Ever since I went to Page, AZ and southern Utah in spring 2002, I had wanted to go back and do some photography. So this year during Vaishali's (my wife) spring break, we decide to make the trip. She hadn't been to Grand Canyon before, so we planned to spend a little time hiking down just under the rim.
The plan was to leave on Sat 26th morning and return on Fri 1st. We were to fly to Las Vegas and then drive in a circle starting with Grand Canyon and going to Monument Valley, Page, Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon before returning back to Las Vegas.
Saturday, 26th March
The alarm was set to go off at 0500, but I didn't give it the chance. I was up at 0445. I woke Vaishali up and we got ready. The taxi was to arrive at 0600 and it did. I had checked in online the previous night, so we could afford to go in late.
While waiting to board the place, I leafed through the pages of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. This is a very nice book I acquired some months ago. I have never read it properly, just leafed through it sometimes. I was hoping to get some quick tips for the trip and I kept reading the book on the flight.
The America-West flight was uneventful and we landed in Las Vegas by 0845. After retrieving the checked in bag, which took a while to arrive, we caught the Payless shuttle to the car rental office. The car we got was a white Mitsubishi Gallant. The car's rear window had been dirtied by tons of bird droppings. I think they really should clean up the cars before renting them out.
Heading out of Las Vegas, we stopped at Albertsons and Costco to pick up some snacks. By 1100, we were driving on I-93, on our way to Grand Canyon.
To get to Grand Canyon from Las Vegas (well there's another route, but that longer) you need to go over the Hoover Dam. And on a spring Saturday morning, there are hundreds of tourists headed for Hoover from Las Vegas. It took us half an hour to cover the last three miles to the dam.
I have been to Hoover before and the Discovery Tour isn't really great. All they show you is some historical photographs, a movie and a view of the huge turbines from a distance (this was the case in Mar 2002).
We decided to skip the tour and parked in the free parking area over on the Arizona side. The view from the free parking areas is better. We walked over the dam and like other tourists took some pictures. On way back to the car, I spied some great wild flowers on the side of the road.
This year, rainfall in the desert has been exceptionally high. Everywhere we went, the wild flower display was beautiful. I heard of three hour lines at the entrance of Death Valley to get in and see the nature’s wild flower display. As we drove away from the dam, the wild flower display was wonderful. Yellow, purple and orange were the predominant color.
While driving we listened to the audio CD of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer narrated by Paul Newman. I have never read Tom Sawyer before, so it was nice listening to it. I never knew Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn ever appeared in one book. Paul Newman did a good job with the narration.
We stopped at Kingman, AZ to stretch our legs. Also, at Kingman we took I-40 E, towards Flagstaff, AZ. About half an hour out of Kingman, I handed the driver's seat to Vaishali. With her behind the wheel, we drove into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn at Williams, AZ.
There were patches of snow around the parking lot. Vaishali looked worried. It was going to be cold. The place looked nice from outside, but the room wasn't up to the standard I expect from a Holiday Inn. I wouldn't go into the details, but it is suffice to say that this place should be avoided.
After a little rest, we were on our way to South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The South Rim is about 60 miles north of Williams on I-64.
We were hoping to make it there for the sunset. I was prepared for a little delay at the entrance, but not what I encountered. The entrance was backed up till Tusayan, AZ. It took us half an hour to get in. I was glad I had the National Park Pass. That saved us at least 10 min (you get in the shorter queue).
The lady at the gate gave us a nice piece of advice. To enjoy the canyon find a place where you are alone, then relax and enjoy the beauty of the canyon. It a great piece of advice for anyone going in there. I wish I had adhered to it that evening.
Sunset time was 1846 and it was already past 1730. If we were to enjoy the canyon in the golden hour, we had to get to a good view point fast. After a quick look at the map, I decided that Mather Point and Yavapai Point would be too crowded. So I decided to head east to the Grandview Point. We stopped at a view point a few miles past the Yaki point road for Vaishali to have her first view of the Canyon. Like every first time visitor, she was awestruck.
