Somewhere in... the Wild West

Nevada, Arizona and Utah followed California, and what a difference they make, much further than the timezone difference!

Our first stop out of California was none other than the absolutely crazy Las Vegas, a gambling megalomania, neon lights competing for the gambling dollars in a Stravinskian symphony of light. How could we not enjoy this crazy town, it's hard not to have fun enjoying the weird collection of people and casino appeals of watershows, lion and white tiger habitats, amazing conservatories and dance shows, all this in the middle of an utterly inhospitable desert! And to prove beginner's luck holds true, Lenka came out 40 dollars richer and an experienced blackjack player! We left Vegas in our thankfully air-conditioned car (temperatures reach the 40s most days out in the desert), and toured the impressives nature-made Red Rock Canyon and the man-made Hoover Dam.

The next stop was in Arizona and Utah, a much more traditional american experience where one sees cowboys, conservatively dressed mormon ladies tending to their gardens, american flags flying patrioticaly everywhere, traditional gun adverts fighting magazine ad space with country music festivals, and thankfully for us, more reasonably priced food! But without a doubt, the most unique, dazzling feature of this land is its unique natural landscape, and particularly the national parks of Zion and the Grand Canyon which we have visited these two days. No words can make justice to these natural phenomena of undescribable beauty which by itself would make a trip to the USA worthwhile, so I will only direct you to the photos which still fail to capture the magic of the place, once we manage to upload them.

We are going to leave Kanab, Utah tomorrow go further inland in search of more amazing natural beauty, we'll leave our motel behind, still wth the very same rooms where movie stars from the 50s stayed when shooting their western films, and we'll contine our drive through the desert, prairies, cows and small little towns scattered in this beautiful landscape. We are indeed in the Wild West!