Wait a second! The last time I made a blog post about my US trip was in November. Half a year ago! And it was part VI. How is this now part XII? Are you kidding me?

Well, you could say I’m a little (*cough*) behind on editing. But I’ll get to it eventually. I promise. (crosses fingers) If it’s any consolation, I recently edited a couple (!) of videos from Insub Fest 2013. (Link) 2013! So, yeah, sometimes things take a little time.

Anyways: I have good reasons to tell you the story of my trip to the American Southwest first.

Introduction

There was no Insub Fest in 2014. There was a smaller show instead. Just a couple bands, one night only. As crazy as I am – I did not go to that one. So instead of going to the US twice (Insub Fest in June, FEST in October) I only went to Fest. I decided to make it worth it, by adding another two weeks of travel time. I was already on this side of the ocean, so why not? So I booked extra days – and for a long time I didn’t really know what to do with them. I talked to a bunch of bands, if I could tour with them. Looked at car rentals and train passes and couldn’t really make up my mind. In the end I thought about visiting the American Southwest. See some famous landmarks, go to places that I cannot access easily at home. There’s plenty of National Parks in America, but this was November, so most would be closed, or only accessible with the right gear. And no, I would not take my skiing coat to Florida. Staying in the south would allow me to avoid this. Plus, some of the most famous natural wonders are there. Grand Canyon? Death Valley? – Sure, why the fuck not.
Also, it seemed like the perfect way to balance pretty much most of my other travelling. What do you do when you just spent 10 days full of punk rock festivals with hundreds of bands, thousands of people and millions of photos? – You take a rental car and drive through the desert for 10 days, alone. Don’t listen to music, at all. Only have a handful of actual conversations. Is there any other option?

November 4th – Vegas and beyond

Tinsel dropped me off at the airport, I had two flights to Vegas. It was kinda interesting, cause we used the same plane for both legs of the trip. And the couple passengers that continued to Vegas were allowed to stay on board of the plane. It’s kind cool to see an empty plane on the ground, with everyone not being in flight-mode. At that point it’s basically an over-sized bus, sitting on the ground like a sitting duck. I did leave the plane to go to a “real” toilet. I wish I could claim that I technically was in Texas. But airports don’t really count, do they?

As soon as you land in you see the gambling machines. And blinking lights. Over the top billboards. This is all in the airport. Waiting at the baggage carousel is just weird when you are surrounded by all of this. I can’t really say I liked that first vibe the city gave me. But I wasn’t planing on staying anyways. I went to the car rental center and after allowing the agent a nice upsell I got decent SUV and went on my way. My first stop was a local Walmart to stock up on supplies and gadgets. I definitely spent too much time in that store. Honestly I have no idea why Walmart seems to be such a thing in the US. It’s just a big shitty store isn’t it? And besides being big, I could not really find a lot of things I was looking for anyways. It’s definitely my fault to be a picky eater, but still. Then I headed to my first destination: Williams, AZ. Just a stop on my way to the Grand Canyon. It had gotten dark when I was leaving Vegas and so I drove through basically a black emptiness for the next few hours. I must have passed Hoover Dam, but I didn’t see it. There was little to see overall. A few small settlements, getting fewer the longer I drove. As a German I would have liked to just press the pedal to the metal and race along the highway. There was barely any traffic. But not knowing the level of enforcement of traffic violations made me hesitant. I didn’t wanna get to encounter police. Sorry officer, you’re having a really bad reputation. At some point I just stopped at some random exit and drove a little off the highway. Literally there was nothing. No city, no village, no nothing. I couldn’t even see the stars, cause the full moon was really bright. If I had any dead bodies to dispose, this would have been a decent location. I continued to Williams, checked into my not-really-that-bad motel (big room, recent renovations visible) and went to sleep.

