Conferencing in Utah with a side order of Las Vegas

A little bit of background

This post documents my travels to Cedar City in Southern Utah to present my PhD research at a conference whose focus aligned with the topic of my thesis (experiential learning). I presented at the conference when I was in the final stages of writing up my thesis before submission the following year. Little did I know in June 2019 that this trip would be my last chance to travel before the global pandemic hit some six months later...

All doctoral students in my School are granted funds to support travel to present at a national and international conference and it is expected that you do so. I'd presented the year before at Australia's key higher education conference, HERDSA, held in Adelaide that year. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to present at the Experiential Learning Leadership Institute Conference at Southern Utah University in 2019. I used my student grant for the conference registration, travel, and living expenses.

It was up to me to organise my travel and, being the economical person that I am, I opted for the most inexpensive itinerary. This meant leaving Brisbane on the Friday before the conference, flying with Virgin Australia to Los Angeles and then to Las Vegas and then taking a Greyhound bus to Cedar City. I took the Las Vegas option as it was actually easier to take the bus than fly from Las Vegas up to Salt Lake City and then to Cedar City. The bus was only $85USD return!

Check out the summary of my experience at the end of the post and my reflections on what trip meant to me.

Travelling

I left Brisbane at 6pm on June 21 but arrived at LAX at 2pm on the same day, after 13 gruelling hours in the air. I wasn't due to fly to Las Vegas - a one-hour journey - until 6.45pm so I thought I'd have loads of time. It didn't turn out that way as I waited well over two hours to get through Customs and collect my bag. I then dragged my bag from Terminal B to Terminal 2, got lost finding the place where I needed to check my bag in, and wandered around in a daze until I found my departure lounge. Used up the time, though! I remember the gate for the Las Vegas flight was super busy and I mistakenly got into the line for a flight to Hawaii as the lines were kind of merging. Gawd, it's a wonder I made it to Las Vegas at all!

It was almost 8pm before I arrived in Las Vegas and I was completely exhausted. I managed to catch a taxi easily and find my way to the hotel. It was dark so I was able to see all the sparkly Las Vegas lights for the first time. Cool. I also had my first glimpse of slot machines - in the airport terminal no less!

Las Vegas

I stayed in the Royal Resort hotel, not on the Strip but just off it on Convention Centre Drive but still plenty sparkly. I only used $167USD of my PhD funds for two nights! I remember that the reception staff were friendly and helpful and the room was clean and comfortable. My only complaint was the noise from the next door room that prevented me from getting a much-needed good night's sleep on that first night.

The rules back then meant I could have a rest day before the conference started. As I arrived Friday night and still had to travel to Utah for the start of the conference on Monday, I could count the Saturday as my rest day and Sunday as a travel day. Bonus! (Nice, but as I was over to the US and back again in one week it was still pretty full-on.)

I pre-booked a morning trip on Saturday out to Hoover Dam, at my own expense, of course. I wasn't going all that way without seeing the dam, a truly bucket list experience. I knew my husband would want to do the full experience with me one day in the future, so I just booked a 'mini tour' that didn't include seeing the inner workings of the dam. I booked the tour through Viator, at a cost of $74AUD.

I walked over to a giant hotel complex near mine to pick up the tour bus first thing in the morning. While waiting in the huge car park, I had a nice chat to two young women from Brazil who were telling me all about their travels. The tour I did was on a mini bus with a dozen other people. I was the only person on my own so the driver/tour guide had me sit up front of the bus. Cool. I also remember that he told us some fun facts about Las Vegas on the way out, quizzing us on what we knew. Everyone was surprised when I got a quiz question right. I don't think they thought an Australian would know anything about...anything really. Ha! (The question was something along the lines of which day was the only one the dam workers allowed off. Everyone said things like Christmas and I said 4 of July. Correct!)

The tour took up most of the morning and I was back at my hotel by early afternoon. It's only 60km out to the dam from Las Vegas so it's an easy trip if you are staying in Las Vegas. Not to be missed, of course! Here I am at the dam. It's just as magnificent as I expected it to be!

Top lefthand shot: I'm standing at the Arizona-Nevada border.

Hoover Dam sits in Black Canyon on the Colorado River at the Arizona-Nevada border. The dam was constructed between 1930 and 1936 and is the highest concrete arch-gravity dam in the US. It uses water from Lake Mead - some 185km in length and one of the largest artificial lakes in the world - to control floods and silt, generate hydroelectric power, irrigate land, and supply domestic water. The dam was named after US president, Herbert Hoover, whose administration from 1929-1933 oversaw the start of dam's construction and enabled the necessary agreements to proceed with the project.

The dam is 221 metres and 379 metres long at the crest. it contains 3 360 000 cubic metres of water. Mad! There are four reinforced concrete intake towers above the dam that divert water from the reservoir into huge steel pipes.

