Viva Las Vegas - my trip to US - part 3

It's Sunday - last day before return to Las Vegas .... our target for today are Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Our car needs washing - so Car Wash is welcome :)

First surprise - it's winter !!! A lot of snow around of us - we achieved Rainbow Point - it's 2778m.

Windy, cold and a snow - welcome in Bryce Canyon !

You can feel you are high ...

One of viewpoints

It's Bryce Canyon ...

Amazing views - we spent half a day in Bryce, but de didn't have enough time to go down by one on the available trails.

The next targer was Zion National Park - very distinguishing view ...

Desert bighorn sheep - the symbol of Zion

They are real !!! :)

Ziona National Park

We did short trip - and it was very good idea ...

Ahead of us Las Vegas ...two hours trip ... and search car wash :)

Viva Las Vegas - my trip to US - part 2

We spent a night near Grand Canyon - so next day we could be very early at the Park ...and we decided to use on of trail available here. Skeleton Point was our target ... nearly 5 hours round trip ...

Firts 2.5 hours you are going down

It's real :)

One of opportunity for traveling is using mule

Mule rides - it's popular way of traveling in Canyon

To know where are the overlooks

It was very good idea to explore Canyon and went down ... beautiful views around ...nice trip. We returned to car and continued our trip ... we ate lnwe left the Grand Canyon through East Entrance ...

Desert view - The watchtower

Our next hotel was near Page, on the way we visited the Horseshoe Bend

The Horseshoe Bend view

  We spent a night in very nice hotel with some cowboy decor

Morning near hotel

American trailer - hmm...near 100m2 ?

 Next target - the Monument Valley - located on the Navajo reservation on the border of Arizona and Utah. On the way we stopped and bought some bracelet made by Indians ... it could be a good amulet for my daughter for mature exams :)

Monument Valley is not really a valley, but a wide, flat landscape. Valley Drive is 17-mile loop around the park - it's dirt road and 4-wheel drive is required - remember !

The last attraction of the day was CottonWood Canyon Road  - the great dirt road.

Road 400 ( CottonWood Canyon Road) is 47-mile (76 km) dirt road connecting U.S. Highway 89 with Utah S.R 12 at Cannonville. It traverses portions of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument offering view into the heart of the Monument. This road is considered impassable in wet weather and high clearance vehicles are recommended.

Unfortunately we read this information about wet weather after our trip - this road was our the biggest challenge during the trip - we were there after rain and it was total massacre ...

Entrance to CottonWood Canyon Road

Some informatiom we missed ...

In the middle of the road

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Our car next day after trip

It was marvelous time - two days ... ahead of us are Bryce and Zion Canyon ...

Viva Las Vegas - my trip to US - part 1

The end of April was time I had a chance to visit US again. On the occasion my business trip to Las Vegas I visited some National Parks which are located near Las Vegas: Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon with some additional attractions like Monument Valley.
The trip began in Warsaw at Chopin Airport, next was Frankfurt am Main Airport, San Francisco Airport and finally Las Vegas airport - from 6.00 am CET to 6pm PDT - 21 hours.

 

San Francisco Airport

Las Vegas Airport

We borrowed a car and we went to Flagstaff (Arizona) situated 400km away from Las Vegas (Nevada).  The history of this town is closely related to railroad and a 66 route.

Our hotel

Amtrak station

There are some interesting places in Flagstaff excepting Old Town.

The first night, jet lag, first breakfast ...

The breakfast in hotel

and trip to Grand Canyon National Park ...

Enter to Grand Canyon National Park - South Entrance

Description of the trails - American style

Surprise - there are two heads :)

And it was first day of the trip ...