I love traveling. I’d even go as far to say that it is in my top 3 list of favorite things in life. So when we were able to arrange for time off, a sitter for J and the dogs, and plan a week-long trip, I was ecstatic.
We’d been interested for a couple of years in going to Utah and vicinity to explore the plethora of national parks an monuments, so it was an easy decision on where to go and generally what to do. We decided to fly out to Vegas, rent a car, and play it by ear from there with the idea of ending up back in Vegas for our departure flight. Vegas was quite a bit cheaper than SLC as far as flights go, plus it is much closer to the parks we really wanted to hit, like Zion, Bryce, Arches, etc.
I of course was a little apprehensive of flying because I hate it (see previous blog entry) but it was necessary so that we could maximize our time out west, avoiding the long and boring drive out. On the ‘pro’ side of flying instead of road-tripping it, it was nice knowing that we wouldn’t have to put thousands of extra miles on our own car.
Fortunately, we didn’t have any major incidents on this trip like a car accident or an injury, for example. However, there were a couple of minor annoyances and unintended adventures that will be fun to share.
First, we reserved a Jeep Compass 4×4 from Alamo at LAS airport. When we arrived to pick it up, we were shocked to find out that there is a 30% tax rate inside the airport, so we owed almost $100 just for tax. That was crap, so the lesson here is next time take a cab to the nearest off-airport rental agency to avoid the obscene tax rate.
The next unexpected event was when we tried to find the Hopenweave Indian monument. The signage was inadequate at best. We sort of randomly drove towards where we thought it was while Posh (our GPS) remained confused, shouting “when possible, make a U-turn,” or “recalculating, recalculating.”
We eventually happened upon the main sight which was some pretty extensive Pueblo dwelling ruins. I thought they were amazing, excitingly signing us into the guest log book. The pamphlet we picked up at the Pueblo dwellings indicated there were more ruins around, as well as a visitor’s center. So we started driving towards… something, assuming there would be signs.
Somehow, we eventually ended up driving on dirt roads way out in the middle of nowhere, and even more inexplicably we actually located a couple of the trailheads which were not marked at all. It was worth the adventure though because there was literally nobody else there. No signs of other visitors, cars, anything. Well, except for the suspicious looking animal tracks in a dried up puddle on the trail that may have belonged to a mountain lion. Oh, and the hundreds of fast-moving lizards running around the rocks. The ruins we found were great. We got to walk right up to them and inside them, exploring the area that was inhabited by Pueblos and Anasazi a thousand years ago.
Here’s where we ran into a snag though. After we finished our hiking and exploring, our plan was to take the road running through the middle of the park out, and head to Mesa Verde in Arizona. Well, we drove here and there searching for this road that was clearly depicted on our brand new 2010 road atlas. After probably an hour of serious off-roading (good thing we had a jeep 4×4 or we wouldn’t have made it out), we thought we were on the right path. We were heading in the right direction, almost to where we thought we needed to be, then bam! The “road” ends at a boulder with nowhere to go and no way around! Posh was of no help. So we relented and had to turn around and go all the way back through the off-roading trails, and up and around the main roads in which we initially entered. This was a killer time waster.
By the time we actually reached Mesa Verde it was almost dark. We didn’t have time to see any of the ruins because most of them are ranger led hikes that you need a permit for. We drove around and snapped a few pictures of the sunset, then headed out with a tentative plan of returning the following day since I was very interested in exploring these ruins. Unfortunately, the night before we had reserved a hotel room in a town about an hour away from Mesa Verde thinking we would have been finished with M.V. earlier and heading out to the next destination.
We regrettably decided that night that it was just too far to backtrack to M.V. before continuing on to the Grand Canyon. Disappointed by having to give up M.V., I told myself that we’ll get to it someday and made a hotel reservation for the next town following Grand Canyon on our way back to Vegas- Kanab, UT.
Being the only moderately sized town between Grand Canyon and the major Utah parks and a weekend night, most of the hotels were sold out according to Orbitz. I would normally search for a hotel’s website and book directly, but used Orbitz this time instead because it lists all the hotels available and the rates, so it is easy to compare and pick a place not knowing the area at all.
There were a couple of hotels with availability. Both were about the same rate, around $100 for the night. I think one was a Comfort Inn, and the other was a place called the Victorian Inn. The reviews for Victorian were great, and it looked like a really nice place with a jacuzzi and fireplace in the room. So I selected Victorian over the chain hotel, and went to bed relieved to be all set for the next evening.
On the way to Grand Canyon the next morning, we made a stop at Four Corners just to say we’ve done it. It was sort of a waste of time, but I guess it’s something to check off the list at least. Then we continued on our way to the amazing Grand Canyon. We explored the South Rim briefly (having been there once before) before embarking on the 3-4 hour drive to the North Rim (which we have never seen before).
The North Rim was stunning. It is much prettier and scenic than the South Rim, being surrounded by Kaibab forest with more spectacular views of the canyon in general. We walked the North Rim trails just before sunset, inhaling the clean pine-scented air. It was peacefully silent without very few other visitors milling about. Sparrows were flying about overhead and you could actually hear them buzz by. I could have stayed there for hours enjoying the surroundings.
We wanted to head out before dark though, so hiked back to the car with the intent of driving through the rest of the overlooks at the park before leaving for Kanab. We successfully made it to and viewed all of the overlooks in the park despite the fact that our gas gauge was on E! Fortunately there was a fuel station inside the park near the visitor’s center or else we wouldn’t have made it out!
After gassing up, we made the long drive away from the North Rim and finally arrived in Kanab. When we got to the hotel, the attendant was on the phone dealing with an issue so we stood there for several minutes looking around. The place was very nice and we were exhausted and tired. When the attendant hung up, I said we had a reservation. He sighed and said that their “3rd party overbooked them” and that they did not have a room for us!
I was definitely a bit distressed and annoyed knowing that it was such a small town on a weekend hours away from the next town – what would we do now? What’s the point of making a reservation if they are not going to honor it? The attendant said he knew of a couple of places in town that still had a few rooms left. We ended up taking the “cheap” place – a Roadway Inn. This place sucked and it still ran us almost $100! They offered us a discount because the A/C in the room was broken. We were very disappointed. C wanted to leave Kanab altogether and hated the hotel and how much they charged. Their breakfast was pathetic, which normally I guess who cares – you just eat a bagel or bowl of cereal or whatever and be on your way. But the thing is we saw the breakfast area for Victorian, where we were supposed to be staying, and it was a much nicer spread including hot selections of fresh food. Roadway offered cereal and Sunny D.
C thinks that it is the hotel that overbooked and they just blame it on the 3rd party (Orbitz), which I think I agree with. They probably sell their vacancies to walk-ins despite having a log of reservations who have just not checked in yet. Then the hotel told me that they couldn’t refund my prepayment and I’d have to get Orbitz to credit my card.
So irritating…
But hey, it all makes for little adventures and stories so I am not complaining at all. 🙂