November 5th – Williams and Grand Canyon

In the morning I had a decision to make: Go to the Grand Canyon right away, or rest a little longer? My plan was to stay at GC for sunset, so I had a long day ahead of me. I chose to explore Williams first and make the most use of my room. So I took out my running gear and ran to some reservoir south of the city. Yeah, I ran, for the second time on my trip. And – as it turned out – for the last time. The weather was nice. It was cold, but the sky was perfectly clear, the sun warmed me up and the only thing stopping me was the thin air. Cause, I hadn’t really noticed on my way here that I gained a bit of altitude. The cities elevation is about 6700ft (2060m)!! I had no idea this happened. Driving through the dark gave me no clue. Florida was basically at sea level, now this was alpine. Quite a difference.
Besides being a convenient starting point for Grand Canyon, Williams has some history going for it. Mainly having been part of the old Route 66. So the main street is all themed for it. Everything has 66 in its name, plenty of restaurants looking for tourists, bikers etc. I went to one with good rating for breakfast. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed by the food. I know I’m a picky eater etc. but if half your hash brown is black and the other seems raw, then even I know that is not ideal. Eggs and pancakes were okay though. There’s also some old locomotives on display, from the old Grand Canyon railroad that terminates in the city. Then it was time to head north to the national park.

The Grand Canyon was a great experience. For three reasons mainly: First, and I know I’m stating the obvious, it’s not the slightly-above-average-sized Canyon, it’s the Grand Canyon, the thing is fucking huge. Secondly, you totally don’t see it coming. There is no indication of it on your way there. You just walk and all of a sudden there is this gigantic hole in the ground. I have looked down from a lot of mountains in my life, spent a fair share of my time in the Alps so I am used to stare down from altitude. But that was after I had climbed up (or drove, or used a lift), and it isn’t a surprise at all to look down when you’ve just gone up. But here? There are no mountains around it. And while the north rim is a bit higher, the horizon is mostly flat, except this vast empty space in front of your feet. It’s mind boggling. And a third reason: Since these aren’t mountains the rocks are totally different than the ones I saw at the Alps. Sandstones in weird shapes, formations and colors. It’s something I would see for the rest of the trip, but this was literally the biggest version of it. I spent the next couple hours at the South rim, looking at the Canyon. I used the shuttle busses to go to some of the viewpoints to the west. The shuttle system was excellent, and the national park seemed in great shape. The other parks I went to were as well. Props to the national park service. Here’s some photos, I guess they speak for themselves. Also again the weather was perfect. It was clear and the visibility was great. It was warm enough to walk around lightly, but cold enough to not get too hot. Excellent conditions to walk around and take images:

As mentioned above I wanted to spent sunset at the rim. But I chose a special place for it. The travel guide suggested a spot called Shoshone point. It’s an isolated area, that is not as easily to get to than the other viewpoints (that are right at the road). Shoshone point takes a mile long walk to get to. If you can find the unmarked parking lot. And the use is a little bit restricted, as the park service rents the area for special events. But I was outside the season, so access was no problem. When I got there, there were two other cars. But I met one guy on the walk there. Finally there was one couple, also taking photos when I got there. But they left eventually and I had the entire place for myself.
What can I say? I wanted to make jokes how my post Fest depression was bigger than the canyon. But Shoshone point beat me. Fuck what a great experience. There’s a salient leading into the canyon. So you basically get almost 360° of canyon view. While being on this isolated ridge. The sun set, the moon had already risen, it had gotten colder and there was a bit of wind going, and me all alone inside this stunning landscape at the rim. I might have had an existentialist moment right there. I felt like I could just stay here forever. If the world ended right there, right then I would have been fine with it. But how could you not?

Then something happened. I did something I never do. NEVER. I took out my phone and recorded a video. (And if this wasn’t bad enough, I took it in portrait mode!) Quite embarrassing, but I think it accurately describes what went on in my head. (The audio is slightly out of sync, sorry about that).

For a short time I played with the idea to stay there until sunrise. But I had not planned to do this, I had nothing to help me do it. Like food or shelter. And I had more plans for the next few days, so I left and walked back home. Ever walked 20 minutes with nothing but a flashlight through a forest? Knowing that there is probably nobody within miles of your own location? I got back to the car and started heading east. I stopped at a few more viewpoints, but it had gotten dark and even the full moon didn’t really help. I left the park and went to the long dive to Kayenta. And boy, it was a shitty drive. It took way too long, was way too boring and I was way too tired to do it. Again, there is little traffic, almost no settlements and basically you are driving through the dark. This was the worst drive of the entire trip. I checked into the next motel easily enough and went to bed. I wanted to rise early.

