Wild West Tour 2019, Part 2

sarasphotos

1) Sometimes what looks shortest on Google Maps isn't necessarily the best route for an RV. Somehow we had missed the fact that between Bryce and Zion there's a 10000 foot pass with lots and lots of curves on the way up and down.

2) Approaching Zion NP

3) Lovely view from our campsite

4) The Virgin River was exceptionally full

5) The waterfall at Emerald Pool

6) Beautiful colors

7) From Hwy 9 in Utah

8) We arrived in Las Vegas in the late afternoon and spent the first evening wandering through the Bellagio Hotel. Actually LV was not our favorite place (I knew that beforehand but it seems to be the dream of every German I know to visit, so I had to indulge...). In the evening it had a certain charm but in the daylight it was completely not our thing.

9) The famous fountains

10) You can't find a much starker contrast to Las Vegas than Death Valley.

11) More Death Valley - I tell you driving through this place just gave us a creepy feeling. So glad not to be a pioneer in a covered wagon. It was about 110 degrees on that day.

12) Sundown found us in Lone Pine at a funky but wonderful campground with a view of Mount Whitney

13) Yum - grillin!

14) Evening pastels

15) Target practice

16) An interesting stop at Mono Lake - I wish we'd had time to drive to the eastern side

17) Since it was too early for Tioga Pass to be open we had to take a rather long detour and spent two nights at the lovely city campground in South Lake Tahoe. Sundown over the lake.

18) Campsite visitor

Part 3 to follow...

denisegoldberg

While Las Vegas doesn't fit my lifestyle I've found it is a great place to fly into for access to national parks. And I love visiting Red Rock Canyon on the west side of Las Vegas, https://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/. Did you get there?

I love Death Valley! My visits there have mainly been in the winter though so I didn't need to deal with the kind of temperatures you experienced.

sarasphotos

Yes, you're right Denise, LV is convenient to the National Parks. Unfortunately we didn't make it to Red Rock Canyon. I had read about it but it just didn't work out.

Death Valley is certainly better visited in deep winter than on a midday in April - and we probably didn't see the most interesting parts. We're both glad we saw and experienced it although I'm not sure we would run to visit again if we had the chance.

David_S85

Great series of photos, Sara. Looks like you had, in one visit, what has taken me half my lifetime to check off my own list. Can't wait for part 3.

sarasphotos

Thanks for commenting David. Yes, we sure did get a lot of places checked off that list although we both have the feeling there were so many more places we would have loved to have seen. We did try to live in the moment and let the impressions soak in even though we had a relatively short time.