Johns Trippin'

I have been to the Grand Canyon before. I was in college, and we were visiting my grandparents that lived in AZ at the time. My memory of the time is that the weather was awful (confirmed by my parents) and that we couldn't even see the canyon due to the clouds/fog (parents don't recall). Whether or not the memory is accurate, I was excited to see the canyon, either for the first time or again. Unlike most other national parks, pretty much everyone knows what the Grand Canyon looks like. If you haven't seen it in person, you've seen pictures. Let me just tell you that pictures do not do it justice. People joke that it's a "big hole in the ground." I get what they are trying to convey, and I've probably said it too, but that's not even close to accurate. First of all, "canyon" and "hole" are two fundamentally different things. But beyond that, "hole" implies that there's nothing in there. Instead, there are all kind...

  We arrived 45 minutes away from Las Vegas in Willow Beach, Arizona with a welcoming party of these bighorn sheep. It was going to be a hot week with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. We set up our RV and headed out to Las Vegas right away. Michael wanted to set up for the show and if they needed anything Marc could pack it before he got on his flight. We went to get a loading pass but no one answered so we went ahead to see if we could get in anyway. Eventually, we were able to get all the show stuff inside, but since the kids weren't allowed to be there I took them to Wendy's and then to Sunset Park. It was neat to see lots of ducks and waterfowl at this park. The kids played on the playground after dinner and then we went to pick up Michael. He was able to set up most of the show! At our hot and arid campsite, there were wild rabbits that liked to eat the grasses and drink from the sprinkler system. They were fun to watch and the kids threw some carrots and cabbage ...

Here's a preview of Bryce Canyon National Park  Technically, this first part isn't about Zion's Gate, but I wanted to include it. I was looking at gas for dad on the way, and I found a cheap gas station that was $3.25 a gallon. This might not seem cheap, but if you take into account that a normal, cheap gas price in southeast Utah is $3.75 a gallon, then you might be thinking differently. The reason that it's much cheaper is that it's on an Indian reservation, so there isn't tax on it. Because I found it for dad, I saved him around $40 on gas. Zion's Gate is a pretty big place. The roads there are made of concrete slabs unlike the asphalt or gravel roads at other places. It has an indoor pool and a (big) hot tub. Monday, the day after we got there, was the start of school. We checked out the pool and hot tub (of course), and after we were done, mom made us steak for dinner. (For those of  you who don't know, dad gave up meat for this year, starting at hi...