Sin City, here we come!

After being pampered at the Page RV park (fast WiFi, indoor pool & spa), we were in for a contrast when we camped at Lake Powell's Lone Rock area: Pay ten bucks and park anywhere you like on the beach. Turned out that our spot was preferred by tons of German speakers. At least three neighbors on the left and right were either from Germany or Austria: "Hehe, ve camped in ze German row". Some of them we had met before, others we were about to meet again. Small world. But the beach was nice: Beautiful sand (easy to get an RV stuck in it though) and a straight walk into the water. And sun, of course. Lots of sun.

The next three nights were spent at the Grand Canyon North Rim. After realizing that it was 14 miles and 6000 vertical feet to the bottom, we (E & J) scrapped plans to hike down and overnight there, and opted for a more modest hiking regimen down the North Kaibab Trail, which was very nice.

The next day brought an impromptu stop at the Pipe Springs National Monument. The night was spent at the Sandy Hollow State Park in Utah. This is one of those "recreation areas" which is basically a playground for adult gasoline-junkies: Sand buggies, ATVs, jet skis, power boats and BBQ grills. Not really enjoyable, but we made the best of it. It was really quiet at night and the stars were spectacular. Also, since it is a man-made reservoir, it has nice cliffs where one can jump off boulders into the clear water. I goaded/bullied/teased Elias into jumping off of one that was standing at least 12 feet above the water. Awesome.

On the way back to the highway we drove by a development that had all the streets, trees, parks, even cast-iron benches and old-fashioned street lights, as well as dorky anglo-phile street names such as "Abbey Road", "Canterbury Street", "Windsor Parkway" etc. The only catch? Not a single house was yet built, save for the lonely "model home" on one corner. So we decided to have a little fun and drove through it as if we were visiting someone. We even tried out our fake British accents (which Amos is getting pretty good at) and got lost a little bit. We thought of renaming the neighborhood "The Stock Market Downs" or the "Recession Estates" or putting a $1 bid on a lot.

Anyway, our next target was Las Vegas, but before we got there, we visited the "Lost City" State Museum for yet more Anasazi history and archaeology, and drove through the "Valley Of Fire" State Park. Pretty.

Vegas is Vegas. Ah well. Exciting for an evening or two, and then we want to move to saner territory again. Yesterday we toured the "Circus Circus" complex, stumbled into the Adventure Dome, and each of the kids got to blow a quarter on a mindless game of chance. I hope they got the point. Today we're hounding again for FREE thrills such as the MGM Grand's lion habitat. More on that later. Perhaps with pics, but don't hold your breath. WiFi is atrociously sluggish again.