On the Road to Yellowstone

We had to discharge our civic duties and vote on Tuesday, June 6th. Then, it was off on a McClain road trip.

Our destination was Yellowstone, but it’s impossible to ignore some of the awesome locations along the way. From San Diego, the most direct route is I-15, and the most obvious stopover is, well, Las Vegas. That wild and crazy city was out of character with the nature oriented plan for the trip, but we enjoyed it.

By coincidence, the day before our departure, we were talking with a neighbor (one of the members of the neighborhood “black and tan” dog owners clique.) He mentioned that the Cirque de Soleil show “Ka” was the best he had ever seen. We don’t always take suggestions literally, but he mentioned other shows he’d seen, and his views sounded in line with ours, so we took it as a credible recommendation.

We ordered tickets for Ka online and got front row seats at the late show. The theatre was designed with structures staged on all four sides. Just in front of our knees was a wide rail the entire stage width. It was used often during the show, so the actors were literally in our faces. The production was just incredible – we learned later it is the most technologically advanced show in the world. The stage is a moving platform that can be vertical, horizontal, or almost any position in a half sphere. It was used to great effect to show mountains, oceans, and more. You will distrust your own perceptions. Just go see it, it can’t be described.

The morning we departed, we walked around town. The Bellagio has the water fountain “ballet”, now surging to Elvis’s “Viva Las Vegas”. If I remember correctly from our previous visit to the Bellagio, when it was owned by Steve Wynn, the music was more classical. During the morning, they make a test run, so we watched as the engineers and divers ran their operational tests. They couldn’t resist the music either, and we watched as one burly guy lip-synced Elvis. Very funny.

From Vegas, we headed once again northeast, towards Utah. this state is home to some of the most beautiful territory we’ve ever seen. We stopped in Zion National Park and buzzed past Bryce Canyon. We’d been to both before, so it was really a refresher. Both are worth spending days to view their wonders.