April 2022: What Happens in Vegas (and Utah) Won't Stay in Vegas: Day 9: The End

Day 9: Sunday May 1, 2022

The alarm went off at 3, and it was full speed ahead. We got up and ready, and I attempted to check out online, using the link that was given to me with my keys at check in the day before. Obviously, it said that the service wasn’t available until 4:45 am. Because isn’t 4 am when this service is most needed?

We booked it out of the room about 3:45. I sent Nick to the car with his stuff and I headed to the front desk, where, thankfully, there wasn’t really a line, and I was checked out and on my way quickly. I found Nick waiting for me on the garage side of the elevators. He’d moved the car much closer to the elevator than where we had had to park the day before, so we loaded my luggage up and we were on our way.

Google sent me a rather convoluted way to the airport, but we made it, and added our car to a LONG line of returned cars. Big check out day! So it unfortunately came as no surprise that the line for the bus to the terminal was LONG. Surprisingly they had a system. The primary holding pen for lack of a better description was full, so we were directed to a secondary one. Over the course of more minutes than I would have liked, two buses cleared the crowd from the primary pen. The third bus in was directed straight to ours. Thankfully, once we were on a bus, we were moving quickly (after waiting a solid 15-20 minutes for one), and ours was the first stop when the bus arrived at the terminal. Allow yourself time folks!

Check in with Southwest was easy enough, and I got a look of appreciation from the baggage taker for taking the 10 seconds to locate the transfer tags and put them on our suitcases before approaching luggage drop off. It’s the bowl of pink tags, people!

TSA Pre had virtually no line, so we were through security in no time. Nick got himself a breakfast sandwich from Wendy’s, which was apparently on special. $1 for a breakfast sandwich was hands down the cheapest food item purchased all week. We got some bottled water for the flights, because unlike Boston, Vegas knows how to open food vendors when people are traveling, and made our way to the gate, where Nick ate and we stared off into space (and at the gambling machines) until our flight boarded.

Ok…story time! Southwest has been doing full overhauls of their flight schedules approximately two months before flight time. When I booked our flight, we were booked on a 9 am departure out of Vegas, with a fairly quick (hour?) layover in Chicago, and into Boston about 6:30 pm. For a flight coming from the West, it was about an idea a flight time as we could hope for. Well, when Southwest changed the flights, they put us on a 5 am departure from Vegas (blech), with a lengthy layover in Baltimore, and into Boston about 6:30 at night. When they make these changes, you have 3 days where you can switch to another available flight at no extra cost, keeping the same airports. The best available option to Boston that I saw involved this same 6:20 departure that we now found ourselves on, with a layover in Chicago, and into Boston at 6:30. Just for S&Gs, I checked out flights to Manchester and they were WILDLY cheaper than they had been when I originally booked. So…I completely canceled our booking, and booked us on a 6:20 out of Vegas, with a 3.5 hour layover in Chicago, that got us into Manchester at 6:30 at night. Oh, and since I canceled the flights and lost EBCI (this all took place at 4:30 am…I’m not perfect…), and flights were so cheap, I booked us business select, and STILL had a 20,000 point refund. I figured with traveling all day, boarding early and having our pick of seats might not be such a bad thing.

So…we were like A5 and A6 to board this flight. When we boarded Nick marched us straight to the emergency exit section, specifically the row that has no seat in front of the window seat. So he got extra extra leg room for this flight.

The flight was completely full, and uneventful. We took advantage of the free drink coupons that had come with our fare (yes, I was confused when the check in kiosk spit out 8 boarding pass like pieces of paper…4 boarding passes and 4 drink coupons), and enjoyed some VERY strong morning beverages. Seriously…strongest vodka cranberry I’ve ever had. 

Nick slept most of the flight and I splurged on internet and messaged my way across the country. We got into Chicago early, which was nice. Once in Chicago we had a great cheese pizza for lunch from a wood fired oven quick service pizza place. While eating, I couldn’t help but notice that not a single gate in the row I had a view of had a plane at it. Chicago Midway has always been a zoo when I’ve traveled through there, so this was a real wakeup call for me. Revenge travel may be alive and well, but we definitely have a long way to go before we’re back to “normal” on this front.

