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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A belated vacation recap


This post is going to be monstrously long (like forty photos - you've been warned), and part of me wants to apologize for that, but the other part of me went on an awesome vacation and wants to share some photos! I should have posted these a month ago - you know, when my vacation actually ended. But I'm a procrastinator.

In case you're new here, my husband and I went to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas last month - it was our first vacation together, and it was amazing. (We've been married four years, but we've just never traveled anywhere until this year.) The Grand Canyon had never been on my "to visit" list - it was just a random suggestion that my husband made when we were talking about where to vacation earlier in the year, and the more we thought about it, the more appealing it sounded. It didn't disappoint. I've been to a lot of spectacular locations, but this was one of the best.

We flew into Vegas and drove five hours to get to the south rim of the canyon. There were closer airports - Flagstaff and Phoenix - but they were more expensive. Once there, we stayed at the Yavapai Lodge, which is about half a mile away from the rim. It was a decent place to stay, but I would have preferred one of the lodges directly on the rim. (That was my fault, though, for waiting until a month before our trip to book the hotel - Yavapai Lodge was the only one with any rooms left.)











After a few days on the south rim, we drove to the north rim for an afternoon. While the view from the north was pretty much the same as the south, the landscape of the actual rim itself was much prettier, with lots of tall trees. We stayed a night in Kanab, Utah, and the next day drove through Zion National Park on our way to Vegas. Personally, I wish we had skipped Vegas and stayed a few days in Zion. We didn't realize how amazing it was going to be, and once we got there were disappointed that we only had a few hours to look around.



Vegas was fun, though a bit overwhelming. (I suppose that's the point of Vegas, though!) We stayed at The Mirage, and even though they were late in getting our room ready, they did send us a complimentary bottle of champagne to make up for it, so we decided we liked our experience there!



Josh had never stayed in a hotel before this trip, so when we got to The Mirage and he saw the mini bar, he was super excited about all the free snacks, until I showed him this price list :)


That's right, our hotel had its own volcano.

The mall at Caesar's Palace...



The mall at The Venetian (above and below)...


This photo and the next few are from the conservatory at the Bellagio (the animals are covered in hundreds of flowers)...













The last thing you see at the airport before you board the plane...

9 comments:

  1. Love the photos, your trip looked amazing! Las Vegas is so fabulous and seeing your pictures makes me to want to go there again so bad! I have never been to the Grand Canon but it looks fantastic and I would love to see it!

    Rebecca

    www.winnipegstyle.ca

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    1. Vegas was cool! The last time I went there was when I was 16, so I didn't get to do any of the fun stuff like gambling :)

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  2. you got some gorgeous photos, and sounds like you had so much fun!
    i've never been out west, i need to go!

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  3. These pics just about made me die...I want to visit Las Vegas so bad. So bad. :)

    <3 Cambria
    jupefashion.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Do it! Our flights were super cheap - we actually spent more on the Vegas hotel than our flights.

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  4. If you ever happen to make it back, make sure you stop in Antelope Canyon. It's near Lake Powell. Mind. Blowing. I have been to vegas a whopping 3 times, and each time it really just wasn't for me. I like nature over all of nonsense of vegas.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the recommendation - there were so many things in Arizona and Utah that we wanted to see but didn't have time for, so we'll definitely go back someday.

      While I enjoyed Vegas, I'm definitely much more into scenery than nightlife when I travel.

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  5. Scintillating scenery! Glad you got to go!

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