The past two days we’ve spent at a Casino in Vegas. Gotta love cheaper rooms!! While in LV we visited the Hoover Dam and drove down The Strip for funsies. . .

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VALLEY OF FIRE

Because we nearly slept too late in the very comfortable casino hotel we had to rush to shower and pack so that we could check out on time.

Today we were planning on driving to Zion National Park in Utah, but on our way we stopped at the Valley of Fire. “Valley of Fire,” indeed! The day’s temperature was definitely into the hundreds — almost too hot to bare. But we made it through, which I am proud of.

As you can see from the pictures (which you’re welcome to click and scroll through!), the valley of fire is a bunch of gigantic, red rocks, all shaped differently. We were lucky (although I have the feeling the weather is always this way…) that the sky was perfectly blue to snap photos of these radiant, stony mountains! They were even more red than the sand I’m holding!

At one point, we climbed up a huge rock (whether we were allowed to or not, I might add) to grab a panorama of our surroundings (second to last picture). Up high we viewed the Rainbow Vista…a brilliance of a red to yellow gradient (the last picture). That was my favorite part, by far!

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ZION NATIONAL PARK

Upon arriving to our campground (which, by the way, must have been cancelled at the last minute by a previous guest because we reserved it just the day before!) we learned of a free shuttle that loops around the park, briefly introducing the different stops and sites. We agreed this would be a relaxing activity and went for it (though sleeping well two nights in a row, we were still exhausted). We set up our camp before it got dark and then walked towards the bus station. . .

The ride was, indeed, relaxing. The shadows on the mountains were rising rather quickly, however, so we took as many pictures as we could before just sitting back and watching out the windows as the gigantic red mountain passed by. (I didn’t include any in this post, though, because they were a little blurry.)

At the last stop the driver let everyone off for 8 minutes (or however long the guests wanted as long as they caught another bus on the way back). This was my favorite part because Cobalt and I leisurely got to walk down a red sandy trail to a creek bed. Since the sun was setting and the red mountains covered up the hot blazer, the air was very cool and breezy. I almost walked the trail barefooted but thought otherwise because of potential glass and whatnot. Regardless, it felt good to be walking after driving and sitting for so many days!

At the end of the trail we washed our feet in the cold stream. This was refreshing after endless dry heat and sand during the daytime the last few days. (We’re really missing the cool LA weather!)

Riding back to our campsite on the second to last bus, Cobalt and I breathed a sigh of relaxation and thanks to God that we got to see the beauty in the park. We both looked forward to sleeping in our tent!

Too dark to see much, we flashlighted (is that a word? Ha..) our way to our tent. The boys’ group in front of our site were a little noisy but before too long the whole site was quiet. Soon enough the stars came out and Cobalt and I gazed at them for a little while. The tree line bordering the site prevented us from seeing very many but considering the city prevents us from seeing many at all, we enjoyed the scene in full.

Though neither of us slept the best (the whole site was graveled, close together and slightly noisy) we perked up after eating oatmeal and grapefruit from our propane stove and stainless steel dishware. (Isn’t oatmeal the perfect breakfast food for camping?)

Then we headed to Monument Valley….