Let's Travel to Bryce Canyon (Going West Part 3 of 3)

Two good things happened last week. Paul and I went to visit my parents in upstate New York (mental imagery of beautiful fall colors and apple cider doughnuts), and the federal government reopened! So now a good time to wrap up my western adventure story because you can get back into the National Parks mentioned!

Last Stop: Bryce Canyon National Park (Part 1, Part 2)

One difference that you might notice right away is that unlike Zion you drive around the top edge of Bryce Canyon and then you walk/hike down into the park. At Zion we chatted with a few ladies who had just arrived from Bryce, and remarked how nice it was to feel some warmth in Zion, unlike the chilly Bryce. If you stay up here and drive around to the different viewing points it is around 15 to 20 degrees cooler than at the bottom of the canyon! But this was the active part of the trip for us...so down we went. 

It's a pretty steep decline, hello fellow tiny travelers!! 

But the park trails are very nicely built-up and maintained so it makes the descent reasonable. We hiked the Peek-a-Boo Loop and descended a total of 1555 feet. This trail is labeled "strenuous" by the National Park Service. The difficult part of this loop is that it is 5.5 miles long and there is not an insignificant amount of up and down. It seemed like almost every time we climb to the top of a hill we were headed back down.

(Graph from National Park Service)

See what I mean? But if you are up for a bit of a challenge, it is totally worth it, I felt like we got our best pictures and views on this hike. 

Like this one! So pretty.

And I don't look like I am working that hard! Of course, I think this was only about half way. While there we also walked the Navajo Trail, which is the one that basically gets you down and back from the bottom of the main part of the canyon. We also walked Queen's Garden, which to be honest I was kind of tired by that point, but I don't remember it being that great. Definitely the Peak-a-Boo Loop was my favorite.

This was on our way back up. Yes, I was definitely tired by this part. Paul, however, found some extra energy to essentially speed walked up the part because it was the narrowest part of the trail and of course it was close to the edge...not exactly fear of heights friendly. But we made it! And it was worth it.

A few other tips for Bryce Canyon
1) Stay in the park. We didn't, we stayed at a very nice B&B, Stone Canyon Inn, about 20 mins outside the park in Tropic, UT. If you love a great B&B with a quality breakfast and lovely shampoos and soaps, this is totally your place. But there is so much to do at night in the park, that I kind of regretted staying so far away. There also isn't much going on in Tropic. We ended up driving back to the park for dinner at the lodge in the park, which was fantastic. Dinner was rustic, but in the exact manner that you want rustic food: warm bread, prime rib, red wine.
2) Take advantage of the night events at the park. When we stopped by the visitor center we heard that they were going to have a star gazing that night and we might not have done it, but since we were back for dinner we figured, why not? I am so glad that we did. The park rangers set up maybe a half dozen or so of the most powerful telescopes that I had ever looked through. It was so cool!! I will say there were lines for each of the telescopes and as we were waiting in the much cooled off dessert evening I was thinking, ugh, why aren't we back at the B&B, until I looked through that first telescope. I was hooked we waited for all of them. Each was pointed at something different. I think my favorite was Saturn, you could actually see the rings around it! It looked almost too cool to be real.

(Picture from NASA)

Almost like this, only you aren't looking from the top and you are looking at it live!

We wrapped up the trip by driving back to Las Vegas, where we had a late flight, and time for one more fancy meal. If you aren't interested in Las Vegas the other way I considered doing this trip was to fly in and out of Salt Lake City. But I've been to Salt Lake City, and I had not been to Las Vegas. Maybe next time we will fly in and out Salt Lake City and we will go to Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and the Grand Canyon. :) Where would you go first?

Let's Travel to Zion National Park (Going West Part 2 of 3)

Sadly, if you were currently trying to get into Zion National Park it would be closed on account of the government shutdown. However, once the shutdown is over, I would highly recommend a visit. Zion was stop number two on the great western adventure. (See Part 1 here)

First, I will qualify that we did not hike the most famous trail at Zion - Angels Landing. I searched around for a good pictorial representation of why and found this one from Heidikins.com 

I think that explains it. 

However, we did hike the second most famous, and completely amazing, trail - the Narrows. (PS. I love that it sounds like a trail straight out of Batman.) The Narrows trail was created by the Virgin River which carved a gorge about 16 miles long in the upper reaches of Zion Canyon. You hike in the river,  and at times the trail is only 20-30 feet wide between the rock. 

Because you are hiking through a river I would strongly advise sturdy water hiking boots. We rented these and walking sticks from Zion Adventure Company. I felt bad for the people in sandals because the rocks are slippery when wet!

The water level varies throughout the hike (in general it depends on recent rainfall or snow melts) and for the most part the water was only a couple feet deep but here you can see Paul with the water up to his chest. The weather was quite warm in late May when we were there so the water was nice and refreshing. If it were cooler weather I would recommend a water proof "dry bag", which you can also rent, with at least a sweater inside. 

