Spring Break

I just returned from Spring Break down in southern Utah. 5 of my friends in my ward at Utah State and I decided to go on a southern Utah road trip for Spring Break so Me, Chris, Mindy, Matt, Scott and Jamie all camped in Goblin Valley, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas for the last week.

We spent 2 days in Goblin Valley, playing on the Goblins and hiking the cliffs. We camped about 5 minutes away from Valley of the Goblins so it was a short drive to go and play. We had a ton of fun playing Hide ans seek and climbing through all of the canyons and arroyos. It was really windy at our campground though. We had a fire and in the morning the fire pit was completely empty. The wind had blown all the ashes away.

After that we drove down to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and camped at Mather Point. We were able to hike down into the canyon on the South Kaibab Trail. We only went about half way because we weren't sure if we would have enough water and you need a special permit to camp at the bottom. But we did hike down to Skeleton point which is about halfway I think. From there we were able to see Phantom Ranch and the Colorado River. It was really cool. We ate a small lunch there and hung out before heading back up the mountain. The trail was really steep in some places coming down so going back up was killer. It took us about twice as long to get out of the canyon and on the last of the switchbacks we ran out of water. It was a really good hike though and I differently recommend it. The next day we hiked along the South Rim and took a million pictures at the lookout points. We get to watch the sunset from one of the ledges over Bright Angel Canyon on the South Rim. It was absolutely beautiful. We hung out back at our campsite for the rest of the night playing games and watching movies on portable DVD players. Usually we all fell asleep before we ever finished the movies though.

The next morning we packed up and drove to Vegas. We stopped and took pictures at the Hoover Dam, but it really wasn't that impressive. Then we pushed on to Vegas. We were staying with Lindsey, another girl from our ward and also Jamie's roommate because she lives in Vegas. Her family was kind enough to let all 6 of us smelly, unwashed college students stay at their house. When we arrived in Vegas the first thing we did was eat dinner at In-N-Out which quite possibly could have been one of the best burgers I have had in a long time. Afterwards we went swimming at one of Lindsey's friends houses and rinsed off a lot of the dust and grit we had accumulated in the last 5 days of camping. After swimming we showered and watched movies at Lindsey's. The next day Lindsey took us down to the Strip and we got to walk through and see the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. Both of which were pretty cool. I had never been to Vegas before so It was awesome to see everything. We went back and played with Lindsey's nieces and nephews before heading back to the Strip to see more of the sights. We were able to see the MGM Grand, the M&M factory, the Venetian, the Paris Restaurant , the New York, New York, and the fountain show at the Bellagio. It was really cool . Vegas is not very family friendly and you had to be careful where you looked but overall it wasn't too bad. we got back to Lindsey's about 12:30 am and packed the cars for our trip home the next morning. After a few hours sleep we headed back to Salt Lake. It was sad to have our vacation end but we had so much fun. It really was awesome just hanging out and playing with my friends for a week without thinking about school, work, or homework.

So now I am back at Utah State just trying to soak up the last few hours of Spring Break and still trying not to think about homework, work or school.