Zion/Vegas...

 Pat and I decided to take an impromptu trip to Zion. You can't take dogs on any of the trails there, so we thought now would be a good time to get a trip in. We decided to then tack on one more day to break up the drive there, and stay the night in Vegas and eat at one of the cool restaurants. This ended up being such a beautiful trip! This will be a long blog full of pictures that do not even compare to what it looked like in real life! I think I gasped and uttered "wow" more times on this trip than I ever have in my life. What a glorious time we had!

 

First stop - Vegas

We found ourselves just wandering around for the most part, staying close to the hotel we stayed at - The Linq. (Don't recommend). Plus it was hot as hell. Vegas is so much different than I remember - but it's probably just because we're older, we don't gamble, and we're early risers. Honestly I now would avoid the Strip if possible, but we had reservations at Gordan Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen so our stop here revolved around that.

 

After dinner Pat got pulled into a line by some street performers.  Didn't turn out to be all that interesting, but it was fun watching Pat slightly terrified. LOL

"What's about to happen..."

Watched the Bellagio Fountain show which is always pretty!

Now this is a date night!

Vegas is weird

Walked through this really cool ocean thing at one point!

Biggest Gummy Bears I've ever seen!

So these are old Cigarette Machines that are now little art things - the old ciggie boxes are each a different local artist!  Such a cool idea! I had to support! Check them out at https://www.artomat.org/

We hit up The Chandelier Bar at The Cosmopolitan Hotel that was really cool! 

Puppers!

The Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio never disappoints! 

And of course one of my favorite ceilings

Chimayo Tacos

The highlight of the Vegas part: Hell's Kitchen! The food was so damn good! I'm still thinking about that Lobster Risotto! Our waiter was awesome. They have a well oiled machine there, and they get people in and out so well. We never once felt rushed. Def make a reservation though. Pat told them we were celebrating our anniversary (because when aren't we celebrating our marriage) and we got free glasses of champagne and an extra dessert! 

So excited!

Happy Anniversary to us! (yes it's in May but still)

Beef Wellington - Pat got the Prix Fix Dinner

Crispy Skinned Salmon

Scallops

I had to get oysters!

This Lobster Risotto with truffle butter may be the best thing I ate this whole trip!

Hell's Kitchen!

We were up and out and off to Utah the next morning. I didn't take pictures but I have to mention the little breakfast place we stopped at just off the strip - https://eggscellentlv.com/. This place was nothing fancy, but the food was fantastic (Huge portions) and our waitress rocked. Great coffee too!

Our first stop in Utah was Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I have been dying to go here and finally got to! It's such a beautiful place! We didn't get to love on as many animals as we wanted to, but still got our fix. I swear I almost went home with 2 dogs and 4 cats. A bunch of hippie like folk work there and I swear I'm ready to just quit my job and go work/live there.

 

This one was in love with Pat

Look at that!

Out front - so pretty! (Yes I bought a new hat there)

Like this is where it is!

How rad right?

Amazing little nook to relax 

So having lunch here next time we come!

Can you even with this view?!

This is actually a movie set!

Awwwwww

I'm in love

Yup almost took this one home

I'm dying

Need him!

Sweetheart

I wanted this pair of black twins with messed up ears as well...

And this one loved me. White with just a black tail - yes I want her too please

Poe would have loved this

We headed out and off to Zion. The drive was just stunning. Drove through this really long crazy tunnel and stopped a couple of viewpoints. We also saw Mountain Goats on our way in! 

OMG Hai!

That's the tunnel we drove through! Those are little windows in the tunnel - it's pitch black until you pass a "window" It's so friggin cool!

Neat arches!

We finally arrived at our beautiful bnb - yes that's our view!

Our bnb was awesome. Walking distance to the park entrance. Gorgeous view. Up above some food places which was so trippy! But the windows were great, and we never heard anything. Had these awesome electric shades that went up and down in the panoramic view of the wonderful studio. I swear we felt like fancy people here. It was friggin perfect! Our 1st night there were thunderstorms so we just sat out on our balcony drinking wine and watching the storm.

