Exploring Nevada & Arizona
Day 1
We flew into Vegas on Saturday, January 13 and checked into the tallest building in Vegas-- Stratosphere Hotel & Casino. The Eagles were playing their first playoff game against the Falcons, so we watched the game from our 20th floor hotel room. Eagles won!! Good start to the trip :). Passed our early because we were still on eastern time.
Day 2
Early to rise! Beth suggested we stop at the Grand Canyon on our way to Sedona since it would only add another 2+ hours to our trip. Weather was supposed to be mild, so we went for it. We went to the South Rim and hiked the Bright Angel Trail, which takes you into the canyon. Lots of folks on the trail. We hiked down to the second tunnel; wanted to keep going but we were anticipating the challenge ahead due to the uphill hike and elevation. Left the Grand Canyon, stopped in Flagstaff for some tasty tacos and a flight of beer at Dark Sky Brewing, then headed to Sedona where we would spend the next 3 nights.
Day 3
We got an early enough start that we didn't see too many people on the trail, but once we got to the bridge there were about 15 others. Next, we went to the Amitabha Stupa & Peace Park. Cool spot with Buddhist influence. Next we did a short hike on the Doe Mountain Trail. Nice views at the top. We were pretty amazed by some older folks we passed on the trail doing the uphill switchbacks. Then, we drove to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. We attended their weekly prayer service where they did some chants, prayers, and candle lighting. Their service is influenced by some French monastery. Neat spot, nothing too special though. In the neighborhood of our Airbnb we saw a coyote wandering the streets.
Day 4
Woke up and hiked the Bell Rock Loop. The hike was a bit too close to the road for my liking, but hiking up Bell Rock was fun. We were able to climb maybe halfway at the most and then it started getting sketchy. Meditating up on a ledge of this rock formation was a pretty peaceful moment.
We were both tuckered after this hike so we headed to Salt Room to get rejuvenated. This was our first time in a salt room, and it felt great. We both dozed off and felt quite refreshed after listening to the soothing music, reclining in a zero-gravity chair for our hour. We walked around downtown for a bit, but quickly got bored so we headed to Palakti Ruins to see some petroglyphs. There were some knowledgeable guides there who gave us some historical insight into what the heck these images might have meant to the Natives who drew them. Next, we headed to Cathedral Rock for a hike that was short in distance but included mostly uphill climbs with minimal bouldering. The view at the top was beautiful.
Day 5
Left Sedona very early and headed to Tucson. To my delight, Beth spotted two elk along the highway. Then about a mile down the road we saw more elk and on the other side of the road there were about 6 mule deer, one of them having huge antlers. We were on the craziest "highway" ever, Route 88. It was an all dirt road with nothing on it but views and twists & turns. Beth and I both had some sweaty palms at times on this road. Once I looked over and saw that her eyes were closed at the very moment that I was fearing a huge rock would come crashing down on our rental car because we were right beside a huge rock wall. Great memory though. The first "town" we came to near the end of this road was Tortilla Flats, population 6. Seriously, that's even what Wikipedia says. Of course we had to check it out, so we walked downtown (haha) and I got some ice cream made out of the prickly pear cactus fruit. Tasted like teaberry. As you can tell from this photo of Beth, it was quite the quirky place. It was a long day of driving and I got ancy, so we did a hike in the Sonoran Desert. Saguaro cacti everywhere.
Day 6
We drove to East Saguaro National Park and did the short Cactus Loop Drive. We were both underwhelmed since we had been seeing this same scenery since our long drive yesterday. Lots of saguaros, brown dirt, and various desert shrubs. We headed into downtown Tucson and got a tour of the Presidio San Augustin, a Spanish fort from the 18th century. Fun fact: all-natural red dye comes from a bug that inhabits a cactus; when the bug is squashed it makes the dye, called cochineal. We then went on a hike in the Catalina Mountains, but the sun was pretty intense that day so we didn't hike for long. I almost forgot, I had a Sonoran hot dog for lunch. A pretty tasty local treat.
Day 7
Before leaving Tucson that day, Beth encouraged me go out and do a crazy solo hike, so I took her up on it. I was honestly kinda freaked out to go out alone because the Sabino Canyon area of Tucson is known for mountain lion sightings, but I decided to go for it. I hiked the Pontatoc Ride Trail. I saw a bunch of javelinas on the trail; those suckers smell like skunks. I also got to see my first ever roadrunner, which was fun. I tried snapping a picture but in fine roadrunner form, the little guy vanished. They are smaller than I thought. Challenging hike. Not many people at all on the trail, which was nice. No mountain lions. Funny thing was, I got back to our Airbnb and the host tells me that somehow spotted a lion 11 houses down from us. Maybe in Tucson they prefer the suburbs to the mountains. Long, long drive back to Vegas where we would spend our last night.
Day 8
Drove to Red Rock Canyon where we were quickly astounded by the scenery. This place is less than 30 minutes from Vegas!
We hiked part of the Icebox Canyon Trail, which was a nice jaunt through a vast canyon with no water. I think they had less than 5 rainfalls there in past 4 months. Wide array of colors here...super deep reds, pale yellows, off whites, and much more. You could easily spend a week exploring this spot. After our hike, we finished the scenic drive and then headed to the unique art project that's also just outside of Vegas, The Seven Magic Mountains. A European artist constructed this almost 2 years
ago and it is actually being taken down in May 2018. From here, we headed to the place that ended up being our favorite of the entire trip, The Valley of Fire St. Park. Maybe it was because this spot wasn't even really on our radar for the trip, so our expectations were low. Regardless of the why, we were blown away at it's uniqueness. The sandstone colors popped and contrasted against one another so perfectly. The hiking here seemed to all be on the finest of sands because the wind is slowly wearing away at the massive sandstone boulders. This place would be insanely hot in the summer, but driving through it is still certainly worth the time. 
Such an awesome trip! Shout out to Sundance Vacations for the kinda-of-free flights and two nights in Vegas! Another shout out to Jared & Chelsie Capello for shuttling us to and from the airport :)!
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