"All the views are great - so don't go tryin to kill yourself for one"

"Keep it for your children and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights every American should see." 
  -- Theodore Roosevelt, on the Grand Canyon in 1908. 

Where to start?
We’ve landed, figuratively, in Vegas, a day early in fact. How did we get here?

The Four Corners, as advertised, was more for the novelty of existing in four places at the same time. Why stand on a line that signifies the meeting of two states, when you can stand on a cross that signifies the meeting of four states? In reality it was a slab of concrete, with an emblem in the center, and signs marking the four states heading in four directions. Yet, the allure of it was still somehow magically fascinating. In a landscape that appeared very similar from each vantage point, it was still pretty cool to take a half turn and suddenly, instead of staring at Utah, you’re staring at Arizona. Another half turn and there’s New Mexico. A third takes you to Colorado, and then you’re back to UT. MAGIC! What was almost even more fun, was to watch the new visitors rush to the center and take an assortment of photos of themselves and their children and their spouses and their brothers and sisters laying, standing, crouching, practically playing Twister with the four states and their various limbs. (Just as we had done 5 minutes prior.)

Our trip to the Grand Canyon from the Corners was much quicker than expected and therefore gave us an entire afternoon to explore (which then put us ahead of schedule). First, read that Teddy Rose quote above again. What can I really say about this place? Raise your hand if you’ve been to the Grand Canyon. If your hand isn’t up, you need to work this place somewhere in your future plans. Let me preface it with this: I was wowed by the Little Colorado River Gorge (Much to my later surprise, I thought this was the G.C. at first.) We wove our way around the gorge as we drove deeper into the park, catching teasing glimpses of the Canyon as we made our way to the back. The plan was to drive as far back as possible without stopping and then slowly work our way out, taking time to enjoy the views. The first Canyon view that we saw literally stopped us in our tracks. You could put five Little Colorado River Gorges inside of the Grand Canyon.

How is this possible?? How is something so immense and colossal possible? The Canyon was ten miles across in some areas, it went more than a mile deep at parts, and here you are standing on the edge of it staring into SO MUCH VASTNESS. The sun was dropping, the red rocks were radiant, I’ll just stop there because there aren’t enough words that I can put together to describe the sight. You just have to see it.

After a while it was just overwhelming. We looked at it from many different viewpoints, and after a while, it was almost incomprehensible that we were still looking at the same piece of land. I hope the pictures can convey even a tiny percentage of the real magnificence of it.

It’s impossible to compare anything to the Grand Canyon. But our next stop took us to another impressive National Park: Zion. Located in southwestern Utah, Zion presented us with a separate rock from what we’d previously seen. Zion was a departure from the dark red sandstone we’d seen and a formal introduction to the brighter, whiter Navajo Sandstone. We had another bracing, mountainous drive into the heart of the park, passing more formations that took the words from our mouths. In Zion, compared to G.C, we were staring up at these formations, not down on them. We were among the formations. Zion is an ideal place for hikers and rock-climbers. That not really being our forte, not to mention we were unequipped for such thrill seeking, we decided on the two least strenuous of the five trails to traverse. Venturing up and down these beginner’s trails we hiked over three miles to see the Emerald Pools and the Weeping Rocks, both scenes of waterfalls spitting over the sandstone and chilled natural pools of spring water.  It was nice to finally get out and into a Park. We didn’t take the hike (or the donkeys) down to the Grand Canyon floor, and we didn’t tackle any of the journeys to get up close with the arches at Arches, so it was very enjoyable to be amongst the rocks and the trees and Mother Nature.

Now.

A two full-day, three night stop in the City of Sin, our longest stop in a single place to date. The Strip, Hoover Dam, Texas Hold ‘Em, Las Vegas Wedding Chapels, Buffets out the Wazoo, Strip Clubs Galore, who knows what we’ll dive into. (Don’t worry Grandmas, we won’t scandalize Jana with any strip clubs, that was a joke, we don’t even like strip clubs.) There are replicas of New York City, Paris, and The Great Pyramids all on the same block!! Since we arrived with only a little money, we don’t have much to spare, but Sis has a special $1 bill and I have $5 on Nickel Slots at Caesar’s Palace, and we wouldn’t mind walking away with enough to pay off our college debt.

On our first full day, we toured the Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam Guide:
Welcome everyone. I am your dam guide, Arnie. Now I'm about to take you through a fully functional power plant, so please, no one wander off the dam tour and please take all the dam pictures you want. Now are there any dam questions?
Cousin Eddie:
Yeah, where can I get some damn bait?

That about sums up the damn Dam. But no, really, it was the first man-made-marvel we’ve seen in a while. It rates up there achievement wise with the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge (yet to be seen), and the St. Louis Arch. I just kept wondering what it would feel like to slide down the 700-foot face of the thing. It was almost slide-like in it’s design. But the fact that at its base it’s at thick is it is tall is just incredible.

Tonight, we take Vegas by storm.

By. Storm.