The Mighty 2/5ths
When I tell people that I go on annual hiking trips with my mom, it’s always amusing to see peoples’ reactions. Some people seem impressed that my mom and I spend our vacations hiking in canyons, sweating in 100 degree heat and waking up every morning before the sun. Others seem inspired to begin taking trips with their mothers or daughters and to venture into the outdoors and have their Wild or Eat, Pray, Love experience. There’s also the people who simply don’t understand why we travel across the country, just to walk up some hills.
Nevertheless, no matter the reactions, I still encourage each person to visit these places for themselves, because when it comes to National Parks, pictures rarely do them justice, so you might as well go see them for yourself.
June of 2018 marked the second year of Mom and I taking a hiking trip and our destination of choice this time was Utah. Because our hiking destination was located in The Middle of Nowhere, Utah, our plan was to fly into Las Vegas and then drive to Utah from there.
Flying into Vegas at night was truly just like watching a movie in real time-we could see the big, looming mountains and desert that instantly gave way to thousands of lights. We could see The Strip, the massive casinos jutting out of the bustling streets and cars scurrying all which ways.
While flying into Vegas at night was beautiful, driving around Vegas at night was an entirely different story.
Theoretically, the drive from the airport to our hotel was ~supposed to be~ short and straightforward. However, driving in a new city, at night, with a ton of traffic, in a car we had never driven, with road construction was quite an experience. After about 45 minutes and ending up on the other side of Vegas, we managed to find our way (properly) back to the hotel.
After that hefty drive we were tired, stressed and ready for bed, but instead of turning in early, we decided to venture out into America’s playground.
We missed the last Bellagio fountain showing by only five minutes, oops, but we were able to see so many more sites—oh so many interesting sites. After a jaunt around The Strip and a quick ice cream snack break, we decided that it was finally time to turn in, especially since in Ohio time, it was past 3:00am.
