Yesterday I was playing poker for more than an hour. I didn’t lose a lot of money, because you could play for just 1 cent a game. Afterwards I went to see some of the free shows, which were pretty nice to see. Today I plan to see some more of these shows and maybe visits some park in the neighborhood.

Vegas is cool!!!! I remember that when we went skiing last year (or the year before) and Mark (v.) and I could drink quite a lot of Margaritas. Here is Vegas it is a different story. I bought a Margarita because you got a nice Vegas souvenir glass (plastic) with it but it proved to be nearly 2 liters of Margarita, and they did not mind to add plenty of alcohol. Right now I’m pretty wasted, because since I’m in the USA I lost my tolerance for high levels of alcohol. Still, I do have the nice glass, so the next cocktail night I’ll be the man!

In Las Vegas it is very very hot. Every time I get out of the car, or I leave an air conditioned casino it is like you are hit in the face hard by a hot towel. 100+ Degrees Fahrenheit seems to be normal here. Argh!

Yesterday after climbing up the highest mountain (Observation Point) in Zion I went on with my journey. The mountain I climbed was 6000+ feet high and when I reached the top I was quite beat. I did make some photos as proof that I reached the top. I had prepared myself well with lots of water and energy pills… but I noticed that the lack of sleep I experienced yesterday is not very good for climbing a mountain.

I really adored the Zion national park. It was fantastic. Tonight I will spend the night nearby in st. George, and afterwards I’ll head over to Sin City, aka Las Vegas!!!! Of course to make lots and lots of money!

proof that I was on top of the mountain… (big image) (I cannot resize it here)
proof that I was really beat on top of the mountain (big image) (same reason)

This morning I hiked the riverside trail… a hike of about 5 kilometers right next to a little river. In the afternoon I did the Angels landing trail, a very big climb right up to a big mountain. In the morning, during the trip through the little river I again met my Israelian friends that I had met earlier in Brice Canyon, hiking the Navaho trail. In the afternoon climbing the huge mountain I met Tom, Donna and some English chick. All of them (including myself) had quit their jobs and were enjoying their lives. All of them had plans to visit Las Vagas, so maybe I’ll meet them again.

Tomorrow I want to do a hike to Observation Point, and then I’ll continue to the next adventure.

Yesterday I visit the little Internet cabin here, and when I returned to my room there were three deer eating the grass from the patio in front of the lodge. I was standing about 5 meters away and they just continued grazing and were not even thinking of running away. Beautiful.

Yesterday I visited the other side of the Grand Canyon. It was also a very nice side. The north side is more like a desert and the south side has much more trees. Afterwards I visited Lake Powell and stayed there the night. A very nice and relaxed lake, but clearly for wealthy people.

Today I’ve visited Brice Canyon which was nice. Afterwards I thought I’d quickly have a look at the Zion national park. The park called after the city where Neo missed out on a great party. Zion was weird and unlike the other parks because you could not enter with your car. All transport in the park went with free buses. There had already been some Dutch who told me Zion was a very nice park and worthwhile a visit, but I did not expect this. A truly beautiful park… Incredibly beautiful. After a small hike through just a small part of the part I decided I wanted to stay a few days. To get a room inside the park you need to plan ahead and arrange it between 6 and 12 month ahead of time. Alternative is to stay somewhere outside the park, and travel a little every day to get in and out. However, I was lucky. A room had become available and I took it right away.

Tomorrow I’ll spend the entire day in Zion!

Today I will visit the other side of the Canyon. Afterwards I’ll head over to Lake Powell (I think) and spend some time relaxing in the sun.

It is already August and I am halfway on my journey. I feel great and would like to stay here for more time… Oh well, life’s a bitch.

Anyway, Grand Canyon was a very nice national park to visit. The entrance fee was $20, but I was in luck and I could get a all year access card for all the national parks for $50 with a $49 discount! This meant that in the end I needed to pay only $1. The guy that arranged the papers for my had a nice laugh about it.

The reason I got a $49 discount was that I saved all the tickets with entrance fees of previous parks. These tickets act as a discount if you every decide to get a year pass. I already visited a lot of parks and saved all the tickets, so I slowly accumulated a huge discount.

In the end yesterday I did not arrive at the petrified forest. It took me a little longer and I just arrived today. My first impression was that a piece of petrified tree looks very nice, but for the rest is was a big disappointment. I don’t know why they call it a forest, because there were only small parts scattered around everywhere. Everything was just lying on the ground and I recall the largest part of petrified tree was maybe one meter long.

After the petrified forest I went to see a nearby meteor crater, but this was possibly even a bigger disappointment. There was literally nothing to see there.

Afterwards I continued to the Grand Canyon and spend the night in an Indian reservation. Across the motel there was even an authentic Indian shop… of course I went to check it out but I freaked out when I noticed the prices. A small rug that wasn’t even one meter big cost around $800 !!! I could not believe it, for this amount of money you can smoke the peace pipe for months. Maybe I’ll get a fake one.