La La Birthday to Me

Today I am 59 and what better place to celebrate than back in the heat of Palm Springs. Mr FF had managed to purchase a few native American gifts for me, some nice jewellery and a lovely painted tile and tonight after we've been down to the village night market, he's planning to cook me a steak on the BBQ.
Our epic 4 day 4 state journey (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona) ended at 10 pm last night when we got back from Grand Canyon to our condo. We visited Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Zion National Park and Grand Canyon north and south rims and in between saw some amazing scenery and crazy sights. Our hotel in Vegas, The Bellagio, was mind blowing, our room had a floor to ceiling window looking out onto the strip and the 8 acre water park with dancing fountains, luckily the curtains operated from the bedside so we could block out all the neon when we tired of looking. We are glad we visited Vegas but its not something we would want to do again - ever. If you are not gambling it seems you are walking round watching other people do so, there seems to be no way of getting away from the machines and the tables, even the bar tops and the dining tables offer gaming opportunities.
It was nice to get away into the quiet little towns and talk to local people one of whom directed us to Zion National Park, it was fantastic and great to be able to see the autumn colours and get up close to the rock formations. Grand Canyon was beyond words and though we couldn't stay at the north rim as planned as it was closed for winter (winter with 60 degrees), we did stay in the park at the south rim and took our morning coffee out to the rim to watch the sun coming up. So much to see but now we are going to take it easy, though maybe go to the Joshua Tree which we have visited before but not for very long. I'm having a wonderful birthday.