We then drove to the Grandview point. It was further than I expected. Once I wondered if we had passed the point and thought about turning back to check. Glad I didn't.
There weren't many cars at the Grandview parking. “Good” I thought. We can enjoy this without the crowds. However, minutes after I had setup the tripod, a bus load of tourists arrived. It was a bother. I had to make sure no one trips on my tripod while I was taking a long exposure. The trail was closed due to the snow.
I found a small rock jutting out on a precarious ledge. Despite Vaishali's protests I setup my tripod on it and clicked away. The sunset was great and so were the photographs. Sunset and sunrise are the best time to enjoy the Grand Canyon. The light makes the red rocks glow and the interplay of this glow with the shadows works wonders.
As the sun set, the guide (maybe he was a ranger) of the tour bus started playing his flute. Vaishali directed my attention towards it, and to my uninitiated ears it sounded like a melancholy Indian tune. 
Whatever it was, it rose above the cacophony of the tourists and sounded great. By that time the sun disappeared, it had become very cold. Vaishali went to sit in the car while I photographed the golden horizon.
I would have liked to listen to that flute longer but it had become very cold. My hands were numb, and it took me quite a while to pack the camera and collapse the tripod.
We then decided to stop by Canyon View Information Plaza to check on the shuttle buses for the next day. I was specifically interested in the Kaibab trailhead shuttle. I parked the car at the Mather point parking and walked to the information center. Vaishali sat in the car. It was quite cold. The information center was closed, but there were large painted maps and bus schedule posted outside. There was a shuttle every 15 minutes. That was good. 
We then drove back to Williams. We decided against getting some food in the Canyon or Tusayan, hoping that Williams would be a bigger city and we'd have more choice. However we were very wrong.
All along the drive back, the moon was rising in the east. It was near full moon, and was very yellow. I don't know why it was so yellow, but the yellow globe shining in the blackness of the night was quite pretty. The nights are never as dark in Santa Clara.
We reached Williams around 2030. We couldn't find any place to get vegetarian food. After driving around a bit, we decided to get burgers (without meat) to go at McDonald. We had the dinner in our room. Also ate some snacks we had with us.
After dinner I tried to download the photographs from the CF cards to the laptop. Now this is an old cranky IBM laptop which is installed with Fedora Core 3. Last time I took it on a trip, it stopped booting after two days. It failed me again. The OS wouldn't recognize the CF card reader. I made a mental note to get rid of it as soon as I returned home.
Finally we went to sleep around 2300. It had been a long day but rewarding day.
Sunday, 27th March
Sunday was going to be another long day. The alarm clock in the room wasn't working, so I set the alarm on the cell phone for 0400.
I woke up a few minutes before 0400 and switched off the alarm. We were on our way by 0500. It was very cold outside and frost was frozen on the windshield. It took me a few minutes to fix it enough that I could see properly. Then we were on the move.
The drive to the canyon didn't take very long. By 0545 we were at the unmanned entrance. A little ahead at the junction with the Center Road, a ranger directed us towards the Market Plaza indicating that the road ahead was closed. When we reached the Market Plaza, another ranger wanted us to park there. I didn't plan on missing the sunrise while waiting for a shuttle bus. So I asked him if the parking at Mather Point was closed. Well it was open and he let us drive through. I don't know why he wanted us to park there.
Anyway we made it to the Mather Point just in time for the sunrise. We settled on a flat piece of rock 50 meters west of the main viewing area. There was a sunrise Easter service being held at the main viewing area. We had the whole rock to ourselves. The sunrise was beautiful.
We spent an hour on the rock enjoying the sunrise. It was cold there, but we didn't mind. And I took lots of photographs. It was here that I realized how correct the lady at the gate was. To enjoy the canyon you need to be at a place where it’s quite and silent. You don't want to be bothered by lots of other people and noises.
I just wanted to stand there and enjoy the moment. But the sun was rising and we had plans for a small hike.
