Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

Summary  Thank you if you've managed to read this far and I hope you found at least some of it helpful and interesting. As a quick summary, we booked Hilton hotels (primarily Hampton Inn & Suites) throughout all the time on the actual road, apart from Yellowstone where we chose an independent hotel. We were more than happy with Hilton; choosing the same hotel means you know what you're getting. We had a budget of £150 per night (apart from Yellowstone) so that should give you some idea of what we were getting for our money. Food has always been expensive in Vegas but it seems to have increased, even in the last twelve months. To put this into perspective, we had a Subway in Vegas and for two, foot-long subs it was $46. We had the same in Rexburg and it was $19.  That was just one example, it's easy to spend $50-$70 on breakfast/lunch in a restaurant and upwards of $100 for dinner. We went to Prime at Bellagio on our last night and there wasn't much change from $400....

Day 16 After a restful twelve or so hours sleep (the driver needed it and the passenger didn’t have anywhere else to go) we headed back onto the I15 around 9 am. As we were driving through Salt Lake City, Dave asked me to look at where the shop was for Kindigit Design (Kindig Customs on TV - Google it)! It was literally ten minutes off the freeway, so we made a quick detour. Dave reckons that if he ever has the money, he will get them to custom-design his car! Anyway, he bought a couple of metal plate designs for his collection in his garage and we continued with our journey. As Utah turned into Idaho, it became flatter and a lot, lot greener, with just miles upon miles of space. There were some flood warnings in place as the temperatures were rising, the snow was melting on the mountains and the rivers were filling fast, but we managed to avoid anything and arrived safely at Hampton Inn & Suites, Rexburg.  Sarah checked us in and she picked up on where we were from and the U...

Day 15 The next part of our road trip begins today as we head off to Lehi in Utah on our way to Yellowstone National Park. You know you’re in America when your sat nav says…’stay on this road for 383 miles’! The majority of the next five hours were spent in the car with coffee and rest stops along the way.  Today we drove from Nevada, into Arizona and then into Utah and the scenery changes within minutes. From the inhospitable desert and rocky climate in Nevada to the slightly greener Arizona and then into beautiful Utah. I didn’t realise the scenery in Utah was so amazing. I didn’t even glance at my book for the majority of the journey. I was too busy gazing out of the window! Anyway, we arrived at Hampton Inn & Suites, Lehi around 3 pm and to be honest, that was it for the day. We found a sandwich shop, a bit like Subway, but not as good, and had a very early night! Click Here For More Photos

Day 1 - Travel Day Checked in for our flight to Denver, at London Heathrow, headed through priority security and went straight to Galleries Lounge South, and from dropping the car, it took about 30 minutes. Not bad going!  After a cheeky glass of champagne and some nibbles in the lounge, our flight took off more or less on time at 2.45 pm. I know some people will turn their noses up, but yes; we flew Club World and if you get the opportunity, I would choose this over economy any day. I’m too old now to sit up straight for 10 hours when I don’t have to! After a couple of drinks and some food, I managed to sleep (or doze) for the majority of the flight and we landed in Denver, right on time at 5.30 pm (7 hours behind the UK). Quickly processed through immigration and after grabbing our (four) suitcases, we jumped on the shuttle bus to collect our car from Avis. I would highly recommend Avis, especially if you are travelling from the UK as all insurance is automatically included so yo...