DAY 7:
After the conference in Utah. We only had a couple of days left in US road trip. We still had many places that we wanted to visit. And the next destination was Zion National Park. The scenery kept getting better and better as we got closer. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it was. We arrived at Cedar city in the afternoon and checked into the nearby KOA. We took advantage of the rest of the day to visit the Kolob Canyons, which is part of Zion National Park but with a separate entrance. To be honest, this is the place that I like most because the scenery is spectacular although it’s not really popular. When we got here, it was very empty. We took a short hike and had to go back early before it got too dark. Most of the pictures that you see here were taken by our phone because when we arrived at Cedar City, we realized that our camera stopped working because I left it in the car for a whole day while in Utah and it overheated. My bad! Hix!
On the way to Kolob National Park. The view is amazing!
We came back to KOA and set up our tent. The process is now getting faster. We cooked and had dinner and enjoyed the rest of the day at this campground.
DAY 8:
Since our time is a little bit tight, we didn’t spend much time at each place. The next morning we wanted to visit Zion National park a little bit. Here again we enjoyed the fascinating views of nature. This is a perfect place for people who love hiking. But unluckily we didn’t have time to explore it. It took us 4 hours to get to Las Vegas. Right now I still remember exactly the roads we took from Zion National Park to Las Vegas. It was very desert-like and empty.
Someone told me that if you want to know how rich America is, come and visit Las Vegas. and I didn’t believe that till I got there. Las Vegas is the home to the most interesting and unique hotels in the world. We walked the Strip and explore the hotels, Parking is free at all of the hotels, but we walked instead of driving down the strip. And in our experience, the buffets were not worth it, although Las Vegas is famous for All you can eat Buffets. They are really expensive, the food is decent and you have to get in a very long time to get inside, unless you gamble a lot. Remember that people go to Las Vegas to have fun, people don’t care how you dress, so wear comfy clothes and shoes and have a bottle of water especially in the summer.
We came to Las Vegas in summer. I always checked the weather forecast every day before getting here and we knew that it was supposed to be sunny and very hot here. However, man proposes, God disposes. When we came here, we were surprised that it was raining cat and dog here, and on our phone we got a flood warning that we have never got it before.
One more thing that made me shocked when I came here is about prostitute business in Las Vegas. I don’t mind if you can call me a girl from a countryside, but I couldn’t stop asking Thong about that when I saw some random people on the strip keep showing a lot of hot girl pictures and asking people if they want to sleep with any of those, and of course there would be Limo picking them up.
If you ever visit Las Vegas, the Las Vegas sign is a place that you can’t miss. One funny memory about this place was when we came here, we saw a long line up for this sign and there was a guy standing there and helping people who wanted group pictures. The cool thing here was he suggested many poses for you.
DAY 9:
After leaving Las Vegas, it took us 4 hours to get to the Grand Canyon, and this time, we didn’t camp at KOA but at a national park campground. New place, new experiences, we now love camping more and more. We were surprised when we arrived here because we saw a big store in the middle of the wilderness with a lot of people going shopping here. It shows that a lot of people love camping. Our most memorable moment was sitting together at the campfire, roasting corn and laughing a lot that night. We booked our place at the last minutes so our place at this campground was kind of far away from the washroom. I still remember when Thong and I had to wake up in the middle of the night with our headlamps and walked down the long road to the washroom together.
We woke up early the next morning to be able to get to the shuttle bus in time to visit the GRAND CANYON since we know that it is really hard to have a parking spot if we come late. The bus stops at lookout points and you can get off to explore. After many visiting many canyons, we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon. I can’t tell you exactly how amazing and spectacular it was. There are a lot of chances for hiking here, you can take a long hike or short hike depending on how long you are staying there.
One thing to remember is for each step you take down, it’s 2 to get back up. Don’t forget to visit the Visitor centre to get the best advice of where and when to go to start your hike and watch a film about the canyons.
DAY 10:
On our way back to Salt Lake City, our final destination was Bryce Canyons. One more time, we camped at another KOA. This is our second favourite location so far. Coin operated laundry and shower facilities were available. Bryce Canyon is a natural wonder and also one of my favourite national parks because this canyon is different from the normal every day canyon. We stopped at Inspiration Points. The view is filled with pointy, colourful hoodoos. Don’t forget to carry a hat, sunscreen and a lot of water with you.
In the end, 10 days, 5 states, 5 nationals parks, 4 canyons, 4000 km, and 1 happy couple. We really had an unbelievable experience in the U.S. Sitting in the plane, in our hearts, we still remember the many days of camping, rain, hot sun, different sights and sounds that we experienced together.