Before that I had to charge my camera batteries. Even though I had charged the batteries on the previous night, the camera showed one bar after only 38 photographs. I know that batteries don't last very long in cold weather, but this was a pretty short.
So we sat in the car and charged the batteries with a car adapter. While the batteries were being charged, we charged ourselves with some chips, salsa and cookies.
Around 0800 we boarded the South Kaibab trailhead shuttle and got off at the trailhead. The plan was to hike down to the Cedar Ridge and turn back from there. I figured it would take us 4 hours to do the round trip.
The initial decent into the canyon was very steep. I figured there were about 12 switchbacks. There were some icy patched here and there, but we managed to navigate them safely. After the switchbacks, the decent was gradual and no icy patches.
I must say the view down was marvelous and it’s very different from up at the rim. We walked slowly taking photographs and stopping often to enjoy the view. By 0900 we were at the Ooh-Aah Point. This is where the trail opens to the views of the East. There is also a large rock providing an excellent sitting area with a view. We sat there, munching on trail mix bars, looking up and down the canyon. The sun had come up and warm rocks were nice to sit on. 
Looking down I could see the Cedar Ridge hitching rails immediately below us. That had me thinking, the trail down to the ridge looked sheltered and in shade. Probably the views on the way won't be so nice. We rested there a little more and then I convinced Vaishali to head back.
We started on our way back at 0930 and were up at the trailhead by 1030. By this time the trail was very crowded. As we hiked up, at least 50 hikers must've crossed us on their way down.
As we arrived at the trailhead, a shuttle arrived. Soon we were at our parked car. The next place to visit was the Desert View point. As I drove the approx. 25 miles to Desert View point, Vaishali fell asleep.
The Desert View point is near the east entrance to the park on I-64. It also was very crowded. This is one of the few points in the park from where the river is visible. The watch tower nicely complements the color and terrain on the canyon. Last time when I was here, they used to charge a buck or two to climb the tower. This time it was free. There are some nice Indian paintings inside the tower. The view from the top is nice, but not very different from below.
Next we drove back to the Market plaza, stopping at various view points along the way. At one of the points there is a map which shows one of the peaks named as Vishnu Temple. I wonder why they named it after a Hindu god. I know there are other schist’s in the canyon named after Hindu gods. Wonder why they were named so? 
After lunch, the plan was to relax and sleep a little in the car. Vaishali managed to sleep well, but I couldn't fall asleep. It was too hot for me. Twice I moved the car to park in shade of a big RV.
Next on the itinerary was the Hermits Rest route. Around 1500, we boarded the Village route shuttle and transferred to the Hermits Rest shuttle at the transfer point. We could have driven to the transfer point, but I wasn't sure about the availability of parking there. Actually there was a lot of parking available at the place.
The first point we stopped at was the Powell point. This point is named after John Wesley Powell, who led the first expedition down the Colorado River through the canyon. There is a memorial to John Wesley Powell here. Looking back from this point the nice forest view is spoiled by the ruins of an old mine. Though the mine is of historical interest, it ruins the view. 
Next we stopped at the Pima point. The views at all these points, though very nice, are quite similar. It is better to spend some time enjoying the scenery at one point, than to rush and cover every one of them.
The last stop, Hermits Rest, was a little disappointing. There is a small cafe here, which is good to get a hot drink. Both of us felt the view wasn't as good as the others.
On our way back we got off at the Hopi point. The intent was to grab a good spot and wait for the sunset. However the wait was futile. There were clouds on the western horizon and the sun never peeked through. We waited till the horizon was completely dark and then left. It was disappointing and the sunset failure today led to other misses later.
Monday, 28th March
Monday was a relaxed day. We woke up around 0700 and took our time packing and getting ready.
We left the hotel at 0900 and headed east on I-40 and the first stop was Flagstaff; AZ. Flagstaff is a good sized city. If one is unable to get reservations in the Canyon or at Tusayan, I would recommend staying at Flagstaff, rather then at Williams.
