After another 3 hours of bumper to bumper, we were off to sin city, home of roller coasters, cheap buffets, high tech light shows, and trained animals. A regular modern-day Gamorrah.

After 2½ days of thrills and spills, we arranged to foreclose on our house, and headed into the wilderness to soothe our souls.

First up, Zion national park for a little hiking through the canyon.

This is the view from our hotel window.

Then we headed to Lake Powell. A totally other-worldly experience. Not wanting to sit for hours in a tour boat full of other tourists, we departed via kayaks to explore the Lake.

If you've never seen Lake Powell, lemme tell ya, it's a unique experience.  The rock walls are nearly vertical for 50 feet above you and the canyon offshoots narrow until both sides of the kayak touch.

When you finally reach the end of the water, the narrow tunnel-like passages continue on sand. I t was like something out of  sci-fi novel. We liked it a lot. If you're ever trying to get rid of body, we know a place.

Here are a couple of the rare spots in which you could actually get out of the boats (on most of it, the vertical rock came straight down into the water). We did a little hiking and swimming during a break from paddling.

A lake vista.