The best place to view the dam is where I am standing in the top righthand photo in the above collage. That's the O'Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge, shown in the below photos.

The O'Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge was opened in 2010 as a key part of the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. The bridge clears 270 metres and is 579 metres in length. It is named after Mike Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1979, and Pat Tillman, a football player with the Arizona Cardinals who served in the US army and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004.

Here are some more shots of Hoover Dam. Pretty impressive, right? To this day, I cannot believe I stood there. I would love to go back and do the full tour, to see how all the engineering stuff works. The tour I did was essentially a drive out and drive around and a drive back. We only stopped at the border sign, on the bridge and on the other side of the dam.

I was pretty shattered when I got back to my hotel in the early afternoon and I did what I never do, I fell into a deep sleep for a few hours. I actually felt much better afterwards! I'd eaten some chocolate covered pretzels on the way back from the dam, bought with some breakfast supplies from the Walgreen's across the road from the hotel the night before. I was raring to go again after the sugar fix and nap!

I headed off and spent the rest of the afternoon walking the Las Vegas strip. The Strip is around 7km in total, and I must have walked most of it. You can see from my photos that it was a beautifully sunny day. It was hot, too - around 40 degrees - but being a dry heat, I didn't really feel it. I did stop for an ice cream along the way, though.

Below are some random shots from my wanderings. The Strip was super busy so it was a bit hard to navigate in places. I had a look at some of the hotels and casinos, but honestly, Las Vegas isn't my vibe. It was pretty cool to walk the Strip and I'm glad I've done it. That said, one afternoon was enough for me. All the gaudy reproductions of famous landmarks made into hotels and people walking the Strip drinking margaritas out of long glass tubes!

I had a poke around the M&Ms World and that was fun but I didn't think it was as good as the one I'd been to in Orlando or the one in London.

I decided to catch a bus back to the hotel as I was tired from the walking and still getting used to having switched from winter to summer. I'm quite proud of myself for figuring out the bus! I bought some sandwiches and yoghurt from the Walgreen's near the hotel and had an early night. Life's a party when I travel!

My bus to Cedar City wasn't until 2.40pm on my Sunday travel day, so I thought I'd do some shopping in the morning. I tried to walk to where I thought I could get a bus to an outlet mall, but I got hopelessly lost (my usual modus operandi). I ended up finding a bus to take me to a different shopping centre closer to my hotel. I wandered around for a bit but didn't buy anything. I'm not sure why. The clothes I looked at were around the same price as at home so I couldn't really see the point. I had a nice proper lunch at the shops, though (a chicken and vegie stir fry, if I recall correctly), and that made me feel better.

Yeah, Las Vegas, not really my thing...

I caught the bus back to my hotel and then an Uber to the central Las Vegas bus station. I can confidently say that this is the first time I have ever felt unsafe when I've travelled. I was early for my trip and waiting at the bus with a bunch of people who made me feel unsure of my surroundings was an interesting experience.

Cedar City

I was glad to get on the bus although the guy in front of me tried to offer me lollies and strike up a conversation. I politely declined and thankfully he left me alone. The trip from Las Vegas to Cedar City in southern Utah took around three hours (around 280km). The scenery was beautiful, in a desert kind of way. (FYI Cedar City is around 400km south of Salt Lake City.)

The bus I was on had started in California and was ending in Philadelphia. I was terrified of falling asleep and missing my stop. There was only one stop before mine and both stops were not bus stops as such, just service stations in the middle of nowhere. The stops weren't called out, either, and I was the only one getting off at Cedar City.

The university had kindly organised for a student to pick me up. How lovely of them! I was the only conference delegate from Australia; in fact, apart from two delegates from Canada, there was no one else from outside of the US.

I was a bit nervous getting off the bus as all I had was email correspondence with the university advising that I would be picked up. Since I was the only person getting off at Cedar City at the service station, it wasn't hard to find my ride. The lovely student took me to the campus and we came in on the tail end of some kind of pre-conference meeting. I was able to have some dinner from the leftover food and then was dropped off at my hotel.

Here's the hotel - the Courtyard Marriott. I used my student fund to pay for the five nights, at around $600USD. The hotel was pretty much brand new and I had a king-sized bed. The rooms were lovely. And look at the views of the surrounding mountains!

The conference delegates stayed at the Courtyard Marriott, with the overflow in another hotel close by. Each morning, a student picked up those delegates without a car in a mini bus. It was a fun way to interact with people. I remember the student always had her "Starbucks" and she was super friendly and helpful. We were provided with a basic breakfast (bagels, fruit, and yoghurt) in a designated room for delegates, but there was also a small shop and café, and paid laundry facilities in the hotel. I certainly was comfortable during my stay.