November 6th – Fucking up Monument Valley, Redemption in Page

And early rise I did. My plan was to drive to Monument Valley in time for the sunrise. I got up in time, packed my gear and onto the road I went. Only to get lost. I missed the turn into Monument Valley, actually drove quite a few miles past it. Then I realized that I was wrong, turned around, raced back, didn’t take the right turn again, then I finally made it. I got onto the parking lot with the viewpoint just in time. The sun was already lurking across the horizon. Like just in time. So I take out my gear, you know tripod and everything. And to do the half dozen other photographers standing around there. I frame the image, I want to take my photo….. and there is no memory card in the camera! It’s in the laptop. In the hotel. And I only had this camera on me, and no spare card. I had three batteries, my filters and tripod and cable release and….. no memory card. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! All I could do is take out the phone again and use it.

Needless to say I was pissed. I had driven all the way here only to screw up the photo opportunity I had. And the drive sucked and I am an idiot. I was so pissed that I decided to leave and go back to bed. That’s what I did. Why check out of a room before checkout time? But hey, at least I screwed the native tribe out of the park fee. I was so early that the booth wasn’t manned yet. Sorry about that. And hey, the motel had a pancake machine. You press a button and a minute later two pancakes drop from it. Weird.

And back to the road. Heading back west to Page, AZ. I listened to some podcasts on my drives. And this time I could actually see the landscape outside, full daylight and all. Not being overly tired and able to see made the drive a lot better than the same road the night before. This was the driving through the desert thing I had imagined.

When you are approaching Page, AZ you see quite a different landmark from far away. There’s a gigantic power plant outside the city. You can see the large chimneys from quite a distance. I had just spent 2 days driving through pretty much empty spaces, sure there were towns and roads, but nothing like this. I failed to take a photo though. You know, don’t take photos and drive? I bought a soda at a gas station, sat a bit in the shade and then went to see one of the legendary slot canyons: Lower Antilope Canyon.

They offer normal tours and then a photo pass. Which basically means you pay quite a premium, but don’t have to join a guided tour. And then you have two hours to walk through the canyon and take photos. And that’s what I did. First they put me into a golf cart and drove me to the entrance. Seriously? I could have walked that. And I was the only passenger. I guess that’s a perk when you pay that premium. So the canyon is this narrow passage and you are walking through these totally alien sandstone formations. They are all around you, everywhere you look there are crazy forms and colors and patterns. Even if you were a Google car with 360° view you would still miss many of them. There were only a few people, like two tours passed by me. One even with Germans (I kept quiet). One of the guys whose job it is to check on the photographers talked to me a bit. It was a fun experience. And I didn’t even get the best of it. In summer time at the right moments the sun shines light beams into these canyons and the already magical place just explodes into the most awesome thing. But I was there in November, in the afternoon. No luck for me. But I will no complain. At all:

I had something planed for sunset, but it wasn’t quite late enough just yet. Luckily Page had another attraction to offer. There’s a huge Dam in the city. Actually the city only exists cause the dam was built there. I went to check out Glen Canyon Dam, I had missed Hoover Dam so why not? I was a little too late for the last guided tour unfortunately, so I could only view the exhibition in the visitor center. Interesting enough I have to say. After that I went to a viewpoint to take a dam photo. Or a damn photo?

Then it was finally time for my evening entertainment. Fuck, what a long day. But worth it. Cause I got to go the Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado river. It’s a bit of a walk from a busy parking lot. Up a hill, then down on some sandy pathways. Then you get to the cliff that overlooks the looping river. The rock drops down pretty much vertically. And yet the photographers crawl up to the edge to get their photos. You have to. It’s such a narrow loop that you need all the angle you can get to take good photos. The sun was setting over it. I set up, broke one of my filters (pro-tip: Don’t kneel on expensive thin layers of glass!) and managed to get this great shot. Worth it!

Then I made the last trip for the night, drive to Kanab, UT where I had a room booked for the next two nights. I chose to pay a little more this time, not the cheap motel. I was rewarded with a big room that had a jacuzzi and a (fake) fire place. Fuck yeah. But honestly, that jacuzzi thing is kinda lame. It’s fucking loud and the bubbles, well, didn’t really do much for me when I tried it. But, then again, I got to try it in the first place.