To free space on my CF cards, I wanted to try and download the photographs to a kiosk and get a CD burned. I tried at Wal-Mart and then at Walgreen. None worked. Apparently, they can only recognize and download jpeg pictures, and I was shooting raw.
The next destination was Monument Valley. I wasn't in a hurry to get there. The plan was to get there few hours before sunset and stay there till dark.
So we drove leisurely in US-89 N, listening to “The Cat who Robbed a Bank” by Lilian Jackson Braun narrated by George Guidall. The story is not very good; however the characters in the book are very well developed. The narration is excellent and makes the audio book worth listening. I don't think the book will be as good a read.
A few miles after Cameron, AZ we turned east towards Tuba City, AZ on I-160. We stopped a couple of miles before Tuba City to get some gas. The gas station also featured a large general store. Inside I found a few old saddles for sale. These were old worn out saddles with exquisite carving on the saddle horn and other places. The stirrup as well as most of the metal was rusted. I tried to pick one up and it was very heavy. It made me wonder how those cow hands carried them around. I have often read of cowhands walking miles carrying their saddle after a horse has died or for some other reason. That must have been tough. Most of the saddles were priced about $100. Too expensive for a souvenir.
Vaishali drove from Tuba to Kayenta, AZ. There were few vehicles on the road and it was an easy drive. I immersed myself in the narration of George Guidall.
Around 1300 we drove into the Burger King at Kayenta. We had a quick lunch there. The place has a very good Code Talkers Exhibit about the Navajo code talkers. The movie Wind Talkers with Nicholas Cage is based on them. I read somewhere that the place is owned by the son of one of the first code talkers.
One thing I observed throughout my days in the Navajo lands, that the Indians (I believe most of them were Navajo Indians) are much more cheerful and nicer to talk to compared to the other non-Indian people. We talked to them in shops, restaurants, tour guides and gas stations. I wish everyone was like that.
At Kayenta we turned north on I-163. As I drove, the mesas and butte came in sight on both side of the road. Around 22 miles north of Kayenta, is the Monument valley turnoff. It is across the road from the Goulding, UT. Goulding has a wide range of visitor services and is the closest accommodation to Monument Valley.
Monument Valley entrance and visitor center is about 4 miles from here. 
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is on private land located on Navajo Indian Reservation. The entrance fee is $5 per person.
We first decided to look inside the visitor center. The view from the visitor’s center is very impressive. The three butte – East Mitten Butte, Merrick Butte and West Mitten Butte, stand tall in front of you. I stood there wondering - “wow! What forces of nature created such a formation”. The sun played hide and seek, illuminating one butte or the other. It wouldn't be wrong to say that this is the best view. However, this does not mean one should skip the rest of the valley. The 18mm lens on my camera (with a 1.6x crop factor) just covered all three buttes. 
Inside there were some great photographs of the valley and a large display of an aerial view of Monument Valley. It helps to give you a sense of perspective and direction into the valley. There are more displays explaining the geographic forces which helped form such magnificent formations. The ladies at the counter weren't very knowledgeable. I asked them about a picture of the Teardrop Arch hanging on the wall. There wouldn't know about the location. However, they were cheerful and polite.
I wasn't sure of whether to take a guided tour or drive in myself. To see the valley, one has to drive on a 17 mile dirt road. The road is rough but very manageable on a normal car. The tours are mostly taken in an open jeep or a closed van. Vaishali is allergic to dust, so I wasn't too keen on taking the open jeep.
I decided to drive myself. The tours have the advantage of learning about the culture and history of the place from the guide. The guide can also take you to some places which are off limits to tourists driving on their own. However, driving on your own gives you more time to explore. You can stop wherever you want and spend as much time as you want at a place. This is good if you want to spend some time taking photographs.
So I dug out the Monument Valley photography article I had printed from www.phototravel.com and handed it to Vaishali. With her navigating, we started down into the valley. 
We started on our way down at 1400. The initial descent into the valley is quite rough. 