Because we’d gotten in early, we ended up with about 4 hours to kill at Midway. We found a quiet seating area (seriously…parts of this airport felt like more of a ghost town than Manchester) and chilled there for quite awhile after lunch, before joining that chaos that was the 4 gate area that they seemed to be sending the bulk of the flights through.

Eventually it was time to board. We had even better boarding positions for this flight (A3 and A4 I think). Nick went for closer to the front rather than more legroom for this (shorter) flight so we were in one of the first few rows, to get us out of the metal tube faster in Manchester. This flight was bumpy, but we got our beverages (an equally strong rum and coke for me, jack and coke for Nick) and snack service here too, and somehow passed the time. Thankfully we got into Manchester early too.

Deplaning in Manchester was quick. Luggage retrieval not so much, but still faster than Boston! Once we had our luggage I called mom and she appeared at the curb from the cell phone lot shortly after we walked outside. We loaded her car up and headed for her house, where we transferred luggage to my car, and made our way home (getting stuck in road construction traffic on the way!).

Final thoughts:

We are not Vegas people. I enjoyed it more than Nick, but I just don’t “get it”. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the hotels we stayed in, and the food we ate. There are other shows I’d definitely enjoy seeing. But I don’t understand the draw of the Strip. I’d been worried that I hadn’t allotted enough time for us truly in Vegas, but actually our trip itinerary was great.

Zion was spectacular, but Bryce is just indescribable. Other worldly and amazing are the best I can come up with and even those just don’t seem quite adequate to describe it. Just go there.

Don’t ignore the state parks and the non-national parks. Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon were trip highlights too.

It always blows my mind whenever we visit the national parks how many more people are visiting clearly from other countries than from the US. How do Americans not realize the gems we have in this country? This trip was (surprisingly, given travel restrictions) no different.

It was really awesome to get back to crossing states off the never been there list. It’s been a long time!

I was a little worried going into this about how busy the itinerary was given the school year I’ve had, especially since I’m the primary driver for distance drives. I think I ran on adrenaline the whole trip, but it all worked out great, and I’m so glad we were able to cram as much into the trip as we did. It was amazing!

Ventilated Merrill Moab shoes were absolutely the right shoes for all of the outdoors stuff we did.

Late April was a great time, both weather and crowd wise for this trip.

I’m thinking April 2025 for our western national parks trip. I need time to forget how much I hate long flights!

April 2022: What Happens in Vegas (and Utah) Won't Stay in Vegas: Day 8

Day 8: April 30, 2022

For some reason (probably involving our mistake in not turning on the heat in the treehouse before we went to bed), I tossed and turned most of the night. So rather than the idea of getting up to witness sunrise from Bryce (I’ll just have to go back there again!), I slept in ever so slightly. You know…like 7.

Eventually we got up and got moving. It was cold this morning (like 30 degrees…) and we were not excited about vacation ending. But we did it. We got ready and headed off to Rustler’s for breakfast.

Rustler’s is pretty much what you would expect for the main restaurant in a tiny town out west. It connects to a convenience store and has saddles and such on the walls. The menu is extensive, and inexpensive. Service was a bit western…not the fastest, but the food was excellent. Nick got biscuits and gravy. I had a waffle with strawberries and bananas on it.

After breakfast, we toured through the convenience store to see if there were any interesting snack foods or sodas we don’t find in NH. We didn’t find anything, so we headed back to the treehouse to pack. Packing took awhile, because stuff had multiplied, and because this trip had required a lot of stuff. And I was trying to make things as compact as possible for our anticipated long walk at our next hotel, while still having things accessible for a day of exploring today. Eventually the packing got done, and we spent a few more minutes enjoying the views before we very reluctantly hit the road. We had really enjoyed the Utah part of the trip, and particularly the Bryce part of the trip!

Once we had the car loaded up, we hit the road. We stopped for some pictures in Red Canyon shortly after hitting the road.

After Red Canyon, it was an uneventful, 4 hour drive to our next destination. I enjoyed the 80 mph speed limits, and the scenery. Nick actually stayed awake for a decent chunk of the trip. We thankfully had minimal road construction and no traffic issues.