November 7th – No waves, but Angels landing in Zion

Near Kanab is another weird landscape. It’s called the Wave and I would have loved to go there. But the access is heavily restricted. There are only a couple of permits issued each day. Half over the web long in advance, the other half are given away in a lottery each morning for a visit the next day. So I got up around 8 to go to the ranger station for the lottery. You have to submit a form and then there’s a bingo like process. I had like a 14% chance and didn’t make it. Well, I tried, that’s all I could do. It’s a highly popular place so I knew in advance that I could only win, losing was expected. I just carried on with my plan for the day. And that was going to Zion National Park and hike up a formation called Angels Landing. The drive to/into the park is an attraction on its own, it’s extremely scenic. Even in the context of all the stuff I had already seen. It felt more alpine than any of the other placed I went to on the trip, just incredible looks all the way. You pass through narrow tunnels, along all kinds of rock formations and it’s a really impressive view. Again the park was well organized and the weather terrific. I wore pants and a t-shirt and was fine, I had a hoodie with me as a backup and that was the best. Just pure sun, but no heat. The weather was pretty much too good on this trip. I barely saw any clouds while being in the parks. All the skies on the photos look boringly blue. Some clouds would have been nice to add some dramatic effect. Thanks weather.

Angel’s Landing is this rock: See how steep it falls off on either side? Yes, I was going to climb that.

Honestly, the bottom half of the hike is not that hard. Yeah, you go uphill the entire time. But the path is cement for most of the part, and even when you walk up never ending serpentines it’s not that hard. Until you get to the upper part, and then the path get’s a little more – dramatic maybe? And that warning sign isn’t really encouraging either.

So the last part of the hike is no longer a smooth walk, you have to actually climb at some parts. It’s not the hardest thing in the world, you don’t need alpine experience, but it is legit climbing, not just jumping over rocks. I’m pretty sure every healthy person can do it, but some might struggle a bit. But I think it was the right mixture between walking/hiking and climbing. At some parts there is little between you and the abyss below. Maybe a narrow chain to hold onto. It’s amazing. You get rewarded with a great view once you make it to the top.

The hike down was quite uneventful as was the rest of the day. I went back to the hotel and took it easy. Zion was very nice, in a very scenic kind of way. It was the most alpine of the places I went to and felt a little underwhelming at times. Or rather I was more familiar with that kind of landscape, so it didn’t shock me like many of the other places. Good hike though, glad I made that.

November 8th – To the Valley of Death

I got up early and since nothing else was planned I headed out early to Death Valley. A long drive, but the day was scheduled as nothing but a transfer day. The route had me pass through Vegas again. And on my way I contacted a friend who just happened to be visiting Death Valley too, so we set up a meeting point. Which happened to be none other than Dantes Point, overlooking the Badwater Basin. It’s on top of the mountain range, so I had to drive up quite a bit. And then Fabian and I met out on some ridge underneath the parking. Fabian was part of the ski team that I ran for years. Now me meet at the other end of the world. Funny enough there were two other Germans, that we didn’t even know. They had a copy of the World Cup statue and took photos with it? Weird.
We then proceeded towards the center of Death Valley, and made a short stop at Zabriskie point. Fabian and his friends were on their way to Vegas and wanted to go north through the city of Beatty. Which so happens to be the place where I had booked a room. So we went there, making a short stop at the ghost town of Rhyolite. Then we parted ways and I went to the motel.

So this was a Motel6. It wasn’t fancy, but didn’t completely suck. However they charged like 5$ per day for wi-fi. What is this? The middle ages?

November 9th – All of Death Valley

I got up way early before sunrise and drove back to Zabriskie point to catch the sunrise. When I entered the parking lot, there was one other car. By the time I had walked to the overview, a couple more had shown up. This is a busy place that time of the day. The only guy there before me greeted me by asking where the coffee was. There were tons of people at the end. It’s such a remote location, yet such an attraction. I decided to shoot towards the south-east and not the Badlands to the west. I’m happy with the result:

Once the sun rises over a certain level, the light changes dramatically and so I left the overview and checked out the Artists Palette next. You have to drive there and it’s kind of a smaller side road. I was the only one there at the time. I guess I didn’t catch the best light for this specific formation, but my overall window was limited and I tried to catch what I could. As you can see in these images, Death Valley is full of colors. Even more than the other places and Canyons. The rocks are full of minerals and depending on the angle the light hits them, you get to all kinds of different shades. And the landscape is once again breathtaking and strange. It’s dry and a desert, yet many features were shaped by water. There’s canyons and gulches, and Badwater is a basin. In the summer it’s the hottest place on earth, but when I was there the weather was (once again) more than fine. God, I had the bestest weather the entire time.

