Finally

Yes, the photos I took on our little sojourn to the Southwest are finally made available to our loyal follower.
It's not like I didn't get them into the queue some time ago.
We're just lazy.

I mentioned the first stopover was in Las Vegas.
I may have taken one photo with my phone.
You won't see it here.

After a night in an upscale, if not big name, hotel, we [I] decided we should see Hoover Dam.

in all instances click on the photos to enlarge them

In this instance you can see the back side of the dam, a glimpse of Lake Mead, and the highway bridge that avoids the the necessity of driving across the top of the dam for folks going to Arizona.

From the dam we drove back to Las Vegas, purchased fuel and headed for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we met up with MB's youngest and his family.

I will mention here that the original plan was to meet at Zion National Park.
However, independently of each other, we realized how close we were going to be to the Grand Canyon and thought it would be a good idea to visit it, as well.

Looking to the South Rim

here are a couple looking east,

 then west..

It kinda felt like one misstep would be the last.
Some in our group weren't nearly as reticent about living on the edge.

not all in this photo were with us

 Then we had lunch . . .

. . . and went to Zion.

Something heard said was, "at the Grand Canyon you're looking down, Zion you're looking up."

The Watchman, behind the Visitor Center

We went early because we expected the park to be crowded.

the shuttle bus line

We were not disappointed.
While one can drive into the park, traveling into the canyon must be by shuttle bus, foot, or bicycle.

The canyon narrows as one gets deeper into it.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, The Patriarchs

There is plenty of awesome sights, even from the shuttles.

We didn't go directly to Zion from the Grand Canyon.
There was an overnight stay in a campground, whilst it rained, before arriving in the park.

After Zion the plan was to head north to I-80.
We realized we'd be near Bryce Canyon National Park and could visit without going too far out of our way.

It's another park where shuttles a a blessing, as parking is limited.

The Aquarius Plateau, on the left horizon is the highest in North America

Those six are my traveling companions

We finally got onto I-15 northbound to Salt Lake City, with a meal stop at In-n-Out in American Fork.
At  Salt Lake City we headed west on I-80  to Wendover, UT, with another brief stop.

There were some strange sights.

At Wendover, after spending the night in a hotel, we gathered up two of the grandchildren and bid goodbye to the others, then drove home.

whirlwind trip

There are a $#!+ ton of photos that weren't on my camera. I may just insert some that aren't in this post over the next month or so.