Grand Canyon Adventure

A few weeks ago I joined Connor on his business trip to Las Vegas. After last year's experience, we knew that Vegas isn't really our thing... that and the 108°F/ 42°C heat that Vegas was experiencing. This year we decide to go a few days earlier and visit the Grand Canyon. Although, the night we landed, we chose to see another Cirque de Soleil show: Ka. It was very good. We also learned that if you plan on walking to a show, it is best to get a hotel close to it. Last year we walked nearly an hour from the Luxor to the Bellagio. This year we walked 15 mins from the Excalibur to the MGM Grand.

 

 Being in the Excalibur feels like walking into a Super Nintento game... like Knights Of The Round.

The next day we rented a car and drove four hours to the Grand Canyon. Four hours is a long time, so we did have a stop in Williams Arizona and popped into a few shops before finishing our drive. It's a cute town that is along the historical Route 66.

Despite a bit of a late start from Vegas and spending some time checking in our hotel in Tusayan, we were still able to see the canyon at sunset.

 

It was a glorious 84°F/ 29°C

They say that each angle of light changes the colors of the canyon. I don't know who "they" are, but they are right.

 

If you look closely, you can see clouds from a wild fire in the top center of the image

The next day we drove out to Desert View Watchtower. Don't let the photo fool you. It was high season and there were zillions of people around. But it rained a little and everyone ran inside.

The views from the tower were phenomenal. I wish we had more time to enjoy the Grand Canyon, unfortunately we had to drive back to Las Vegas so Connor could get signed in for the conference.

We did manage to get a few patches and magnets to add to our collection. We also found a Sheriff's badge for my brother. It was a bit of a joke gift, but he had just introduced us to the game, Bang. For those not in the know, when you play, one person is the sheriff and gets to wear a sheriff's badge. All we had to do was insist that he be sheriff when we played again so that we could pin him. He likes his new badge.

The Valley of Fire, Baby!

I just got back from a trip to Las Vegas. I'd never been and Connor had a business trip, so I tagged along for a few days. The day we landed, we saw the Cirque Du Soleil show "O". I'd always wanted to see a show, but hadn't had a chance until now. I highly recommend it. I also learned a bit more about myself while in Vegas. Here's the thing: Vegas is full of bright lights, loud sounds, and lots of people. More people than Disneyland in summer. (There are also lots of stairs you have to climb in order to get anywhere... but that makes sense. Vegas is about an overindulgence in many things.) It was fun for a day, but that was enough for me. It got overwhelming to be in packs of people for hours all while trying to get to food, or see a show, or to just look around.

This was the line to check-in at the Luxor. It was this long from 2pm to well past 11pm. The only time it wasn't this long was at 7am.

Luckily Connor and I had planned to see other things on the one full free day he had. So we rented a car and headed out to the Valley of Fire. I had wanted to see the Elephant Rock and the Fire Wave, but after getting a map, I saw "Petroglyph Trail" and we had to go there instead. It's a there and back again trail that comes in under a mile. We walked all the way there without seeing one petroglyph. I was disgusted... until we walked back and realized that we were idiots. There are petroglyphs along the entire trail. We had been looking to our right and down (in case of Rattlesnakes) on our way out. The petroglyphs are on your left on the way out. 

It was quite hot. And even though we had brought lots of water, we were still overheating. We drove a little ways more towards the Fire Wave trail, still deciding what to do, when we saw a bunch of people on the side of the road pointing. This has happened to me before and it always pays to pull over. This time we got to see a Desert Bighorn Sheep family. So cool! And unusual, I'm sure. It was the middle of the day.

At this point we decided that it really was too hot to do the 1.5 mile trail to the Fire Wave. I was a little disappointed because that isn't a long trail, but heat exhaustion can be quite dangerous. We decided that we now have a reason to come back. So rather than hike more, we headed to our second destination: the Hoover Dam.

I didn't ever think I'd get a chance to see it in person, but the opportunity presented itself. A fun fact that I didn't know about the Hoover Dam is that it straddles two states as well as two time zones. We experienced Mountain Time in Arizona before walking back to Pacific Time in Nevada.

And in case you ever wondered, in the evening, Arizona is the hotter state. The Nevada side was quite shady by evening and it tricked Connor into leaving his hat in the car when we walked across the dam.

I got a nice collection of doodads from this trip. I've casually collected patches during trips in the past, but I've invented a new blanket project that would incorporate them better. It is our new treasure hunt. The hardest one to find this time was the Las Vegas one. We found it at the World's Largest Giftshop, despite talking to employees who didn't think they carried it. And who could blame them? It was a really big shop. The shop is divided into several different shops. We found it in the rightmost shop in the leftmost room. We've also taken to adding the occasional magnet to our fridge, but we are pickier about what gets added there.

Overall, it was a fun trip. I've love to go to the Valley of Fire again. But in the case of Las Vegas, I'd only want to stop overnight to see a show before continuing on our way.

Does anyone else collect patches? Are there any places in particular I should try to visit? In regards to the USA, I'm more familiar with Western states. What should I look for in Eastern states, like Rhode Island, or North Carolina (etc)?