Bam! Done!

Today's drive through Utah's central basin was perhaps more breathtaking as any of the last three days.

The northern part of Utah (and western Montana) had snow-capped mountains and pine trees and the kinds of things I grew up with in the Adirondacks of New York.

As we moved south, looking at volcano cones and lava intrusions, we were regularly amazed at what we saw.

The drive from Orem to the border is a gradual change from relatively lush fields to sagebrush to — eventually — desert.

Then.

The Virgin River Gorge. The section if I-15 in Arizona has it's own wikipedia page, it's so amazing.

At some places, 500 foot cliffs tower over the road. We didn't try to take pictures, we were at the base, speeding along, unable to even see all the way to the tops.

Jaw-dropping. Insanity. Crammed into 10 miles of pavement.

Then — wham! — you're out into the Arizona desert, looking over your shoulder at a line of mountains with a river to your east. The river eventually becomes Lake Mead.

The last 80 miles involves a lot of desert as wending down through Nevada. There are some vistas of vast basins surrounded by mountains. But the city of Las Vegas appears suddenly around a bend in I-15.

Dinner at the Draft House. A long way from where we'll be living. We may not go back. Except for one thing. Walleye. We had Walleye in Wisconsin, and that's worth a drive across town.