First day in Zion was our Narrows Day. We rented E-bikes (the place was in the same parking lot as our bnb! And let me tell you - E-bikes is the way to go!!!  It was friggin beautiful to just cruise through Zion. No cars are allowed, and you just have to stop and let the trams by. I want to see everything on a friggin E-bike now! Such an awesome experience!

Totally got a bike to match my new water backpack

Pat's matchy matchy too!

OMG DEER!

HAI FRIENDS!

The Narrows was fucking AWESOME! It is pretty much water the whole time - sometimes really high - went up to our chest at one point, but just for a few min. (In fact there was this couple ahead of us and Pat & I and the rest of the people behind us were watching waiting to see how deep it went. LOL. Dude didn't realize he was going to be a guinea pig for all of us!) I would def never do this without the water shoes and sticks we rented. You use muscles you've never used before. It was crazy! But so friggin cool!

Walking to the river

Here we go!

Me trying to set up for a timed shot...LOL

But luckily someone took it for us. I think I'm going to frame this one!

Sat in the middle of the river on a rock for a snack

The greenery growing out of the rocks is so pretty!

Trees don't give a fuck that you're a rock

Afterwards, trying to dry out our feet. This is where I also did a quick chonie change in front of many people that didn't even notice.  LOL

Riding back

Stopped at the lodge for a drink!

Got a shot with the sign on our way out

That night Pat made us a delicious dinner and we sat on our porch drinking and wine and watching a deer from across the street!

 

OMG HAI!

My man can still cook with limited ingredients

Hawt

There was a geocache in the parking lot! The bike guy told us he totally thought people were doing drugs or something when he learned about geocaching. LOL

On Saturday we rented E-bikes again and hit up a bunch of the smaller hikes throughout the park. What a day!

This is Millie

This is Cooper

First up was Court of the Patriarchs: 

Wild Turkey!

I don't know why these signs make me giggle so

 Next up was the Emerald Pools hike. This one was pretty brutal. Lots of up, exposed and rocky. But so worth it! There is a lower pool, middle pool and upper pool. Middle isn't much but the Upper was stunning!

Pat telling me to plank. Yeah right

THERE WAS A DEER RIGHT THERE!

He totes didn't care. Just ate his breakfast and ignored us

I lost my damn mind - but of course kept my distance

Look at those fuzzy horns!

Love this shot

Getting hot

The lower pools

Slowly on my way

Here I come!

Made it to the Upper Pool!

Hit up Weeping Rock:

 

My geocaching app lead us to a Secret little waterfall! A tiny mini spot hidden that the tram doesn't even stop at!

After this we hit up the Brewery for some lunch then E-biked over into Springdale to do some geocaching!

 

Seems like geocaches like cemeteries. This one made me think of Poe :(

Easy find

These were so rad! Made out of manhole covers!

Another easy find!

This was an old Pioneer Cemetery - super cool!

Ammo box geocache

Pat said the beer here was quite good!

Then back to the bnb for a late snack, drinking wine on the balcony and squealing over more deer.

HAI!

Moon rising over the mountains

Our last day we decided to get one more hike in, so we hit up the Watchman Trail:

 

Always in the lead

Making my way up

That's where we're staying! We can see it from the peak of our hike!

Frameable

OMG HAI!

Mama and her babies just walked right on by us!

Our last cheers before heading home. So sad to leave!

 

On our way home we stopped for lunch in Vegas. Now when we blow through town we never stop on the strip, so Pat found a place in an up and coming Arts District. Talk about a cool area!! I'm so down to stop here all the time! We ate at Esther's Kitchen. Holy. Shit. This place was bomb!!!! Our waitress Tay was amazing. The place was super cool and the food was insane! Check it out if you're ever in the area.

Really want to come back when it's cooler and explore this area

Pat got a Fig & Prosciutto Pizza - best pizza I've ever had!!!!

I got a smoked trout toast made on their home made sourdough bread. Damn delicious!

Get yourselves here!

So there you have it.

It was a beautiful trip! Mother Nature at her best! I was blown away the entire weekend. We got some wonderful food stops in there but Zion was so stunning. The place we stayed was perfection. It was a perfectly fantastic trip! Def in the top of my list!