After that the road is much smoother. Over the 17 mile drive, we stopped often to wonder at the amazing creations and photograph them. All along the way, the sun played hide and seek. The storm clouds were all around us and I was hoping to avoid the rain.
You get a better idea about the size of the mittens from down into the valley. Each one of them is above more than 1000 ft in height. At the Elephant Butte, it took us a while to figure out the elephant, but once we did, it looked remarkably like one. We spent some time both near the Totem Poles and Artist's Point, waiting for the sun to break out and give us a good picture. I got some great panoramic shots at the Artist's point. 
By 1700 we were back at the visitor’s center. The sunset time was around 1815. So we decided to drive north on the I-163. The classic Monument Valley road shot was taken 
from somewhere up there. So we drove up north, looking over our back often to see if the view was present. After about 15 miles, we stopped at an abandoned road side stall. Looking south from here, the views were splendid. The tops of some of the buttes were glowing golden in the sunlight, while the rest of the valley was dark.
We decided to head back from here. As we crossed the valley turnoff, there were dark clouds everywhere. There was no chance the sun would peep out before sunset. So we decided to head to Page, AZ. This was a mistake. As I was pulling into a gas station at Kayenta, the sun did peek out. I believe the buttes would have been beautifully lit.
It took us about 2 hrs to get to Page, first driving west on I-160 and then north on AZ-98. While driving we listened to the cat story. There were very few vehicles on AZ-98 and I was worried what would happen if the car broke down. None of our cell phones were catching any signal.
We were staying at the Lake Powell Resort in page. This resort is located on the shores of the lake and is a few miles outside the city. From our patio, we could look down on the lake. In the morning we enjoyed a great view from the patio. The room was simple but clean and the resort was quite nice with numerous facilities. A new thing I observed was soap dispensers in the bathroom and the sink, instead of soap bars. This they mentioned, in a note, was to save on the paper wrapping. Good environmental consciousness.
After checking in, we scanned the room service menu and other options for dinner. Then, in spite of the cold and the howling wind, we decided to drive to the city for dinner. Our bravery was rewarded when we found a nice Mexican restaurant – Fiesta Mexicana, on the main street. The place was nice and warm, and the food great. While we ate, the expected thunderstorm arrived. I wondered whether it will make the Antelope Canyons inaccessible the next day.
After dinner, we drove back in the rain to our room. Vaishali went to sleep, while I tinkered with the laptop. Eventually I managed to download the pictures.
Tuesday, 29th March
Tuesday started with another relaxed morning. The two Antelope Canyons were the main target of the day. Later we had plans to walk up to the HorseShoe Bend overlook and Glen Canyon dam.
Both the Antelope Canyons are best visited during late morning and noon times. These slot canyons are also known as Corkscrew Canyons. By 0900, we were on our way after a good breakfast.
The canyons are located off AZ-98 about 5 miles east of Page just before the Navajo power generating plant. They are located on the Navajo Tribal Land and you need to pay a fee to visit them. Going out from Page, the Lower Antelope Canyon (LAC) is on the left and the Upper Antelope Canyon (UAC) is on the right. We first stopped at the UAC parking lot and talked to a guide. I knew from the information I had collected from the web that it’s better to visit the LAC in the morning and UAC in the noon. The LAC never gets the light beam, while in the UAC the light beam penetrates to the sandy bottom around noon.
The LAC parking lot is located about few hundred yards from AZ-89. When we drove in, there was only two other vehicles in the lot. One of them belonged to the Indian attendants. We paid the required $18.50 fees/person, which included the $6 Navajo Tribal permit. You can use the same permit to visit both the canyons.
The Indian lady advised us to take a light outerwear or sweater with us, as it was cold inside. She then led us to the entrance of the canyon. The entrance was surprisingly small. Actually it was just long crack, about a ft. wide, in the red rocky ground. It was barely wide enough for me to squeeze through. There were metal stairs built into the rock to decent into the canyon. Inside the canyon is wonderful. For a moment, it left both of us speechless. We just stood there, wonder at the amazing creations of nature.
