentioned in the intro, we have our room for the entire day so when we are packed we will head to the airport around 9:30. We walked to the airport yesterday, so it's not far. The high today is supposed to be 34C, so we won't be walking to the airport.

We might update this again in the lounge in Toronto tomorrow morning or maybe tonight time permitting. We still haven't ditched my suitcase yet so there might still be a story about that.

Update: Today is Myrna's birthday that she will share with a royal from now on. The hotel sent a small box of chocolate to Myrna and a happy birthday wish. In May, I will share a birthday with a royal wedding.

Monday April 23, 2018 - Las Vegas, Nevada - 6pm PST

Just getting ready for the last supper, a free buffet that came as a promo with the package we reserved at the Wynn. If you have never been to Vegas, the size of things will amaze if nothing else. This morning we went for lunch literally across the street from our hotel. We ate at the food court then went to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy a new Backpack. That was 4 kilometres of walking and it's just across.

I do have another funny story that happened when I went to fill the car with gas. We are checking out shortly so I will probably only be able to update this when we get home (or in Toronto). Prayers to Toronto for the tragic event today.

Tuesday April 24, 2018 - Two-Mountains - 4:00 EST

Home sweet home. Two eventless flights home except for a lot of turbulence over the Rockies in Colorado. For baggage pickup it was the exact opposite of our arrival in Las Vegas. When we got to the Trudeau Airport baggage carousel our bags were already going around it. Speaking of baggage, we were going to try to find a home for the old bag (not Myrna) but the suitcase we didn't want anymore. We couldn't find a goodwill donation bin. One of the reasons for that is that we never moved the car once we got to Vegas. It was in the parking lot and I took out it one time to fill it to full. When we weren't walking around Vegas, we were in our room admiring the view and trying not to the the mini bar or in room snacks. (we were successful). We decided we needed a little rest after our active vacation. In the end, the empty suitcase was in the car when we brought it back to McCarron Airport rental car return. We explained that we didn't want to leave anywhere as to not cause a situation. They said 'just put there, someone will take it'. All that worry for nothing.

It ended up we drove the car some 1550 miles (2500 kms) in the days we actually used and it's not counting the Jeep day which was just over 100 miles.  I washed the car fairly well but as I was fuelling up before returning the car, a car drove between the gas pumps and I heard a huge pop sounds as it drove beside the my car. I didn't really think anything of it until I went to the 'dep' for a receipt to prove to the rental agency that I bought gas near the airport (they ask for that now but in my case never looked at it). The car had driven over a full cup of what looked like a milkshake. I have a picture of it in the album. You don't see it in the picture, but the entire back end of the car and the wheel are covered in a sticky beige substance. I told the guy at Thrifty how it happened and he just laughed.

All and all it was a great vacation and we saw some spectacular scenery that you can't find in other parts of the world. We used the word Wow very often. At some points we wondered how Iceland could actually top this trip. We will find out on May 30th when we arrive in Reykjavík and start our 14 day tour of the island. It just happens that we will be travelling on Wow Airlines. Hope you can join us once again for another adventure.

Thanks to you people reading this as I know most of you only looked at the pictures. I will definitely compile a 'best of' pictures as upload from a tiny screen wasn't always the best way to see the pictures. Until we travel again.....

Almost forgot, even though we drove quite a bit we walked (or hiked) for 105 kilometres (65miles) which doesn't seem like a lot on a flat surface but some days we climbed up and then descended up to 750 metres. In Iceland, we are staying 13 nights in 13 different hotels/guesthouses and we will be driving over 2000 kilometres to go around the entire island. I don't think we will be walking as much since there will be driving every day. Then again with 24 hours of daylight we will have plenty of time to walk around. In Utah, it was dark by 8:00pm and we were almost always back in our room by then.