I went on this trip with a friend from New York. We were completely flexible about the initial point for our journey, so the decisive factor proved to be the lowest airfare and that one was to Las Vegas. After landing and getting our baggage, we took over the already booked car and drove to the parking of a casino dedicated to the Ancient Egypt theme. We are neither even remotely keen on gambling, so Las Vegas was not in the least interesting to us in this sense, but, since we were there anyway, we decided to have a short stroll along the main street officially called Las Vegas Boulevard, in the portion with the casinos better known under the name of the Strip.
Along the Strip, on both sides, there are numerous casinos that are accompanied by large hotels behind which there are also large parking lots. Each casino is dedicated to some theme, so among other things there you have Paris, Monte Carlo, Ancient Egypt, New York and Venice. Different people like different things. I personally prefer the originals.
In order to get to the street from the parking lot, we had to pass through the casino. It is all in a way impressive, grand, colourful, full of people and lively, but it is also possible to look at all of this with some cynicism – a fool’s gold, fantastically packed and sold at more or less high price, very often in exchange for a diminished use of our mental capacities. To prove I am not too strict in this assessment, here is why I got such an impression.
There was a neon-lit board pointing an arrow towards a door that was an entrance into a museum dedicated to the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Above the door itself, there was another board saying “King Tut’s Tomb.” This was the first time I had encountered this, for me as the person adoring Ancient Egypt, an insulting and disrespectful abbreviation of a name, simply because it facilitates the process of not using one’s brain. This was certainly an asset in a place where people were trying to rid others of their money, but it still did bother me. In addition, there was another board saying “original replica.” What???!!!
By the way, other than with a huge number of slot machines, the entire interior was filled with numerous stage-like details some of which were very loosely related to the Ancient Egypt theme. I certainly would not pay attention to many of them, but the following thing happened. Close to the exit leading from the casino to the street, we passed a small group of people who were looking with admiration at the casino’s walls with an audible comment that revealed fascination: “Hey man, look at the ancient inscriptions!” We both looked in the given direction and were taken aback. No hieroglyphs in sight, but among other things there was a graphic depiction of a square root of a triangle!!!
It was good to be out in the street, although there was an occasional drizzle. We stopped for a meal at a restaurant along our way, walked a little more and near the Ancient Rome turned to go back.
Las Vegas
Well, here I have to be honest and admit that there was something that I really liked in Las Vegas. In front of casino Bellagio there is a small artificial lake where every half an hour there is a very special show. Along the stone fence separating the pavement and the lake, there are candelabra with loudspeakers. Every half an hour they play a couple of minutes long song and while it lasts a complex fountain otherwise hidden under the surface of the lake shoots and waves water jets in the rhythm of the music. This always ends with some impressive water choreography after which everything falls silent again and the lake’s surface ripples only if there is wind.
By the time we went to our car and started to crawl through the traffic, it was already getting dark, but we managed to reach the state of Utah that night and settle comfortably into one of the motels that were located along the road we were on.
The next day we headed for the National Park Zion. It was already along the road that we started to become aware of what magical world we were entering. The rocky mountains that stretched along and around the road clearly showed geological layers in different colours and it all really looked impressive. Behind every curve of the road there was yet another beautiful view of the surrounding mountains, rocks and hills. Taking into account that this was all happening at the beginning of March, the trees and shrubs were devoid of leaves, other than patches of evergreen trees that we saw every now and then, so it allowed for a better view of the mountain cliffs. On the other hand, this entire region is in fact a semi-desert, so the quantity of vegetation is certainly reduced anyway.
Along our way, we saw several shops that sell crystals and unprocessed minerals, so we stopped at one parking lot that had not only such a shop, but also a restaurant where we had a very nice breakfast. I love crystals and I took the opportunity here to by some boji stones, a few for me and some as gifts for friends, since this part of the USA is the right place for these stones to be bought. Still, the main surprise was a gray Yugo, a small car made in ex-Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia) with the Utah licence plates.
Talking about Utah, it is also known as a Mormon state, since the vast majority of its population belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, formerly known as the Mormon Church. The seat of the church is in Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah. The church has a lot of strict rules, but one of the things that is often associated with it and that is very controversial is the polygamy of its members. Not everybody is polygamous, of course, but those who want to be have no problems as far as the church is concerned.
After the break we continued with our journey and slowly reached the Zion National Park. From the very start, everything around us was simply beautiful. When we left earlier that morning, it was completely overcast, but as the morning progressed, the sun managed occasionally to get through the clouds. It would then shine on those huge cliffs and help accentuate the red colour that dominates these rocks. But also, when it would be hidden by some clouds, the shadows would only emphasize further the beauty of different colours and hues. Some of these cliffs are completely vertical, as if cut off with a single strike from above, and it was still possible to see remains of the winter’s snows on top of them. The road itself took us into the central part of the park and we were continuously surrounded by pretty sights. The Zion NP is one of the oldest parks in the USA and has had this status since the beginning of the 20th century.
Zion NP
River Virgin, Zion NP (Photograph courtesy of VT)
At the end of the road that leads into the park there is a parking lot. There we saw one of a number of tall, but thin waterfalls that were created by the melting snows on top of the mountains. Also, this is the point from which a significantly narrower part of the river Virgin gorge starts. Of course, here as well there are completely vertical cliffs. Some of them are around 800 m high, but other than that it is interesting to observe their colours and composition. Namely, there are two dominant types of rock that cross each other around the river bed and impact the shape of the gorge. The river Virgin first cut through a solid type of rock straight down, thus creating a canyon and then it came to a softer rock which is easier for eroding and there are lots of inclined sections. The erosion, of course, continues to take place and for this reason the landscape keeps changing, since every year tons of rocks and stones are taken downstream. The Virgin is a rather small river and it dries out in summer when the narrow section of the canyon, appropriately named the Narrows, can be visited on foot following the riverbed. We walked along the path following the river and when doing so, we saw among leafless trees and shrubs a couple of small deer peacefully grazing on the other bank.
Soon we decided to move on. While still driving through the National Park, we suddenly heard a police car. My friend parked on the side of the road and told me that it seemed he drove 30 miles an hour (50 km), while only 20 miles (35 km) per hour were allowed in the park. I started to wiggle in my seat trying to turn around and see what was happening behind us, when Velislav told me sternly to sit still and place my hands so that they were clearly visible. I obeyed. He also told me to look into the side mirror and thus I saw a policeman standing by his vehicle with his hand on his gun. I had no further questions. The other policeman came from my friend’s side, asked for his documents and confirmed that it was all about fast driving. Still, the decision was that they would not charge any fine right there, but if we were to make another traffic violation within that county, then this one would be calculated in as well. When he finished, I apologized to him for my behaviour, saying I was a foreigner and didn’t know the customs, to which he said very politely that it was all fine and he wished us to have a good trip.
We had no further encounters with the police and the rest of our journey was indeed an uninterrupted continuation of majestic landscapes. Both my friend and I like to take photos and we both love nature. Thus, we would make a stop at a parking lot or a viewpoint, take photos and say we would not be stopping any more until reaching our next destination, but then just behind the next curve we would be presented with yet another magnificent view and would immediately start looking for a proper place to stop in order to take photos and enjoy the scenery at peace. Sometimes would stop already after 100 meters, but we loved what we saw so much that we could not help ourselves.
Mountain massif close to the Zion NP (Photograph courtesy of VT)