The canyon is formed by the erosion effects of sand and water (flash floods). The LAC is quite narrow. At numerous places along the way, there are metal stairs embedded in the rock to help in moving along the bottom. There were only one other group in the canyon when we entered (a couple of groups entered later). So we practically had the canyon to ourselves. There were lots of small water puddles left over from the rain last night. There were a few big one too. We managed to navigate past a few, but eventually turned back at a bigger one which looked more than half a ft. deep and several ft. across.
We took our time enjoying the canyon and taking photographs. The light level is so low, that a tripod is a must. It’s very difficult to take bad photographs of the canyon, however care should be taken while exposing. The sunlit areas on top of the canyon walls tend to get washed out. It is also a good idea to bracket your exposure. The latest version of Photoshop, CS2, has a new feature – Merge to HDR (High Dynamic Range), which can automatically merge multiple exposures of the same scene. This is a good place to practice shooting in the low light high contrast environment, as the UAC is quite crowded and one has little time to setup the equipment and shoot.
We emerged from LAC after about 80 min. Next we drove to UAC parking lot. The UAC entrance is about four mile, on an unpaved sandy road, from the parking lot. Personal vehicles are not permitted on this road. You have to utilize the services of the Indian guides available at the parking lot or in the city of Page. The guides at the parking lot are cheaper than the tour guides you will find in the city of Page. So we paid $15 per head and sat in the back of an open pickup, modified to seat 8 people. The Indian lady, who was our guide, drove over the sandy road to the UAC entrance. It was very windy and in spite of the sun, quite cold.
In contrast to the LAC, UAC has a very wide entrance. The pickup drove up to a few yards from the entrance. The guide led us into the canyon, describing the various features. Almost, immediately after we entered, we saw the famed “beam of light”. Throwing a handful of sand into the beam was magical. The canyon is much wider (hence easier to traverse) then LAC and there is more light here. The rock patterns are different, but equally good I spent quite sometime taking photographs, which was difficult with so many people walking around.
When we arrived at the entrance, there was another vehicle present. When we were leaving, there were 5 more vehicles. At an average of 8-9 people per vehicle, there were about 50 people at the same time in the canyon. You can imagine how much crowd would there be with 50 people in a canyon which is 150 meter long and 2-3 meters wide in most places.
If possible, one should visit both canyons. However, if time is limited, I would recommend the LAC.
After being amazed by the Antelope Canyons, our next stop was the Horseshoe Bend overlook.
The overlook is located at the end of a mile long hike from a small parking lot on the side of US-89, about 4 miles south of Page. Last time I visited the overlook, it was difficult to find the small parking lot. It is located just south of highway marker 545. This time there was a sign post indicating the location. I guess the place is becoming popular. From the parking lot, you climb up a small hill and then walk down to the overlook. The trail alternates between rocky and sandy surface.
From the trail, there is no indication of the view you are about to experience. The rocky ground extends all the way to the edge. The river is not visible until a few feet from the edge. As you step up to the cliff edge, the emerald green river contrasts with the red-brown rocks of the desert to present a spectacular view. Here the Colorado River, flowing out of Glen Canyon dam, makes a gigantic horseshoe shaped curve. The overlook is on a cliff more than a thousand ft above the river.
Other than an eagle (it looked like one) lazily circling above and the howling wind, there was no one around. We sat there on the rocks and munched on trail mix bars. Time and again I looked down at the river amazed at nature and its wonders.
I was a little afraid to setup my tripod on the edge, for fear of the wind toppling over the tripod. But, I decided to trust the stability of Bogen 3001 and set it up on the edge. I took a few shots, but 18mm on a 300D wasn't wide enough for the entire view. It wasn't up to me to stand on that edge and take multiple shots for a panoramic merge later. Instead, I lay down on my stomach on the edge and peeked down. This was comfortable enough to take some good shot and I managed a good panorama.
