Day 4 - Green River to Las Vegas

We awoke early on Monday to get a early start. Breakfast was free and we sat with an older couple on their way from Denver to Salt Lake City and they told us todays drive would be very scenic.

They were right on with that one.

People who always fly to their destinations really miss out on the sheer beauty of the west. DJ said “Are you going to stop EVERY mile for 200 miles to take a photo?” Well it seemed so.

14 miles out of Green River (Green River is mentioned in a Creedence Clearwater Revival song but it actually is from a soda-pop syrup label he was looking at).

The San Rafael Swell was the first area we hit. We drove from the valley floor and all of a sudden we were in giant diagonal rock formations. Weaving our way through them for 30 miles was a rubber necking experience. The sun was perfect at this early time but all the really nice photo ops were facing INTO the sun.

I did get a few shots though.

We started to climb more and had some wonderful overlooks. This one is from Eagle Canyon. This is where Butch Cassidy, Elsa Lay, Flat Nose George, Kid Curry, Joe Walker and others hid out from lawmen in the late 1800s.

Then once we were out of that area we were in looking at a valley that you just can not capture on a camera due to it’s vastness.

When the Mormons fled to Utah they were looking for a place nobody else wanted. They found a perfect place at the foot of the Wasach Plateau and the San Rafael Swell. One woman said in 1877 “ Damn the man who would bring a woman to such a God Forsaken place”.

Be that as it may - for LOOKING at it is sheer beauty.

And on we drove. We hit the desert about noon. The temperature was climbing and hit 111. The car was doing fine until we had to climb to and we needed to use 2nd gear. All of a sudden the temp gauge started to climb AND FAST. I calmed it down and was more aware.

So - here we are in Las Vegas, it’s about 10:00 and 96 degrees. The odd thing is the last time we were in LV they had record highs, and again, record highs. Two visits in a row. Yea - excellent - record highs IN A DESERT!

After going through massive culture shock from seeing 1 car every 10 miles for 300 miles to the mass of humanity we settled down and toured the Mirage. Great pool!! We then went to a small walk across the street to the Venetian which is very nice looking but pretty stuffy with people wearing suits and being more “upper class”.

Still a nice place and we are going to the Guggenheim Museum and then a little poker. Add in some pool time at their GREAT pool and all is good.

So, it’s 10:00 and we're both beat - tomorrow we start fresh.

Official temp yesterday 111 with 4% humidity.