A series of national parks

 Well next day and onto Bryce Canyon, which was at a much higher altitude and out of the semi-desert of Moab and Canyonlands. Bryce had some wonderful fins and hoodoos on the walls and base of the canyon. Jane drove us up a very curvy shoulder to Rainbow Point at 9115ft, terrifying both of us! We then drove down again stopping at each of the viewpoints all of which had something to offer. The next morning we decided to get up and watch the sunrise from Bryce point at 6.30am - however even though we made it the sun really struggled to join in, hidden behind clouds. The peaceful atmosphere was spoiled by a very loud american woman telling her friends very loudly everywhere she had been. Later that day we took a walk down into the canyon, through the Queens Garden and back up the Navajo trail via Wall Street - a really narrow canyon with really steep walls and a zigzag path back to the top. On leaving Bryce we drove onto Zion NP - coming from Bryce required us to drive through a very narrow tunnel where the roof was only high enough to drive the RV down the centre of the road for the whole 1.1miles - luckily they stop the traffic from the other direction as you do it.

 The next day we had a rest from driving whilst in the park as they have a wonderful shuttle bus system you can hop on and off as necessary. We took in a lovely walk past the emerald pools, spotting deer walking along the path as we did so, and walking under the waterfall shown opposite - from there it was down another mountainside path (the Yakenta trail) back to the grotto to pick up the bus again and take us up to the Riverside path, but this proved to be a  little disappointing as the Narrows at the far end were too full of water to allow us to wade up them. So it was back to pick up the RV and set off for our next destination which was Lake Powell.

Lake Powell was again surrounded by semi-desert and proved to be very disappointing - it was very hot and the Lake was a long way down. There was also absolutely nothing there! Our plan to take a boat up to the Rainbow Arch - one of the biggest in North America was thwarted by the fact that the boat couldnt get to the Arch as the water level was so low and it would need a hefty walk at each end, so as it was so hot and time was short we decided not to bother. We did have a walk along the beach though.

 Next day saw us on our drive to the Grand Canyon - the pure scale of which was difficult to comprehend - we entered from the east side and drove along the viewpoints on the desert view drive on the southern rim - the northern rim still being shut due to the weather. We parked up at the Mather campground for a couple of nights and walked a fair chunk of the perimeter trail (which does not go the full length of the canyon before you ask!) Theres a pic of the canyon on the right. We took in the sunset from Mather point (much easier to get up for than sunrise!), We went out to Hermits Rest and on the way back we actually had to put our rainjackets on due to a bit of hail, snow and rain .

 From there it was onto Las Vegas, but not without stopping at the Hoover  dam which has an equally spectacular bridge which you have to drive over to get to - the view from the bridge down to the dam was pretty amazing. We had a very tasty ice cream there, and spotted a iguana sat on the cliff face - about two foot long. (the iguana, not the cliff face!). From there it was on to Las Vegas, where we had a merry time trying to find the RV park, which due to roadworks appeared to have moved location - anyway once we had driven past it once or twice we eventually turned into it.

That evening we decided to visit the strip with all the casinos and entertainment. There is, however only a very limited public transport system in Las Vegas (thats the biggest understatement I have made in these blogs!) and it is a very long walk! We eventually made it, and managed to reach Caesars Palace. Whilst there I borrowed a dollar off Jane and managed to win 25 with my first go on a slot machine (Someone couldnt believe it, so here is the photographic evidence). Always quit when you are ahead so that was that on the gambling front! Las Vegas is like a giant adults playground, but the musical fountain was fantastic. Sadly the bus back went the wrong way and left us with another long walk but we did eventually make it back to bed! More in the next blog of what happened next.