On the return hike, I found some colorful wild flowers in the desert, but the wind was too high to allow a sharp picture. However, near the parking lot, I spied a nice yellow flower, sheltered from the wind by a thick clump of bushes. I did manage to get a clear but little blurry shot of it.
Next we drove north on US-89 towards Page. Just outside town, there is a vista point (behind Denny's) with great view of the dam over Colorado River. We stopped at the vista point and enjoyed the view there. Probably, this is the best view of the dam one would get from anywhere.
Next we drove to the Carl B. Hayden Visitor Center, stopping for gas on way. We got in after getting through the security and the metal detectors. Even Hoover dam, after 911, didn't have this much security. Inside we learned that all tours were booked until 1530, and each tour lasted an hour and a half. That would mean 1700 by the time we leave for Bryce Canyon. 1700 would have been too late. So we decided to skip the tour. Instead we walked around and looked at the exhibits and then watched a movie on dam construction. The exhibits were nice and the movie was even better.
Some interesting facts: Before they built the dam and adjoining bridge, one had to travel more than 60 miles to get from one side of the river to the other at that site. The city of Page got created as a result of dam construction. Now it thrives on the tourists that come to Lake Powell. It took 17 yrs for Lake Powell to fill up.
We left the visitors center around 1530 and drove north on US-89 on towards Bryce Canyon National Park, passing through Kanab, UT. At Kanab, I saw this interesting billboard before a shop - “Things so nice, buy it twice”.
While driving, we listened to our cat story. By this time my interests in the cats had increased a lot and I was listening with concentration. As we crossed the UT-9 junction, it started snowing – mildly at first and then heavily. This is the first time I was driving in just a heavy snow. I was surprised to see the snow flakes hitting the wind shield horizontally. Probably it’s always like that.
Turning east on UT-12, we passed through the Red Rock canon. The red rocks amidst the heavy snowfall looked brilliant. If only the light had been better, but I did take a nice photograph. Immediately after turning south on UT-63, we arrived at Ruby's Inn. The place was heavily snowed in.
The place was like a small village. You can find almost all kinds of services here. They even had a post office. By the time we got in our room, it was 1800 hrs and the snow was falling very heavily. The room was like any other motel room, nothing fancy. Within an hour, there was a thick layer of snow over our car. There goes my sunrise, I thought.
Wednesday, 30th March
I woke up at 0530 to find everything covered with snow and clouds covering the sky. No chance of a sunrise, I told myself and went to sleep. When I woke up again at 0700, the clouds had parted and the sun was shining down trying to melt the snow.
After getting ready, I went down and cleaned the snow from the windows and wind shields enough so that I could drive properly. Overnight, the accumulation was about 6-7 inches.
By 0900, we were on our way to Bryce. Ruby's inn is located just outside the park entrance and is the closest accommodation outside the park.
Inside the park everything was white with snow. We stopped at the visitor’s center to ask about the open routes and hiking trails. I didn't expect any trail to be open. That was the case. None of the trails, I was interested in, were open. The road to Rainbow point was also closed.
We first stopped at the Sunset Point for the awe inspiring view. The red rock hoodoos, dotted with white snow were beautiful. Nature with its erosion forces of water, ice and wind has shaped the colorful limestone rocks into bizarre shapes. It was quite cold, but the view made us forget the cold.
The snow melting from our car roof froze as ice sickles under the car. The photographs were nice, but not as good as I would have liked.
Next we stopped at Bryce point and then at Inspiration point. The view from both was breathtaking. Actually from all these points you look down into the same amphitheater from different angles. From the Bryce Point the vast snowed in landscape of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is also visible to the east.
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We left the park around 1200 mesmerized by its beauty. I was a little disappointed on not being able to hike a little.
We stopped at Ruby's Inn to get gas and some hot drinks. Then we drove to Zion via UT-63, UT12, US-98 and UT-9. There were icy patches at some places along the way, but generally the road was clear. We stopped to take some photographs at the Red Rock Canyon. 