If your really inspired to do a long hike, it's possible to get a permit and the length of the Narrows, but I found our in and out - around 6 miles total - very satisfying.

Other trails we hiked in Zion were the Weeping Rock Trail, very short but pretty because the water flow supports more flora and fauna than in other places of the park (pictured above). We started the Hidden Canyon Trail, only made it about half way up because its another trail with some sheer drop offs that are not so good for people with a fear of heights, and we completed the full Emerald Pool Trail System, which was steep but without sheer drop offs. :)

It is possible to book rooms inside the park, but we decided to stay just outside in Springdale, at Canyon Vista Lodge, a bed and breakfast. For us, this was the right move. The facilities inside the park looked nice, but there were a lot of tour and school buses parked outside. I can see the convenience if you are with a big group or family, but with just the two of us I found the outside of the park more laid back, and we didn't have any issues finding parking inside the park each day. Another plus to staying outside the park is that there are some fantastic food options. The first is Bit and Spur. We liked this so much we went there for dinner twice. We sat outside both nights and enjoyed yummy drinks, fresh fish, and some amazing ribs. If you decide to stay in the park, its worth a venture out for this place. The second must recommend is Oscar's Cafe, we ate breakfast here for our entire stay. Wait, didn't we stay at a bed and breakfast? Yes, and one of the best things about the Canyon Vista Lodge is that your breakfast is just whatever you want from this local, amazing, cafe. You just order off the menu, and leave a tip.

With full bellies, slightly frightened height awareness, and the best water hike ever, we set out through a hole in a mountain to continue on the great west adventure. Though, of course, we hit traffic.

Have you been to Zion? Did you brave Angels Landing?

Travel Tip: Credit Card Rewards

There is an entire, somewhat overwhelming, world of credit card reward points. The potential benefits sound amazing, free flights, free hotel nights, but what is realistic? What is the downside? Hopefully this post will help answer some of those questions. If you have other questions feel free to leave a comment and maybe I can help!

Let's get the disclaimers and downsides out first. It is important to not overspend on credit cards just because you have them. I keep a very strict rule of paying off my monthly balance and would recommend that strategy. Also, your credit score matters, opening credit cards doesn't automatically mean that your credit score will go down, because additional credit is a positive for your score, but in the short term it will show up as a check on your credit. New credit cards also decrease the the average age of your credit lines (PS. don't get rid of credit cards you've had for a long time because that will have the same affect). So if you are planning to buy a house in the next year now might not be the best time to maximize a credit card point strategy.

My Number 1 credit card recommendation is....
Chase Sapphire
Fees: $95 after the first year
Perks: 40,000 points after you spend $3k in the first 3 months
           Double points on dinning and travel
           No foreign transaction fees
           Extremely flexible points!
The last perk is worth emphasizing because flexibility is very helpful when you earn points with other cards but need additional points for different accounts. For example, I've traded in Sapphire points (1 for 1) for United Miles and Marriott points. Other accounts that you can transfer points to include Southwest airlines, Hyatt, Ritz Carlton, and others (though I've basically listed the big brand names here). There are other benefits as well (you can trade in for cash back, or use points to make direct purchases on amazon.com ect.) but I think the best way to use the point is for booking travel.

Our big win...Flying 1st class to Geneva, Switzerland and Economy from Vienna, Austria for ~$500

Around January 2012, yes I am a planner, I started looking into how many United points we would need to fly to Europe in August 2013. Over the next 6 months Paul and I each signed up for 2 credit cards, the Chase Sapphire and the United Explorer card. The United Explorer card came with a 40k sign up bonus at the time (its 30k right now). Between the two big sign up bonuses we had 80k in points each. Then we spent exclusively on the Sapphire card. One way to increase points is to shop via their online mall - an online portal where you click on a link to a store and it takes you to that store's website and if you buy something you get extra points. For example, I've purchased shoes through onlineshoes.com after going through the shopping portal and got 10 extra points per dollar spent, say the shoes were $70, then I got 700 bonus points, along with one point per dollar spent, for a total of 770 points for one purchase.

Between the sign up bonus points and the additional points we got through spending I was able to book two round trip tickets for our trip to Europe in August 2013 for a total of $284 in taxes and fees! I value the total cost of the tickets to be about $3,000 or $1,500 each. The real kicker? We flew first class from Dulles Airport to Geneva Switzerland! That's right, lay down seats, free drinks, and an ice cream sunday. So, while I would have never paid for first class tickets (which I booked the tickets the cost of the first class ticket was like $5,000 each for one way) it was a great benefit and a really special way to start off our trip. (Although, it cost more in points and I might save them next time and fly economy both ways.)