I checked out the the Furnace Creek ranger station and decided to go Golden Canyon next. It’s pretty much underneath Zabriskie point, you can even hike up to the Badlands. I decided to do the loop instead. Up through Golden Canyon, down through Gower Gulch. Golden Canyon was really great. Even more shapes and colors. I feel like I keep repeating myself too much, but what can I say? Gower Gulch sucked though. Instead of a nice pathway I had to walk through a dry river bed. It was not easy to walk, the view was a lot less impressive and most of the time I didn’t feel like getting anywhere. After some time I kinda hoped for a flash flood to end my misery. The trail ended back on the bottom of Badwater and got me back to the parking lot.

After this hike I needed some rest and so I went back to Furnace Creek and bought some snacks and drank a sode in the shade. Then I decided that I needed more rest and drove back to the motel in Beatty to take a nap. One thing I had not properly realized were the distances involved. Death Valley is huge. I had to drive a lot of the time. I didn’t keep track how many miles I spent on the roads, but with multiple trips in and out it added up to quite a bit. If I go back, I will try to find accommodation inside the park. It’s limited and expensive but it saves a bunch of time for sure.

On my way to Beatty I stopped at the road connecting the town with the national park. It’s a long and very straight road. It looks like a road to nothingness.

After napping for some time I drove back to the park (see what I mean by driving in and out), this time to spent sunset at Badwater. It’s the lowest point in the continental US and below sea level. It’s famous for it’s salt water lakes. Sometimes the salt, earth and wind form these famous hexagonal shapes on the entire basin. I went, but I was out of luck, the pattern just wasn’t there. I walked out onto the basin, but nothing. I even drove down to some other spot, but again no luck. I ended up being disappointed by Badwater to be honest. People describe it as a cool place, but it couldn’t cast it’s magic onto me.

It had gotten dark by now, so I made my way back to Beatty. I stopped at some point cause Death Valley is also known as a really dark location. There’s barely any humans here, so also no light pollution and you get to see a sky that is much darker than in most other places. I have no idea how to take good photos of night skies, however I got this one:

November 10th – More Death Valley and onto Vegas

My plan for the day was to get up early again and catch the sunrise at the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. However in the morning I decided to not get up. I’m on vacation, this is supposed to be fun and getting up early all the time surely is not. Instead I went to the only restaurant in town for breakfast. Which happened to be a Dennys inside an old Casino. Getting some decent food every once in a while isn’t the worst idea I guess. And then I made my way to the dunes. I can only assume they look cooler in the morning light when the sun is near the horizon and adding shadows to the scenery. At first I wasn’t that impressed. Yet I walked onto the sand for some time, and the longer I did it, the better I liked it. There’s a decent amount of some vegetation, at least around the edges and you can see the tracks of animals on the sand. Then some military aircraft showed up and made some exercises above our heads, flying loopings etc. So I got a free air show, kinda.

My last thing I did in Death Valley was hiking a bit into Mosaic Canyon. The narrows are quite near the parking lot, so they are easy to get to. But I continued beyond them and went further up. I guess at some point the Canyon ends but after some time I went into a side canyon, climbed up a rock and decided that I had enough. Again the area has some really remarkable rocks and what the fuck is that yellow line in one of the formations doing? It looks like somebody text markered the damn thing.

I drove to Vegas, proper this time. When I got into the city it started to feel really strange. There were lots of pawn shops, places offering weddings etc.. like all the worst cliches you could have about the city come true. I didn’t enjoy this. At least as a first impression it could barely have been worse. I checked into my hotel. It was in the old downtown part of the city, not the strip. Apparently it’s a house with a bit of history, old fashioned Vegas. Whatever that actually means. There was a huge parking garage and I got a nice spot near the elevator and went to check in.

They offer cheap rooms, but only few a few dollars more you can get fancier ones. I had made a reservation for one of the more fancy categories. Turns out they didn’t have one available, so I got an upgrade to one of the designer suites! Didn’t turn down that offer. And so I ended up in a huge room. It had a huge bed, extra sofa and seats, walk in closet, a Jacuzzi in the room and an extra bathroom. I was on the 10th floor and while the view wasn’t the nicest (just onto some highway) I had no reason to complain.

