Las Vegas, 29 March to 1 April
After leaving Death Valley National Park, we drove to Las Vegas for a few nights. We spent a lot of time in Valley of Fire State Park and shared many meals with family, having a great time throughout.
29 March
Our plan for the day was to drive to Las Vegas, explore Valley of Fire State Park, then check into our hotel in Las Vegas. We got to the dining hall before the group of kids did, and they started drifting in as we were eating. After we were done, we packed everything up and headed out.
We stopped by a store to pick up something for lunch. We also knew that we would be having brunch the next morning, so we picked up some things to eat in the morning to tide us over.
There was a line of cars waiting to go into Valley of Fire, but it didn’t take us too long to pay our entrance fee. Our first stop was the visitor center to top off our water bottles and get a map. We had a plan of what to do, but we also picked up a sheet which had recommendations of things to see if you had a short time in the park.
The first thing we wanted to do was a hike which joins the Fire Wave and White Domes loops. The road took us through red hills, and Melody even saw a mountain goat on the side of the road.
There were two parking lots near the trailhead and both looked full. We pulled into one lot where a couple of cars were waiting for spots. Luckily enough, one near where we were pulled straight out to the road so we were able to slip in.
We started out and saw not only red rock formations but red dirt under our feet. After a little while, we started seeing bands of color in the rocks and soon enough we were at Fire Wave. People were climbing all around, and we knew it would be a popular place for people to turn around, so as we continued, there were fewer people on the trail.
As we continued on the Fire Wave loop, the formations looked like they were eroded by water leaving rounded shapes and holes in the rocks. We found a place to eat lunch and to cool off a bit from the sun.
Not only did we see stripes in the rocks, but perpendicular to those stripes were sections that were shifted from each other.
We joined the White Domes loop where we once again saw a lot of people. Soon after, we joined the loop, which was a short slot canyon. There was a woman who wanted to take a photo of the canyon entrance without any people in the photo, and with the number of people going in each direction, she probably had to wait a while. We continued on the loop until we reached the White Domes trailhead parking lot. A couple of large groups were starting on the trail, so we followed them through a small canyon.
One of the notable things along the White Domes trail is a movie location from “The Professionals”, which we went by. We then got back to the connector, which took us back to the Fire Wave loop, so we continued on that, heading to the parking lot. One of the objects we walked across was Crazy Rock, and indeed it was.
When we got back to the parking lot, not only were the lots full, but cars were parked along the road, too. Not surprisingly, someone asked if we were leaving and took the spot after we left.
Our next stop was the Rainbow Vista Trail. It was very sandy and took us past some rock with colors in them and ended at a view of Fire Canyon. On the way back, we took a small loop off the main trail to get us a little closer to one of some of the cliffs.
The next stops had features next to parking lots, so they didn’t take very long. The first was Arch Rock. At first, we didn’t see it, but walking around a bit, we looked up at the top of a large rock and saw a small arch on the top. Knowing where it was, we were able to take a look from both sides.
Next was Atlatl Rock, which has a set of stairs you can climb to look at petroglyphs. Of course, the staircase wasn’t there when the petroglyphs were created, but we saw a staircase carved into the side of the rock which led to a narrow ledge that people probably sidled across to get to the face with the petroglyphs.
The last stop was the Beehives, a couple of round rocks with ridges which make them look like their namesake.
Having spent a lot of time in the park, we were ready to head to Las Vegas. It took us a little while to find the hotel parking lot, but once we did, we checked into the hotel, found our room, and got the rest of our luggage out of the car. We grabbed some dinner at a nearby restaurant, then called it a night. It being a Saturday night, there was a lot of music from the Fremont Street Experience, but we were able to quickly go to sleep anyway.
30 March
We spent the morning taking it easy, having the breakfast items we got the day before. We then returned the car and then hopped on the bus from Downtown to the Strip. We were meeting some of the cousins in the Bellagio for brunch. We had a great time, and the food was great.
We went our separate ways, with Melody and me going across the street to find some gelato. After that, we went to the Flamingo to take a look at the wildlife habitat, including flamingos, koi, and turtles. We then went back to the hotel to take it easy for the afternoon.
In addition to those of us who were at brunch, a couple of other cousins joined us for dinner at the Circa, one of the new casinos to go up since the last time I was in Las Vegas.
Melody and I had tickets for a tour of the Neon Museum, so we went there after dinner. I had reserved times such that we could walk around a little bit before our tour, which was nice. The tour itself was great, with our tour guide being very knowledgeable and entertaining. The wind had picked up that night, and the guide warned us that if it got above a certain speed, they would need to have everyone go inside. The last time I tried to do the tour at night, the wind was high enough that they ended up canceling that tour, so I was glad I got to see the signs lit up this time. After we were done, we headed back to the hotel for the night.
31 March
Breakfast was a short walk away, and even though we had chatted a lot the previous day, there is always more to talk about. The food was plentiful, and afterwards, most of us walked back together to our hotels.
Melody and I planned for this to be a relatively relaxing day, so after hanging out in the room for a little bit, we headed to Container Park for lunch. It has stores and a huge playground built out of repurposed containers, which sounds gimmicky but is still cool to see. We had tacos at one place and gelato at another.
We then walked to a café near the Arts District and settled in. There was plenty of room, and since we had just eaten, we didn't mind that they had run out of pastries. We stayed until a bit before they were going to close, then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.
The cousins were meeting at a restaurant very close to us, so we were among the first people there. This was the first event where all of us were at, and it was great to have everyone together. Melody and I shared a chicken pot pie that was so large that we weren't able to finish it.
1 April
This was the last day of our trip, and we all gathered for breakfast. We showed up just before the restaurant opened, and because of the size of our group, we took one large and one small table. Several people got the ham steak, which was quite large. There was also a lot of toast left over, so some cousins were able to make ham sandwiches to have for the trip home.
Some of the cousins needed to leave right away to get to the airport, while others were driving home. We went back to the hotel to finish packing before checking out.
The bus we were going to take to the airport ran only once per hour, but the timing worked out well to get us to the airport early enough that we didn't need to rush. We saw a couple of cousins going through the security line, then they headed to a different set of gates while we went to grab something for lunch. The flight back was uneventful, and it was good to be home when we got there.