Southern Utah University is known as the University of the Parks for its proximity to more than 20 national parks and monuments in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. Delegates were fortunate to visit three national parks in Utah as part of the conference activities. (Actually, there seemed to be more parks exploration than conference presentations!)

This shows Cedar City, home of Southern Utah University, and a round trip to three national parks delegates visited during the conference.

The conference ran from Monday to Thursday and my presentation was scheduled for the last session on the Tuesday. I was able to spend some time in between sessions exploring the university. I bought myself a lovely t-shirt from the campus shop that I still wear today. he campus grounds are stunning, with beautiful mountain views. There's even a Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival held on the campus. You can see the theatre in the top right-hand photo below. For a small university in a small town, it sure packs a punch!

Monday's sessions finished with reception on the patio of the Southern Utah Museum of Art. I went for a bit and had a few nibblies, but I was pretty tired and my hearing disability made it hard for me to socialise. I decided to walk back to my hotel in the early evening as the weather was lovely - warm but with only around 10% humidity. Ten percent! Blimey. We were given lip balm and a water bottle in our conference bag to help us adjust to the low humidity. Ha!

The walk back to the hotel took about 45 minutes and I enjoyed my stroll through the town. Google tells me that the population was around 35 000 when I was there, but the place felt like a small town to me, mostly existing for the university and the national parks. It feels like it is plonked in the middle of nowhere, like small towns in Australia. I didn't get the chance to see the city centre so I probably didn't have an overall impression of the place.

My presentation went well on the Tuesday afternoon. I've never had that many people in a conference session before, so that was nice. It was a small conference, though, and there weren't a lot of concurrent sessions. I was so happy to have my research well received, that close out to submitting my thesis. This was the first conference I had attended that was dedicated to the focus of my research. It was wonderful to talk to people with similar interests and learn more about different experiential learning programs and approaches.

Given the University of the Parks distinction, Southern Utah University is the home of experiential education hence the location of the Experiential Learning Leadership Institute and the choice of location for the conference. I've never been to a conference where outdoor activities took up more of the program than conference sessions!

On Tuesday after the sessions we had the option of going on several excursions. I chose Cedar Breaks, about a 45 minute drive east of the city. Look at the incredible scenery! And, yes, that is snow you can see...

Cedar Breaks National Monument has a natural amphitheatre (above main shot), stretching almost 5km with a depth of over 610 metres. The amphitheatre's rim rises over 3000 metres above sea level. Uplift and erosion formed the canyon millions of years ago and the top of the plateau is covered in volcanic rock, thrown up by eruptions some 35 million years ago.

I wasn't prepared for there to be snow at Cedar Breaks given the time of year. Our guide wasn't, either, and we weren't really supposed to be stomping around up there. I wasn't dressed properly for the conditions, nor did I have the right shoes on. It was fun being in the snow but I had to borrow a walking pole from one of the delegates as I kept slipping. I'm so glad I went, though, as it was an incredible landscape to experience.

After we'd been at Cedar Breaks for a few hours, we headed back into town and I went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner with my tour group before we were dropped back at the hotel.

Wednesday was another day of experiential learning; in fact, there were no conference sessions that day. Instead we went on an excursion to Bryce Canyon. The national park is located around 125km east of Cedar City and it took us about an hour and a half to get there by bus.

We were given a brown bag lunch to take with us (literally a sandwich, juice box, piece of fruit, and a granola bar in a brown bag). Once we arrived at Bryce, we pretty much had the day to ourselves. I'd already teamed up with a lovely nursing academic (SF) from Toronto I had met on the first day. Her husband came with her to the conference as part of a holiday together. We hung out at Bryce and had a wonderful day. This is us.

Bryce Canyon National Park is a collection of natural giant amphitheatres along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. It is distinctive because of its geological structures known as hoodoos (tall thin spires of rocks formed by erosion). The rim of the canyon sits at around 2400 to 2700 metres.

We spent our free time taking one of the designated hikes to explore the canyon. I took so many photos that day that I had a hard time choosing which ones to use for this post. I was just blown away by my experience at Bryce and it's one I will never forget. I had never seen such a landscape before in my life!

I'd never heard of Bryce Canyon before I attended the conference, only the famous Grand Canyon. If you ever get the chance to visit Utah, make sure Bryce is on your itinerary. It is an incredible way to spend the day. There are loads of trails for hiking, varying in length and difficulty, and there's a visitor centre for snacks and drinks and merchandise.

SF and her husband and I spent our time walking down into the canyon and then back up again. There are lots of different vantage points on the hike for unique perspectives of the canyon. I kept stopping to take in the scenery as it literally blew me away. Below are some shots I took at the end of the day, from the viewing platforms on the rim.

