In March 2009, I traveled with my family to Arizona, Utah and Las Vegas for my father’s 60th birthday.

Although sleeping in a bed with my brother and next to my parents for the first time in 20 years isn’t my ideal method of vacationing,  it was an amazing trip overall.  The sights, landscapes and visuals in Arizona and Utah are extremely impressive as I hope the photos below demonstrate.  I highly recommend visiting these states if you are an outdoors lover.  I divided up the next few blog posts based on some of the places we visited. I ended up writing a lot but if you’re bored at work have a gander and don’t be shy to post feedback.

The Trip

Brother Lee and I landed in Vegas at midnight and went to meet the parents at the Trump Hotel where we were staying.

Trump is currently the only hotel on “The Strip” that doesn’t have a casino.  Despite the Donald’s overall gawdiness and my general distaste for the man, the hotel itself is beautiful and classy. Our room was quite large and very tastefully designed.  Unfortunately, apart from the massive king sized bed that my parents slept in, Lee and I had to share a double-sized couch pull out.  When Cher called housekeeping to ask for a cot we were met with a snicker and a condescending “This is the Trump ma’am, we don’t have cots”.  Neither Lee nor I slept well that night and before 7 a.m. we were up watching “Skins” on the iPod Touch…. Skins is a fantastic British show that I will have to create an entirely separate post about.

After trying in vain to eat breakfast at Denny’s (of all places) due to a massive lineup we hit the road for the long four hour trek to the Grand Canyon.  I had never been to the Canyon before and was excited to see it though I was pretty tired and just a wee bit hungry.  After a couple of hours we made it to Route 66: formerly the longest (?) highway in the US though the first association I have to it is the Bob Dylan song.  Here are some pics from along Route 66:

Route 66

After a long day of driving we made it to the Grand Canyon and pulled into some dumpy motel… at least they had Wifi!  After a very brief rest (the way it was most of the trip) we went out to the Canyon to take some sunset shots. The landscape immediately before reaching the Canyon does not prepare you in the slightest  for what is about to come. It’s flat, there are trees and then suddenly, without warning…. nothing.  The earth just literally gives way and you are left gaping at this massive hole filled with a spectacular array of colours, shapes and sights. It’s almost too much for the eye to take in at once.

It’s pretty much impossible to photograph the Canyon since it’s just so massive. It’s definitely something to experience up close and personal.  Unfortunately, the hike into the Canyon is pretty much a full day effort… not something my parents could handle at this advanced stage in their lives though  I definitely intend on coming back at some point in my life to do this.  Instead, that first evening, we enjoyed some wine and took some snaps while gazing out at the vastness of this giant crack in the earth.   It’s amazing to think that the entire Canyon was carved out by the Colorado River over 6 million years and at different points in time had been under the sea, a sandy desert, and now a massive canyon with layers upon layers of exposed rock sediments that put millions of years of history on display.  Apparently, fossils of sea creatures and other animals can be found embedded in the sides of the canyon. Amazing.

Here are some pictures that don’t come close to capturing the immensity of the Grand Canyon:

Grand Canyon