In the evening I went to Freemont Street, which was really close to the hotel. It’s…. well they put a roof over a part of the street, and have all kinds of ridiculous stuff going on there. The ceiling is a gigantic LCD display, and every half hour or so they do a weird presentation. There’s three stages, I saw a shitty Elvis imitator, a shitty Rock cover band, you get the idea. There’s casinos and tourist merchandise, a Chippendales photo booth, and all is totally over the top. Blinking lights everywhere etc. There’s not one, but two ziplines crossing it and people actually ride those above your heads! I didn’t bring my camera and this all hurt my head. I got some food and left quickly.

November 11th – Veterans and two kinds of Atom Ages

I don’t fully remember how this day went on. I got up and got breakfast at a Dennys again. From my window I could see some street art on the walls below. So I went for a little walk downtown. The area was filled with street art. Like really high quality stuff, and some of the pieces were huge. Like spanning entire blocks wide. Also the area seemed quite nice, way less shitty than at night. Even the tourists seemed less over the top when the sun was shining onto them.

On my way back to Freemont Street I came across a parade. Turns out it was veterans day and the locals celebrated it. Germans aren’t exactly enthusiastic about military these days and a parade like that would be impossible at home. People here seemed to like it a lot though. And I felt really ambivalent about it. There were proud kids of schools or academies marching, again that would be almost unthinkable here, but there were also groups protesting against war, showing the problems veterans face etc. You know, critical voices. After checking out Freemont I went back to El Cortez. I decided to gamble a little bit. When in Rome…. And then I got four aces on a slot machine and won 200$. After spending about 40$. 160$ win. More than I paid for the room. Perfect. I stopped gambling and went to my room. That felt good.

Overall I didn’t feel so well though. I was tired and worn out. I have no good explanation, but I didn’t feel like doing much at this point. Vegas has many attractions, but I couldn’t get myself to go out and visit them. Most of the day I spent in bed, trying to catch some sleep. Maybe I just liked the room too much? In the evening a did pull myself together and went to the Atomic Testing Museum. A museum dedicated to the nuclear bomb practically. It was interesting. However I had hoped for more. Also at the very end they had some weird alien/Area51 exhibition. And that is just nonsense. Why a legit museum comes up with that crap, I have no idea. Funny thing: There was some old video shown and it was called Age of the Atom….

And it just so happened that there was a show that night in Vegas. And one of the bands was called “The Atom Age”! I am internet friend with somebody who played in that band for some time, but not at that moment. And Pears were also playing, and I wanted to see them. It was in some kinda art gallery. I got there early, both to make sure I’m at the right place and cause I didn’t feel like doing anything else. Of course the show started late and so the waiting dragged on quite a bit. That sucked. Also – and this has not happened to me in a very very long time – I did not know anyone at this show. No bandmembers or people in the audience. I was on my own. That was a novelty. Pears ruled, I liked the opening band, or were there two? I didn’t like The Atom Age that much, but at this point I was really tired and made sure to go back to the hotel asap.

November 12th – Goodbye Southwest

My laziness/unwillingness to do things continued that day. If I really wanted I could have done something that day. Visit some attraction, see the strip, whatever. What I actually did was stay until check-out time. Get food at a McDonalds and return the car. Then I flew to Chicago to spent a stupid night at a shitty hotel and then fly to Germany the next morning. Trip over.

Conclusion

Ten days in the southwest. I didn’t keep track, but probably drove 1500 miles. There were moments when I thought I would turn into a soccer mum any minute if I kept driving this SUV. There were great landscapes and tiring moments, great weather, photo opportunities and fails. Places I want to see again (Grand Canyon, Death Valley), places I could do without (Vegas). Money spent and money won. But this was a good vacation. I don’t mind being on my own, but I think this trip might have profited if I hadn’t gone alone. And obviously it could have saved me quite a bit of $$ if the cost would have been split between me and someone else. Easily four people could have gone on this trip with barely any extra cost. The rental car fits four, most hotel rooms do also (sharing double beds), even the entrance fee to the national parks is calculated by car. And I paid for all of this, no matter if theres one or four people in a room or car, the cost is the same. Which is kinda stupid.

But maybe the most important result, and the reason why I started writing this blog post: I’ve started planing my next vacation. And I really think about doing another trip like this. Not identical, but I’d love to explore GC and DV some more. Maybe add some other places? Bryce Canyon? Joshua Tree? Replace Vegas with Los Angeles?

Anyone interested in coming with me? All you need is a flight to Vegas (or whereever I end up going to). I haven’t booked anything as of now, but plans are made around November 3rd – 15th 2015.

Marc