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Packed up early from Kanab, looking through the places to visit, decided to go to Zion, another park I’d never been to. Met the CIO of Osprey packs when having Sushi in Durango, and he’d suggested checking it out as a great 1/2 day trip (or 5 day trip, depending on if you hike in and enjoy the other parts of the park). Great visit, and got their early enough to get in a couple hikes before it got crowded in the afternoon.

After a great morning and early afternoon in Zion, had a lovely drive east in Utah. When I got to St. George, it was still really early, so I checked the maps, realized I was only 2 hours out of Vegas. I love the Oyster Bar in Harrah’s in vegas, so thought I’d just pop over, find a room, have dinner and then explore my favorite area of Nevada, up the easy side of 93, the next day. But, it was Saturday, rooms at the casinos were 4-5 times the price of any other day during the week. Asking the twitterverse, one of my contacts who’s a Vegas local told me the off-strip hotels were still cheap, so I decided to just drive and find something.

A surprise to me, the Motel 6, which is only a block off the strip, had rooms available. They did book up later, but I got one of their newly remodeled rooms, which was nothing like I’d ever seen at a Motel 6 before!

Had, as usual, a great seafood dinner, then touristed around the strip for a while, and got a great nights sleep. The motel was surprisingly quiet all night! Tomorrow, entering the Great Basin.