We eventually arrived at the Valley of Fire. This is a very large state park in Nevada. It was beautiful. Nick did the driving for the scenic drive while I took pictures. I’d like to go back here at a time when I’m not feeling rushed to get to the next place. I was anxious about crowds in Vegas and wanted to make sure we got to the hotel early enough to easily get into dinner, and I had looked at Google Maps too many times to remember how long it was from the Valley of Fire west entrance to our hotel. So my timing calculations overshadowed things slightly. But…this place is beautiful. Add this to your Vegas trips!

 
Once I’d taken a lot more pictures than is evidenced here (these are strictly phone pictures), we hit the road to Vegas. It was less than an hour away. We stopped for gas, which was a process, because Google had sort of misled me, but we found a place so we wouldn’t have to gas up in the morning. Then we worked our way toward our hotel, which was really a process. The NFL draft had shut down a bunch of the Strip, and security was only allowing hotel guests to park at the hotel. So not only did we have to detour a bit to get to the Venetian, but the line of cars backed up into the road made for a mess when we got there. It was NOT a stressfree arrival and Nick was pretty well done by the time we parked. But, we made it.

Trying to find check in was also a process. Signage to important things like elevators was lacking, and holy wall of drunk humanity. But we made it. Thankfully I’d done mobile check in, so we got to go through the short line to pick up our keys. Then we hiked back to the elevators, and made our way to our room: 10129 on the 10th floor of the Venetian Tower. All of the rooms at the Venetian are suites, and the room was pretty impressive. But why does the bathroom soap dish look like an egg slicer?

We relaxed a bit and then made our way back downstairs for dinner at Black Tap. Dinner here was delicious! We both had burgers (obviously?) and I had a raspberry lime dole whip margarita that was beautiful and delicious. The burgers were excellent too. Then we got our own crazy shakes. Mine involved chocolate chips, and Nick’s involved oreos. Obviously, mine had a little whipped cream fiasco before I could take a picture. But…the milkshakes were delicious, and a fun way to end vacation. Service here was great, and moods improved after dinner!

After dinner, Nick went back to the room to escape humanity. I wandered around a bit to take pictures around the resort. This is quite a place, and actually smaller than it appears. Well…sort of. I think there are two other towers and one of them also has a bunch of restaurants, but…the Venetian Tower itself is smaller than I had anticipated. Easier to navigate too, thankfully.

Picture taking complete, I headed back to the room to pack for real and to shower. It was going to be a VERY early wake up the next morning, so we both got things as ready to go as possible. Then we crashed early, bummed that the overall vacation was ending, but not necessarily bummed to be leaving Las Vegas.

April 2022: What Happens in Vegas (and Utah) Won't Stay in Vegas: Day 7

Day 7: April 29, 2022

This morning we had a slower start, but we still rope dropped breakfast. Today, though, breakfast was at MeMe’s, which opened at 8 instead of 7. MeMe’s was also a very short drive from the hotel. Honestly, most of the town was probably walkable from the Hampton Inn, but we are from a rural area and therefore used to just getting in the car to go anywhere.

Breakfast at MeMe’s was good, but not nearly as good as the breakfast we had had the day before at Oscar’s. I had eggs, potatoes, and sourdough toast. I think Nick had a breakfast sandwich. The sourdough was definitely the winner here. Service was good too. Nothing picture worthy though.

When we finished breakfast, we hopped across the street to fill the gas tank, and then headed back to the hotel to pack. Packing was a process, but it got done, and we were on the road shortly before 10 am.

The drive to Bryce Canyon National Park from Springdale was approximately 2 hours. It involved a trip through the historic Mt Carmel/Zion tunnel, views of the checkerboard mesa and Red Canyon, and bison and (tiny, gazelle-like) deer sightings. It also involved driving on a lot of roads that had the same route numbers as those we drive on at home every day, which was kind of amusing. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and wish I had pulled over more frequently for more pictures. Nick stayed awake for more of the drive than I had expected.

 
Arriving at Bryce was more exciting than anything, but, honestly, kind of bittersweet. Bryce has been on my list for a long time. My grandparents, who have been a major part of my life, traveled extensively across the continental US and eastern Canada while they were able. Their travels (and mine as I’ve started traveling) have always been a big topic of conversation around the dining room table. Other than Hawaii, the places that stuck with them the most were Garden of the Gods, and Bryce. Having been to Garden of the Gods, and totally understanding why they were so impressed, I’d become very intrigued by Bryce. The last time I saw Grammy before she died this fall, conversation once again turned to upcoming travel plans, and she was beyond excited to hear that we were going to Bryce this spring. So to get there, and cross Bryce off my never-been-there list, knowing how happy she was that I was going to see this place…was pretty special.

