The GRAND Canyon

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  Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States
Thursday, December 20, 2007

5:15am. This was about the time that we got picked up this morning by a little mini-bus so you can imagine what time we were up! There were people checking out at that time and others just coming in from their night out. Weather was lovely at that time of the moment and not at all cold. Mind you, we were prepared for what lay ahead and had our thermals on!
The mini-bus also picked up a couple from Circus Circus and then took us to a meeting place where we boarded a large coach along with other people. I think there was at least 4 groups of aussie on board. It was still dark as we travelled on the coach across the border into Arizona and out to a small airstrip at Boulder City. There we had to check in and all got weighed. We were assigned to the red group and got our boarding passes, well we had to get ours given to us just before boarding as we were off having a pit stop and they had to wait for us. We then boarded a small aeroplane along with a dozen other people and the 2 pilots. Took just over and hour to get to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The trip was lovely as you got to see the Grand Canyon from the air and we also flew over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. We all had headphones on too so got a commentary of what we were flying over. It was -10C overnight at the place where we landed but had warmed up to -5C! We were well rugged up so apart from our faces it wasn't too bad. We boarded another coach which was frozen. The driver said that he had taken 1 hour to try to start it and the seats were still frozen. We were then driven out to the south rim where we spent 3/4 hour looking out. We had to walk slowly though as the paths were all iced over and there was snow. The grand canyon is amazing and to see the different colours and the snow is incredible. Really ironic too when you see a cactus, a plant of the desert, covered in snow. We took heaps of pics so will try and get a few up. Back to the bus and oops, they had to wait for Nicole and me! We then went to another stop to look out. I can't remember the name of this place but there is a building there that is over 100 years old and part of a hotel complex. We were told that it is where the presidents stay when they visit the Grand Canyon and that the place is swamped by heaps of secret service agents about a week before the president arrives. This was another lovely place to look out and more snow. We even saw a huge big icicle on a tree. Josh had fun making a huge snowball.
After that we went back to the coach, oh, Alisha was running late but there were 2 others that were later than her so that wasn't too bad. The 2nd stop was also where you can get on mules to do a trek down the canyon. We saw the mules and also saw some deer (huge) close by. We headed back to Tusuyan (indian for place with little or no water) and stopped at a Best Western where we had a buffet meal. After that we were taken to an Imax Theatre and watched a half hour movie on the Grand Canyon. We had never been to an Imax before (Alisha had) and that in itself was an experience. There was also souvenier shops at each stop so we were able to pick up bits and pieces. We got a dvd of what was shown at the Imax too.
After that we headed back to the airport and back on our little plane. The flight and the sight seeing just can't be described, it really was awesome. After that we boarded our coach and had a drive through Las Vegas before being taken back to our hotel (Lorna, http://www.hiltongrandvacations.com/las-vegas-vacation-ownership.php and http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/LASVSGV-Hilton-Grand-Vacations-Club-on-the-Las-Vegas-Strip-Nevada/index.do ). We had planned to do the flight when we first did our booking so it was all paid for earlier on in the year. Besides buying a few souveniers it was a cheap day as everything else was included. We're back in the apartment now and going to have something to eat before heading out to a couple of the casinos tonight. Hoping to fit in the Sahara and Circus Circus.
About to put some pics up so keep an eye out for them,
USA Woolfies

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