Zion was lot less crowded then on my last visit. I think the shuttle system they have implemented is having a positive effect. We stopped at the Checkerboard Mesa to take some photographs and stretch our legs. This is a fascinating piece of sandstone mesa covered with checkered patterns created by erosion.
Next stop was the visitor's center. On way we stopped once to take some photographs. The Zion Canyon drive was closed to private vehicles. At the visitor's center we took the shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava. The temple is at the end of the Zion Canyon scenic drive. The drive, along the river, is quite beautiful. The shuttle driver was very helpful with his narration and the information he dispensed. At various points, he pointed out distant hikers or rock climbers, visible only as a speck.
Zion is different from the other canyons we visited in this trip, in that here the main developed area for visiting is at the bottom of the canyon, unlike Grand Canyon and Bryce, where you look down into the canyon.
We walked down the Riverside walk to the end. It was a 2 mile round trip walk and the sound of flowing water was nice. Here I took a nice long exposure of flowing water. The long exposure gives a superficial glow to the water.
Next Vaishali wanted to stop at Weeping Rock, but I was afraid that we'd get late to Las Vegas. I had completely forgotten the 1hr time difference. Had I taken the extra 1hr in account, we could have hiked to the Weeping Rock.
So we hopped on the shuttle and arrived at the visitor's center. Inside we looked at the photographs and other displays. One thing I noticed, the photographs of Zion are not as breathtaking as that of Grand Canyon and Bryce. I believe that is because it is difficult to capture the beauty and majestic peaks from the bottom.
At 1630, we left Zion for Las Vegas. First driving east on UT-9 and then south on I-15, we arrived in Las Vegas at 1800.
Our reservation was at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino, about 11 miles west of the strip. We checked in and relaxed a little. One think I dislike about casinos is that you have to walk thorough the casino floor to get to your room. Probably it’s their way to encourage people to gamble more. The room was very nice for the price we paid. After all the motel rooms in this trip, this was luxury.
We left for dinner at 2000. After driving around, looking for a suitable place to eat, we had dinner at P.F.Chang.
Tired after the day's activities, we retired to bed early.
Thursday, 31st March
On this morning we woke up at leisure and had breakfast of snacks and cookies. Around 1000 we left for the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. I had promised Vaishali a tour on our last trip of Vegas. This time we managed the tour. The factory is located on the eastern side of Las Vegas.
The factory wasn't as good as expected. However, the chocolates were real good. We found some very good sugar free dark chocolates and bought a box for home. Outside the chocolate factory, there was a small but good cactus garden. They have a wide variety of cactus, and some of the cacti were quite large. A few had very colorful flowers in bloom. We then returned to our room after having lunch.
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We debated between watching a movie in the theater located in the casino, or watch one on the room T.V. We decided to watch in the room, and watched Ocean's Twelve. It wasn't a very good movie and I kept dozing off.
At 1800, we went down to the casino. I played the slot machines a little and lost some money. Then we drove to the strip and parked at MGM Grand.
We first walked north on the strip to Paris and took the elevator up to the top of the Eiffel tower replica. As we reached the top, the fountain show at Bellagio was ending. The fountains looked beautiful from the top. We decided to wait for 15 min, to see the next show. It was quite cold and there was a little wind. I am glad we waited in the cold, as the show was great. The view from top was different from what you see down below.
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We walked north again to the Treasure Island casino, stopping along the way to watch the lights and taking some photographs. At Treasure Island, we waited about 20 min for the Sirens of TI show. The crowd wasn't as big as on our last visit. The show was good, but not great.
We walked back towards MGM Grand, stopping for dinner on the way. We then returned to our room by 0030.
Friday, 1st April
Our flight out of Las Vegas was around 1100.
We went to the airport at 0900 and after returning the car, took the shuttle to the airport. The check-in queue was quite long. Initially, they only had two check-in kiosks. It took them 20 minutes to realize that the queue had become very long and to open a few more kiosks. After the security check, I played solitaire on the laptop.
The flight was uneventful. At San Jose airport, we took a cab back home to end a wonderful trip.
Equipment List
References