What a wonderful world

Got up early this morning to take one last shot at Zion. I headed to the Visitors Center, which is where one of the most popular hikes in the park starts - Watchman Trail. It's not a particularly difficult hike - the books say 2.7 miles and almost 400' of vertical. But it puts you on a plateau right below the Watchman, where you get great views of it as well as down Zion Canyon.

Early morning light, May 2012

By getting up there early in the day, you get the wonderful early morning light - not as harsh as midday, and much redder.

Zion Canyon, May 2012

The side lighting of the sun low in the sky also creates great shadows on the rocks, giving a lot of depth.

It's a wonderful world. And I love taking pictures of the beauty and majesty of these places.

While I didn't want to leave the plateau, it was finally time to hike back down and pack up. Today we drove to Vegas for three days of over-the-top luxury and glitz. The suite the wife arranged (through some clever discounts and upgrades), overlooks the Strip, and one can get lost in it.

Dinner at the SW steakhouse in the Wynn was similarly fantastic, except that we clearly got no discounts. But it was worth a splurge. The food was just a teeny bit better than the stuff Xantera serves in the National Parks.

Louis the Frog?, May 2012

But the topper was a giant frog that appeared over the man-made waterfall and sang a rendition of "Wonderful World", sounding suspiciously like Louis Armstrong.

What a wonderful world, indeed.