Thanksgiving, Utah (Part 1)

November 24

Las Vegas

Well, we hadn’t been away from home for at least several days so it was time for another road trip.  This time our niece and nephew, Beth and Chris, from San Diego, invited us to their getaway place in La Verkin, Utah, for Thanksgiving.  We would be joined by Beth’s mom, Rita, and her brother, Dave, both coming from Indiana . . .

[Our flight to Las Vegas was generally uneventful.  Well, except for the usual standing in line at the airport for two hours before being crammed like sardines into the plane for a 2 1/2 hour flight.  I was at least entertained during the flight by Gorbachev, the movie – I’m a fan . . . ]

[Ahhh, Las Vegas.  What can I say other than it’s a good place to fly into to go to other places . . . ]

[We immediately raced to the far reaches of the city for our two-night hotel stay . . . ]

[There appears to be a decent chance that the Oakland Raiders will be playing here next year . . . ]

[Home to the NHL’s Golden Knights (I had to look it up – forgot they had a team) . . . ]

[On my first trip to Vegas in the early 70’s, the original Caesar’s Palace marked the end of The Strip . . . ]

[Sorry, couldn’t help myself . . . ]

[Our destination at the edge of the city . . . ]

[The view from our hotel room . . . ]

November 25

Death Valley

[We arrived a day earlier than Rita and Dave because we wanted to pay another visit to Death Valley . . . ]

[So the next morning we drove off on the 2-hour trip NW to get there . . . ]

[It’s stark and brown and interesting to see as a tourist, but I could never be a desert person . . . ]

[Joshua trees in the foreground . . . ]

[Somebody’s tracking us?]

[As the sign says, and it’s home to Creech Air Force.  It must be super top secret or something – The Super worked 31 years for the Air Force but had never heard of it . . . ]

[Onward . . . ]

[Getting further and further away from civilization  . . . and water . . . ]

[Like a 4-lane highway on the moon . . . ]

[Death Valley appears on the GPS screen . . . ]

[And another Area 51?]

[Go left here . . . ]

[Strange red hill that seems to be a work site . . . ]

[We didn’t stop.  Maybe it wasn’t big enough?]

[The most common photo op example for the whole trip . . . ]

[Death Valley is somewhere down this road . . . ]

[Leaving Nevada, entering California . . . ]

[Yup, the sign says we’re there . . . ]

[And we’re in . . . ]

[The information stop . . . ]

[We were here, entering the park from the East . . . ]

[Fortunately at this time of year we were experiencing temperatures in the 50’s . . . ]

[When you come to the fork in the road, take it.  OK, we went left to the East . . . ]

[On a haze free day (I don’t know how often that happens), this would be a spectacular view down the length of the valley . . . ]

[One last check of the map with fellow visitors (we had the silver rental) . . . ]

[A long winding road to the valley floor . . . ]

[We’re at the bottom . . . ]

[This is it – DEATH VALLEY . . . ]

[Furnace Creek Visitors Center (oh, you can read that) . . . ]

[We’ll check in here, take a break from this blog posting, and pick up Part 2 next.]

You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out.  ~  Jay Leno

Up Next:  Part 2