Oot & Aboot: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

Welcome to bat country. No wait, this isn’t a blog by Hunter S Thompson.

If you’re reading this it means I survived the dinky plane I took today to the Grand Canyon. Phew! Another scorcher of a day as my tour bus picked me up from the hotel and headed to an airbase somewhere in the vicinity of Boulder City. Boulder City is on the outskirts of Las Vegas and came to life as a town when the Hoover Dam was being built in the 1930’s. I know my Dad will be reading my blog and will no doubt be wishing he could correct all the historical information I start to put in it. ;)

The ‘airbase’ resembled Learner Airfield ala Con Air, so it didn’t really pack a punch. I checked in for my flight to the Grand Canyon and was weighed, as you are when you board planes. The plane could seat about 12 people and was nice and noisy. We got into the plane pretty quickly, I was thankful to be flying this trip and not bussing it. The South Rim of the Grand Canyon (the best vantage point) is HOURS away to drive and flying meant I could see such fantastic views from above. We flew over the Mojave desert, a huge flat area, before I saw one familiar site; Hoover Dam. Seeing Hoover Dam from above was fantastic, and to see the landscape of Nevada from above is also really interesting as there’s nothing like it in Australia (that I know of!). I saw Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in the USA, on one side of Hoover Dam, which looked turquoise from above against the bright oranges of the desert. On the other side of Hoover Dam was the Colorado River, which if memory serves me correct can be followed all the way into Mexico. The Colorado River is a murky brown colour at some points, and runs all through the canyons.

We landed safely in an airbase that is about one hours drive from the Grand Canyon National Park. After some more fart arsing around (it’s expected on every tour that you do) we got onto a bus and drove through some truly sad little towns to get to the Canyon. It’s amazing where some people will live. Naturally there’s a Maccas, but because no one lives in the area that works there, Maccas has their own housing at the back of the restaurant for the staff to sleep between shifts.

We stopped at the Coronado Room for a buffet lunch. I had the great choice of pork ribs or fried chicken, so I went with the salad. As we moved closer to the Grand Canyon I started to see a lot more Indian culture infused in the surroundings from the paintings and décor, to the people. I enjoyed getting this perspective of the US history. We got back onto the bus and headed to the South Rim. The South Rim is the most visited spot of the canyon and the most familiar view to people. Sky Walk is actually on the West Rim, much closer to Las Vegas. We got off the bus and headed for the first vantage point. To say the Grand Canyon is vast is an understatement. It was one of those scenes where you just couldn’t take a bad photo. Truly amazing that such a canyon exists and not at all surprising it’s one of the great natural wonders of the world. Geologists have noted 21 layers of rock in the Grand Canyon that equate to a third of the earth’s history. It was first inhibited by Indianans until a dude called John Powell starting exploring the area.

It was hot out there to say the least, but I was slip, slop, slapping like no one’s business to avoid looking like some of the people out there. I took a bunch of photos and soaked in the view (which never seems to take me long, I’m always like, ‘wow that’s awesome, ok cool, let’s go’.

We got to our next stop at Bright Angel, very familiar maybe because of a lodging that sits there that is visited by many famous people, and it looked familiar to me as soon as I saw it. More shops, obviously, to take some ‘souvies’ home. I went all cliché and bought a dream catcher that is meant to be made by local native Indians, who knows. I took some more piccies, wishing I had better equipment, and then we were back on the bus to get us to the plane. Amercian tour guides on buses never shut up and it gets to the point where the nattering simply puts you to sleep, which is exactly what it did for me at this point.

Back onto the plane and hesitation to be on such a small plane hits me again but I suck it up and we get back into Boulder City in no time. They do supply a headset that takes you through what you see when you’re flying which kills the time.

I got off the plane in Boulder City, and then more fart arsing was had, and FINALLY got onto a bus headed for my hotel.

Once back in the hotel, I chilled out for a bit then got changed to head out and grab some dinner. I was also on the hunt for a store where I could buy a pair of swimmers as I figured I may need some for rafting tomorrow. I nabbed another burger for dinner at a Cheeseburger restaurant in Planet Hollywood that claimed they were the best. Well they are a chain and I’d tried them in Hawaii and they weren’t the best then and they aren’t the best now. This was my second option for dinner as my first was a Mexican Grill where I sat at the bar to eat only to be told that my Proof of ID wasn’t valid and that they needed to see my passport too, otherwise I couldn’t sit at the bar. Naturally, I was absolutely pee-ood. Since when is proof of I.D not good enough, and who’s carrying their passport around with them at night!? After dinner I started my hunt for swimmers and luckily located a Victoria’s Secret where I bought some swimmers.

I had an early day the next day so I spent the next hour or so checking out more of the strip before heading back to the hotel. I watched the ships sink outside of Treasure Island casino, and then some Greek goddess show at Caesar’s Palace.

What I learnt about Las Vegas today:

If you see the Grand Canyon, see it from above too, and don’t worry, not all really small planes crash.
The words ‘time’ and ‘water’ appear to get so muddled in my accent, I often just get blank looks.
In Las Vegas they are super thingy about I.D in bars and nightclubs.