We were at Bryce for about 3 ½ hours. Bryce is small, but amazing. It has a short (13 mile?) scenic drive, with multiple viewpoints to stop at. I took the advice I’d read in my Lonely Planet Zion and Bryce book and drove all the way out to the farthest viewpoint and then worked my way back, rather than starting with the viewpoint closest to the entrance. This allowed me to always be on the same side of the road for the parking areas. Surprisingly, since it was the middle of the day, I never had an issue getting a parking space. Bryce was significantly less crowded than Zion. It was also about 30 degrees colder, and incredibly windy. I was wishing my jacket wasn’t in my suitcase, even with jeans and a long sleeve shirt on!

Zion is spectacular. Bryce is other worldly. There’s just no other way to describe it. Wow was the most common word said in the car during our time there. You should go. Period. Everyone should. Bryce is amazing, and I almost immediately understood why Grammy was so excited to hear we were going here.

After hitting all the viewpoints, I made a stop in the visitor’s center for some souvenirs (need that ornament!). While there, my UNH shirt resulted in a “are you from NH” question. Turns out the person asking the question was a retired teacher from Mass. Small world.

Shopping complete, it was time to go find hotel number 4 of the trip. Stone Canyon Inn is in the town of Tropic, about 20 minutes from the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. There are some campgrounds and a couple of Best Westerns in Bryce Canyon City, at the entrance to the park, and then some smaller places over in Tropic. Somehow Stone Canyon Inn made it on my radar early enough in trip planning, and we booked there.

It was an easy and beautiful drive over to Tropic. Tropic is a tiny little town, and we found Stone Canyon Inn easily enough. Check in was quick and painless. As I turned to leave, one of the women who had walked into the office behind me asked if I am from NH, in light of my shirt. When I said yes, she pointed to her friend and said “so is she”. Low and behold, she’s from the town I work in. For those of you from cities, this isn’t remarkable. But the town I work in is TINY. The elementary school that serves that town is essentially 6 one room school houses under one roof, because there are only enough kids for one class per grade, K-5. You read that right. So running into someone from this town in a small town in Utah was kinda mind blowing. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I headed out to find our treehouse.

Yes, our treehouse. Stone Canyon Inn has several different types of accommodations, but I went for the interesting one with the guaranteed view. They have two treehouses. I think we were in 31. It’s on the far end of the property, overlooking the eastern edge of Bryce Canyon National Park. It was cute, comfortable, and had fantastic views. Oh…and the whole property, but especially this corner of it, was incredibly quiet. So peaceful. Pretty much immediately, Nick did not want to leave.

While we didn’t get pictures, while unloading the car, we saw deer just across from our treehouse. We really are in a peaceful spot here. We spent some time just enjoying the views before it was time for dinner.

Tropic doesn’t have a ton of places to eat, but the places they do have are just our style. There’s a pizza place, a bbq place, and a restaurant that seems to have a little of everything on the menu. IDK BBQ was our dinner destination. Nick had the two meat, two side platter, with brisket and pulled pork, and I had the loaded baked potato (butter, shredded cheese and nacho cheese) with sweet chicken. Our dinner was delicious! I’m pretty sure in this town, IDK stands for I DO Know, because this bbq joint knows their stuff.

After dinner we went back to the treehouse and continued enjoying the view. I loved seeing how the sunset changed the appearance of the rock formations in the distance. And we could not get over the peace and quiet of this property. And we tried the root beer that we’d picked up in a gift shop the night before, that screamed Utah. Atlantic Brewing Company in Bar Harbor, Maine still has the best root beer of any I’ve tried. This one was just ok.

As it got dark out and I crawled into bed, I was amazed to discover that there was so little light pollution here that I could see the stars clearly from the bed. I live in a rural area, but this was a new experience for me!

I think we were both a little reluctant to go to bed that night, knowing that this was basically the end of the vacation.