Cost of our flights in points:
1st class tickets to Geneva: 67,500*2=135,000
Economy tickets from Vienna: 30,000*2=60,000
Total in points: 195,000
Total points via sign up bonuses: 160,000
Additional points earned through regular spending and strategy shopping: 35,000

Cost of our flights in cash:
Total cost in credit card fees: $190 (I love the sapphire card so much we kept it rather than canceling before we had to pay the fee this year, however, we canceled the united explorer card rather than pay the fee).
Total cost for round trip flight: $284
Total cost in cash: $474

I said before I value to the round trip flight to Europe at around $3,000, and adding the credit card fees and the cost of the flight that equals $474, with a total benefit to me of $2,526 (3,000-474).

Is there a catch? Not really. Both of the flights that I booked, the one to Geneva and from Vienna were "saver awards" as oppose to standard award flights, which means that they required less miles to book them. However, I had no issue finding saver award flights on United. In fact, now that we've been at this long enough we've also flown to San Francisco (with less advanced planning) on saver awards at 15,000 points per person each way or 60,000 points total. I think it might be harder to get flights in and out of certain cities in Europe, for example, maybe Rome or Athens, but that might be an opportunity to hunt around a bit. Also, I have looked at using award points to go to places in South America and have found it harder to find saver awards. I think the best benefit it flying to Europe, if you want the big win.

There are a lot of websites that focus and strategize much more with reward points. To some extent it makes my head spin. I was very focused on getting us to and from Europe and starting with a goal was helpful for keeping me sane as I jumped into the world of reward points. What would your goal be? Good luck!!

Let's Travel to Las Vegas (Going West Part 1 of 3)

Las Vegas, May 2012, was the first stop on a week long trip where we also visited Zion National Park (Part 2) and Bryce Canyon (Part 3). I loved our recent European vacation (and will continue to post more about it soon), but this was one of my all time favorite trips.

In Vegas we stayed at the Venetian. 

I booked it through Jetsetter.com as a special deal so we stayed in a Luxury View Suite, which was 650 square feet, had a sunken living room and a view of the Las Vegas Strip. It was the most opulent hotel room I've ever stayed in - loads of marble. In general, the Venetian is opulent. 

The nice thing about Vegas is that there are a ton of hotel rooms and almost daily deals to fit a range of desires, from cheap and easy to all inclusive luxury. Our deal was somewhere in the middle, free wifi, access to the pool and gym, view of the strip. 

Day Time View

Night Time View

We paid more on the first two nights because we were there over Memorial Day weekend so if you are on a strict budget don't visit over a holiday weekend. However, if you are hoping to catch someone in particular performing in Vegas, a holiday weekend is the time to go! Literally everyone I could think of was in town that weekend from P. Diddy to Taylor Swift to Elton John. Not to mention all of the standard shows from Circ de Soleil to Celine Dion. 

With the plethora of options we chose to see comedian Ron White at the Mirage, which, as you can see from the pictures above, is across the street from the Venetian. Paul and I love comedy shows and Ron White delivered. To top it off, Ron invited the crowd, to join him after the show to watch his wife, Margo Rey, sing with her band at the BB King Blues club down the hall (currently reported by Yelp as closed!), so of course we went. I thought everyone would go and there would be a mad rush, but it was only us, about 40 other people and Ron White. Ron sat in the very middle, close to the stage, and jumped up after every song and cheered so enthusiastically it was cute, crazy, and made the memory highlight reel of the trip. During his show he said that he had been performing at the Mirage for over twenty years. It was cool because he was so comfortable, both during his own show, and his wife's, that both felt less like performances and more like hanging out...with extremely talented entertainers... just like every weekend, right?

 (Ron White and Margo Rey - Courtesy of margorey.com)

One shocking thing about our time in Vegas? We did not gamble a penny! To be honest, I thought we would play a slot machine or a black jack table at least once, but it was more fun to walk around and watch other people. We walked through the Bellagio and watched a poker tournament and found an area with a million TV screens showing literally every live sports game. 

The Bellagio also had an all flower exhibit when we were there. How cute is this guy?

And of course outside the the Bellagio we had our Ocean's 11 moment where we watched the fountain show. 

While in Vegas we ate a lot of good food, tartars, perfectly cooked and flavorful fish, divine chocolate... but while the food was very tasty, I often found the ambiance to be a bit lacking. One of the places that we went we walked through what felt like an underground mall to get there - florescent lights, white title floor. Perhaps that's why I didn't take an pictures of the food?

One last thought on Vegas. It's surprisingly big. The hotels are huge and maze-like. One end of the strip to the other may only be a couple of miles, which might not seem like much but there are a lot of people and not particularly large or straight side walks so even a few blocks can seem long. Our flight landed late on a Saturday and by Tuesday I felt like we finally understood the energy and vibe of the city, but we were already off to Zion! Next time I could see spending another day or two. Have you been to Vegas? Did you like it? Was it too much? Are you ready to go back?