Viva Las Vegas!

Highlights of Las Vegas
Hot showers & a king size bed
Free room upgrade/chocolate covered strawberries & champagne
The Bellagio's delicious buffet
Fremont Street
The dive bar
Our first Cirque de Soleil show

The Cabin

Zach and I stayed a night with Uncle Bob & Aunt Lynn at their rustic cabin located near Flagstaff, Arizona. The property is located on 12 acres and has a plethora of Puebloan history strewn across the land. Bob opened my eyes to finding things like obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass that Pueblo Indians used to make weapons. We also came across pieces of old pottery on the property. I felt like I was hunting for treasure, it was so neat!

Bob and Lynn are building an additional cabin on the property and as Zach and Bob worked feverishly to put the pitch on the roof, Lynn guided me to an old medicine circle that is just a hop, skip, and a jump from their cabin. It was surreal to be in the presence of something so old and important to those who were here before us.

It's not often you find two people that are as passionate about travel as Bob and Lynn.Their stories and experiences during times of travel are an inspiration to us.

Highlights from Arizona

We left the comforts of Colorado and headed for Payson, Arizona to visit Aunt Kako and then onto Phoenix to visit Uncle Bob and Aunt Lynn. We enjoyed relaxing with Kako, drinking high end, Walgreen's exclusive beer. The meals at Uncle Bob's were excellent and the pool was a necessity in the 107 degree oven that is Phoenix.

Since we can't stand the heat, we headed north to the higher ground of Flagstaff where we got our spelunking on in a lava tube cave just outside of the city. The cave dropped about 150 feet before leveling out and traveling 3/4 of a mile in length. The best thing about it was that it was not commercialized and was located on a rough forest service road. The cave stood as it was found with no lights or walkways and no gift shop.

We read about sleeping on the beach at Lake Powell on the boarder of Utah and Arizona and it sounded refreshing. What we found was a little piece of redneck heaven. Big trucks, RVs, speed boats, ATVs, dirt bikes, jet skis, generators and Christmas lights. It was like people watching at the State Fair. All packed together on a sandy beach surrounded by sandstone cliffs. We didn't quite fit in with our small backpacking tent and dollar store blow up raft but it was hot and the view both on the beach and across the lake were unique. On our way up to Utah for a few days to visit some parks and then onto Vegas.