Leaving Moab we were heading out of the desert and into a city for the first time in quite a while. Two weeks prior we were discussing what Julie wanted to do for her birthday. Initially Julie wanted to keep it simple and not make a big deal out of her birthday and just wanted to spend it wherever we ended up for the night. In talking I mentioned that we would be less than a days drive from Las Vegas around the time of her birthday. As she had never been before she was oddly hesitant at first but then after talking about it for a while came around and gave a big yes to the idea. So here we were; instead of heading north back to Salt Lake City we were headed southwest from Moab to Nevada and the lights of Las Vegas.
Julie’s birthday just happened to fall on Saturday so we planned to stay at an RV park on the strip at Circus Circus Friday night then at the Aria Saturday & Sunday leaving Bubbles at the RV Park. The drive from Moab to Las Vegas took us to the southwest corner of Utah, then cut the extreme northwest corner of Arizona before entering Nevada. Julie was pretty surprised as literally right after you cross into Nevada there is a town and a few huge casinos. From the border it only took an hour or so before we reached Las Vegas. We checked into the RV Park at Circus Circus (it was more of a glorified parking lot with RV power sources and sewer hookups but it worked for us) then hit the strip. Initially Julie and I were quite overwhelmed. After being in parks and literally miles from towns for the past few weeks being in a major city surrounded by thousands of people was a bit much for us. We wandered in and out of a few casinos before getting hungry and eating at an Italian restaurant in the Venetian. After dinner we wandered in and out of a few more casino’s before heading to downtown Vegas and met up with our friend Sarah, her boyfriend Greg and some of their friends who were in town for Greg’s birthday. Needless to say as both Julie and Greg’s birthdays were that weekend we had a few celebratory drinks. We hung out with everyone for the rest of the night before heading back to the strip and the RV park for the night.
The next morning we woke up, packed a bag and called an Uber. We headed from Circus Cirucs to the Aria where we would be spending the next two nights. Today was day one of Julie’s birthday extravaganza. Once we checked in we relaxed in the room for a while. While Bubbles is generally comfortable it was 100+ degrees in Vegas (and probably hotter in the parking lot where Bubbles was parked) so being in an air-conditioned hotel room was a nice treat for us. As evening approached we showered then headed to Yellowtail, which was a sushi place in the Bellagio. We were seated overlooking the famous Bellagio fountain and had a great meal. From there it was show time for us. We had booked tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s “O”. This is their water show where there is a pool under the moving stage floor. The show was amazing. The music, diving, costumes; it was incredible and we loved it. 100% would see it again. After the show we walked the strip for a while before heading back to the Aria for the night.
Sunday morning we woke up refreshed. It was Julie’s birthday and was going to be a relaxing day. We started the day by going down to the sports betting area of the Aria and watching the 1st half of the Bills game, which started at 10am (Watching football in the Pacific time zone is great!). We followed that by going to the Aria’s buffet, which was amazing. I’m pretty sure that Julie tried every dessert that they had which was a lot. Needless to say we were full and happy by the time we left the buffet. From the buffet we went back to our room, changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool. It was a gorgeous day in the 90’s so hanging out at the pool was just what the doctor ordered. We had a few cocktails from the poolside waitress and hung out for a few hours before going back to the room and getting changed for the night. That night we went to Bobby Flays Mesa Grill in Caesars Palace. The restaurant was New Mexican/Southwest and it was amazing. Julie loved it and it was the perfect end to her Vegas birthday bash weekend. After dinner we gambled a bit (it is Vegas after all) then headed back to our room for the night.
The next day we woke up, packed, grabbed an Uber and headed back to Bubbles. Today was a travel day as we were headed back to Utah, all the way to Salt Lake City. We got back to Bubbles, packed up and we were off. We didn’t take many stops along the way as it was a 7 hour drive however we did make 1 stop in Southern Utah for lunch. Julie had never had In-N-Out burger, which is a California fast food chain with a cult following. It was a little late for lunch, around 2pm but the place was packed. We ordered, ate and big smiles followed. It was delicious. We then hopped back into Bubbles, headed north and by the evening we were in Salt Lake City.
The next morning we woke up ready to hit the town. As the RV Park was located within city limits we decided to take an Uber downtown. First stop for the day was the Utah State Capital building. We thought that this was one of the better capital buildings that we had been to. It wasn’t because the building was bigger or more beautiful than others but the amount of information available about the city and the state was better. The entire first floor had exhibits about things that have made the state famous such as the amazing national parks and movies that were filmed around Utah. The top floor of the building had exhibits geared towards how the Mormons came to call Utah home as well as how the state got its shape. It was all really interesting. From the State House we walked to a park where we ate a packed lunch then wandered into a downtown mall where Julie ordered some new shoes to arrive in Seattle. We then had a cocktail in the largest whisky bar that I had ever seen (very strange that this was located in Utah) and grabbed a few beers from a small brewery before heading back to Bubbles for the night.
We woke up the next day excited. The next few days we would be spending with our friends, Kevin, Heidi and their daughter McKenna Rooney in Park City. As it was going to be in the mid 20’s at night in Park City, Kevin would be coming to pick us up as Bubbles cannot survive freezing temperatures without having all water drained from her system and winterized. As this was the case we said adios to Bubbles for a few days leaving her at the RV Park. Before going to Park City we made a stop for lunch at the Red Iguana Mexican Restaurant (one of Salt Lake Cities best restaurants, featured on the TV show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) and Uinta Brewery. This brewery has amazing beers but due to Utah’s strict and somewhat wacky liquor laws we could not bring the baby with us into the brewery, as “everyone had to be 21 to enter”. You read that right; the brewery denied us entry as the baby was not 21. Julie was nice enough to take McKenna so that Kevin and I could have a beer inside. From there we grabbed a few to go from the brewery store and headed into the mountains and to Park City.
Kevin, Heidi & McKenna were in Park City as Heidi’s company had a yearly event in the town and they luckily had an extra room in their condo. We had a great few days with them. Kevin was especially happy that we were there as we could help him take care of McKenna while Heidi tended to her clients at the event. Most of the time in Park City was spent exploring the town and relaxing which was great for us as it seemed that we had been moving as fast as we could for the past few months so it was great to slow down a bit. We ate at some great restaurants, had some beers and had fun catching up with Kevin & Heidi. Some of the highlights from our days in Park City included going on the Alpine Coaster. I did not realize that these existed in the USA but it was a ton of fun. The Alpine Coaster is a track built on the side of one of the peaks in Park City that is designed to hold a single roller coaster type car as it goes down. You sit in the seat and have control over the breaks so you are able to go as fast or as slow as you want. It was a ton of fun. We also drove to the Sundance resort, which is owned by Robert Redford. Sundance is famous for the Sundance Film Festival which is actually held in Park City but it started out in the this small resort before it got too big for the resort to handle. We had gone to Sundance, as there was a small craft fair being held. The craft fair as it turned out was very small but we were also able to explore the property, which was beautiful. Lastly Park City surprised us because almost every morning that we woke up, we woke up to 3-4 inches of snow. This was quite the surprise for us, especially the first day as for the past few weeks the temperature did not drop much below 80. It was pretty nuts. We had a great time with Kevin, Heidi & McKenna and appreciated them letting us stay with them. Hopefully we can see them again on this trip!
Next up…We head north to Idaho and pick up our first visitor of the trip!
