FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

“SAVE OUR WATERS”

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt

Brought to you by

The Best Wading System on the  Planet.

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Talk about 2 different sides to the same trip, this one had it.  The Boss wanted to see Lady Gaga in concert in Las Vegas for her Christmas present, and since it was close to Zion National Park in Utah plans were made.  First up would be Las Vegas.

Now I did not know all that much about Lady Gaga other than a few of her songs and she was in A Star is Born, which I did not watch.  So I had no clue what was coming other than it would be extravagant, and it was.  In fact, it was one of my favorite concerts ever and I am an old (Me.) rock and roll dude.

The Boss was not to excited.

The only description of her I can give is she is freakin’ fierce.  For over 2 hours she rocked, and after attending concerts for over 50 years and seeing the best, it was tear it up rock and roll.  As the Boss described it, “Road warriors on steroids.”  The band rocked, and she literally pounded it out.  I can not tell you how surprised I was.  She added personal comments through out and if I learned one thing about her, besided her musical prowess, she is a good person.  And her “Monsters” as she calls them were in full roar.  Another life lesson, remember to not judge the book by its cover, you just might be wrong.  What a concert and I would go again in a minute.  And then it was off to Zion.

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The new Knockin Tail Lures are coming soon.  

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ZION NATIONAL PARK

It is about 3 1/2 hours from Las Vegas, you actually cross the corner of Arizona on the way, to Springdale Utah, the entrance to the park.  When we got there our first surprise, it was really, and I mean really, busy.  The weather was in the low 30’s at night and 40’s during the day, which combined with the holiday, had folks flooding the park.  And other than a little snow on a bigger mountain range there was none in the park.

We stayed at the Lodge in a cabin inside the canyon.  There was almost no internet, phone, etc, it is one big canyon.  It is so busy that they run a shuttle most of the warmer part of the year to get into the canyon, and if motel and lodge reservations are enough it runs over the holiday.  That meant we could not drive to the end of the canyon, but no problem.  We were there to hike and see the park, and we did just that.

The first morning we hiked a short mile hike, which was rough and high, with cool cliffs and a view to die for.  It was not real tough, but you better be in shape for many of the trails.  Then in the evening we did another mile on a different trail, which went along the Virgin River.  We then did a 3 mile easier hike at daylight the next morning to get some mule deer pics, and that was a real success.  With the varying colors of the cliffs and mountains it made for a sunrise that no picture could do justice.

We also made a long drive out of the park and through the country side to see the rest of the area.  It is cool country, basically high desert, with lots of mule deer.  And the surrounding towns are small, one of those areas you have to want to live there.  But the folks were nice and we enjoyed our stay.  I will say, it was way to busy for us, not a real outdoor experience, unless you like sharing your hike with a 100 of your closets friends.  But we can knock that one of the list.  We have really enjoyed visiting our National parks and will continue to visit new ones as often as we can.

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We had made all of our reservations early like we always do when Frontier Airlines threw us a curve ball.  They moved up our flight back to Austin from noon to 8:00 am, which was a problem being 3 /2 hours away.  So we came up with a plan, we decided to drive to the edge of Nevada and stay in a small casino for New Years Eve.  The lodge did not charge us for leaving a day early, nice of them, so no big deal.  So we did the morning hike and then headed to Mesquite Nevada.  Then we had a brush with greatness.

We check in and head to the bar to have a cold one and play video poker.  It was really crowded so Nancy got a seat and started playing and I was just standing next to her.  I start yacking with the guy next to me, a local, when he goes “Here comes Robert Duval”, which turned out to be a friend of his.  Turning around it really was him.  They chat a second, and he pats my shoulder and then Nancy’s and says hey.  As the Godfather is my favorite movie of all time I just hope my jaw was not hanging open to far as I was speechless.  A brush with greatness.

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There are a few other observations on this trip.  Frontier Airlines is cheaper, but you pay for everything, and the seats do not lean back and give a new meaning to hard.  And the leg room is short, so like all things, you get what you pay for.

And they fly out of Austin at the South Terminal, which reminds me of terminals in Jamaica or the Amazon jungle.  Obviously they are upgrading with all the traffic out of Austin, and the road in is a breeze from this side of town.  And being able to park right across the street was great.  But if you fly on them be sure to look up the South Terminal or you will have a bus ride to it from the main terminal after your ride from parking.

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We stayed at New York New York in Las Vegas, it was very busy being the holidays and there were lots of families in town.  And one of my pet peeves then reared its ugly head.  I just do not believe in taking kids on gambling trips, period.  I have always believed it is a bad idea to have your children thinking gambling areas are places for “family” vacations.  If they want to go down that road later in life fine, but we go to have adult fun, and your kids are not on our schedule.  Plus there is lots of “visual” information that is not the best for kids if you get my drift.  (In fact I saw a new one that was raunchy even by Vegas standards.  Nude Bed Dances.)  But as we headed from the hotel to the concert the door we went out had a disturbing sight.  As kids are not allowed on the gambling floor there were probably 25 kids all sitting on the floor along a wall, waiting.  Just seems wrong.

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One evening we had dinner reservations at Hell’s Kitchen.  Talk about over rated, and super expensive, it definitely is the all time disappointment in fine dining.  It is a big place and they run them through there by the hundreds every night.  It is assembly line cooking, the Boss gave her meal a C and mine was only a little bit better.  To be fair the service was top notch and personal.  We have eaten some fabuous meals in our travels, and this did not even make the top 25, even giving it a break.  When it is all said and done, if you are headed to Las Vegas save your money, all hype and little substance.

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That about does it for this trip.  Overall it was a great time and a great way to end the year. Of course once we got home there was some significant catch up including heading to Lowe’s to buy a  new stove Friday.  Now that we are finally caught up fishing will return to the forefront.

So life goes on, which for me means back to the fishing.  Of course I will be watching the NFL playoffs this weekend and then back at it Monday.  Looks like the weather pattern is going to remain fairly stable and nice even for South Texas this time of year.  Not sure that will get us any closer to “real” winter fishing. but it could bring us an early spring bite as far as the bass are concerned.  And I will be doing the wind watching thing as the Upper Laguna and I have some unfinished business.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines