Today was the highly anticipated Grand Canyon tour. After being woken up at 1 and 2 am by a housekeeping lady who was convinced we had checked out and that she was supposed to get our room ready for its next occupants, we dragged ourselves out of bed just before 6 to prepare for the 6.30am pickup.
Feeling slightly fragile after last night’s efforts at helping M and S drink bubbles, it took me a pepto bismol at the Boulder City airport to get me feeling well enough to think about flying… Especially when I saw the itty bitty teeny weeny plane! Smallest thing I’ve flown in since I wa a kid is the Fokker 50, which is positively spacious and huge compared to this! We fit in 17 people in very cramped quarters, and it felt like a flying minibus with the huuuuuge windows (hard to try to ignore when you have a fear of heights on a plane that small! Give me an aisle seat in a 777 any day!)
So I white knuckled it for a good 20 mins, and had my eyes closed for the whole first 10 mins of flight. Thankfully it was a pretty smooth ride until we banked to land at the terminal at the top of the canyon, but at least it was all over then! Amazing views when I could force myself to look out though. Wow.
Next trick was the helicopter ride to the bottom of the Canyon. I was pretty apprehensive about this, but it turned out a lot less scary than the plane flight, except for the moment of tipping over the ridge and heading down. Again – wow. The scenery is just jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
The Colorado River was pretty fast-moving, so we didn’t go too far before turning back, but it was so nice to have a few moments of quiet and peace before heading back to the helicopters which were buzzing around like flies all over the canyon. Our guide told us how much the river has dropped in the last 12 years, which is pretty scary since from what I remember, a good 7 states rely on it for their water supply. Yikes!
Then it was back up the hill on the chopper and off on a bus to Eagle and Guano points. Again, amazing scenery, and the way the rocks just drop off is just breathtaking. The helicopters buzzing around disturbed the peace a bit, but as we’d seen, it really is an awesome way to see it!
Guano Point was also a lunch stop, with lunch included in the tour. The chicken or shredded beef, boiled veggies and mash weren’t terribly inspiring, but we were pretty desperate by now after having our brekky so early!
After heading back to the terminal, the wind had started picking up, so the pilot warned us that the trip back wouldn’t be quite as smooth as the one over. The warning was needed – I barely opened my eyes the whole trip, and never actually unclenched my hands from hanging onto the chair for dear life! The final descent into Boulder City was pretty scarily steep, but like before, at least it was the end!
Back to the hotel for a nap, then we headed out to go see the Penn & Teller magic show at the Rio hotel. The maps here are really misleading – it looked not far down the road, but as we were supposed to pick the tickets up more than an hour before the show, we were a bit stressed out at getting there on time, and we walked for aaaages! But eventually we got there, and although we didn’t have time for dinner beforehand, we survived!
The show was fantastic. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’d seen their tv show “Bullshit” a couple of times, but this was different – they would do tricks, seemingly explain it and then take it off in a completely different direction, completely confounding the audience. Wow!
After we finished, we raced out so we’d be able to get pictures with the guys for R back home. I’d also got him a present from the souvenir shop, so we got that signed as well.
Then it was most certainly time for dinner! We stopped in a cafe at the Rio and I had clam chowder and stuffed potato skins (experimenting with food culture, right?) which were tasty, but I think I prefer wedges with the potato still in there. I played $1 on the poker machine at the bar where we were sitting – the first gambling we’ve done at all since we got here!
Since we’d developed sore feet from the mad run down Flamingo rd to get to the Rio in time, we decided to splurge and get a taxi back. Phew! We also thought we’d continue our big night of gambling (woah) and so spent another $3 on the pokies. Last of the big spenders here! If they were actually different it would be more interesting, but basically on the pokies you’ve just got a million varieties of the fruit line up game, and poker and blackjack. Not really that interesting, so I don’t really get how people can sit there for hours. Maybe it’s more interesting when it’s on a table with real people!
Location:Trop Wash,Paradise,United States
Two Weeks Away 