After our day of walking we returned to the bus and drove a short distance for "Dinner on the rim". I can't recall now where we were exactly and I didn't take any photos. I remember we were in a kind of tent set up and there was LOADS of food. I was too tired to eat much and the conversation was buzzing around me. I had the table I was sitting at in stitches with my Australianisms. They seemed to find everything I said funny! I do remember the American delegates eating peach cobbler - I was fascinated by this uniquely American food.

Thursday after the conference sessions was another excursion, this time to Zion National Park. The park is about 30km south of Cedar City. It's located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, with it's highest peak at Horse Ranch Mountain at 2660 metres. The park is huge! We only spent a few hours there, but enough to go for a short hike as you can see in the below pictures. The park is really well set up for visitors, with shuttle bus to ferry people around.

Zion was a different experience to Bryce as the main activity is on the floor of the canyon and the only way to get the views is to go on a mountain hike. I'd love to go back and do the famous Angels Landing hike one day. It takes four hours and is said to be extremely strenuous.

After the hike I said goodbye to SF and her husband, went back into Cedar City on the bus, and had dinner with a small group of delegates I'd spent time with over the course of the week. One of them was MS, a professor at a university in Florida. (That's MS in the middle photo above, with the blue backpack.) We're still in touch today. MS nominated my research for Dissertation of the Year with the US National Society for Experiential Education in 2021 and I won! How cool is that?

Conference wrap up

The conference in Cedar City was different to any I have attended previously. It was small and intimate and much easier to interact with people and feel like you'd had spent quality time with them. I made two friends at the conference with whom I am still in touch, one of whom I have visited in Toronto since then (post to come). My presentation garnered an enthusiastic response and that gave me so much confidence going into the final stage of my PhD. The conference was the first one I'd been to where the activities outstripped the presentations, but it gave me the opportunity to experience three incredible national parks in Utah. The conference staff and student supporters were super friendly and helpful and it was lovely that they took such good care of me, picking me up at the bus and arranging for the mini bus to transport delegates from the hotels to the campus each day. Hilariously, the food was also quite student-y and uniquely American. Break snacks were laid out in a small room, consisting a GIANT jar of popcorn and granola bars and rice krispy treats. I wish I'd taken a photo! These snacks were carried on all the excursions, too. Lunches were as per the photos below...mac and cheese, fried chicken, coleslaw and so on. What a scream.

So American!

Back to Las Vegas (briefly)

On Friday I was off back to Las Vegas. One of the local delegates, an academic who had originally come to the US from Slovakia, kindly picked me up from my hotel in the morning, took me to a lovely café, and then dropped me at the bus. I recall waiting ages for the bus as it was late and I was early. It's so weird waiting for a bus at a service station in the middle of nowhere. There was a little bench seat out front where I sat and ate the rest of my sandwich I'd bought at the café in the morning. Fortunately I discovered that Greyhound has a tracker app so I could keep an eye on the progress of the bus.

I was back in Las Vegas by mid-afternoon and took an Uber to the airport. My flight left at 7.15pm to take me back to LAX. The flight from LAX to Sydney had changed but since it had been booked via Campus Travel at my university, they were informed of the change but didn't pass it on to me. Fortuitously, I asked a Virgin representative for directions to the terminal and they informed me of the change. I can't recall now how long I was delayed, but I know I missed my connecting flight in Sydney and had to wait for the next one.

So that was my whirlwind week over! It was hard to believe I'd only been away for a week as I'd packed so much in. My next trip would not be for three years due to the pandemic. I travelled again in April-May 2022, this time to London for work. Stay tuned for that post!

My Utah experience, with a side order of Las Vegas

Las Vegas in all its gaudy kitsch is a nice stopover, just to see all that madness for real. Honestly, unless you plan to go to the casinos or a show, one day in Las Vegas is sufficient.

I highly recommend all three national parks that the delegates were able to visit during the conference. As my map above shows, they are quite close to one another. Certainly, you could see all three if you based yourself in Cedar City after driving up from Las Vegas. The Grand Canyon is about 450km south of Cedar City so you could visit it as well.

If I had to choose one of the three Utah national parks to experience, it would be Bryce Canyon. I felt transported to another world when I was wandering around the canyon. I had never heard of it prior to the trip, and I imagine it suffers in comparison to the Grand Canyon when it comes to fame.

I would absolutely go back to Hoover Dam and I'd love to see how all the engineering bits work. The dam needs to be seen for real to appreciate it. Sometimes iconic structures don't live up to expectations, but Hoover Dam met mine in spades. I just wish I'd had more time to take it all in as the tour I did was a whistle stop one.

All my solo global wanderings have boosted my confidence and allowed me to make lasting connections with people from all over the world. That I got myself to Cedar City and home again was no mean feat, especially travelling by bus from the dodgy Las Vegas central depot. Small town America is very different from its big cities and I kind of liked the vibe in Cedar City, especially the stunning Southern Utah University campus. Meeting SF, my Toronto friend, was a lovely bonus and I am glad we are still in touch.