Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

I got up feeling somewhat dehydrated from the heat of the previous day only to be faced with more of it today. I am to be part of a tour that will raft down a small section of the Colorado River and see the Hoover Dam up close. I was not so sure what to expect by ‘rafting’ as such, so it was a bit of a gamble. I had another early pick up from the hotel that would take me to another drop off point to get to another bus, to get me to my raft…geez. It’s never door to door with these tours. I got onto my bus that would go through Boulder City again to get to the raft company that would be taking us out. The Black Canyon River Rafting Tours were to take us out, but before they did they handed us out our ‘packed lunches’. I haven’t had a packed lunch since I was a youngen, so it was quite amusing to get one at 25. My packed lunch consisted of a croissant sambo (they love using croissants for sandwiches over here), a packet of chips, an apple, a water bottle, two cookies and cheese. I think that’ll get my through the next four hours. We met the rest of the tour participants in this dinky casino in Boulder City called the Hacienda. It was like the little casino that could. The first one I’d seen where the slots take quarters, and give quarters back when you win. Old school.

We made our way down steep roads to the bottom of Hoover Dam. I’m told to stay in the middle of the paths as rattlesnakes like to hang around the edges in the sun. I didn’t need to hear that twice.

I’ll be quick in giving you some boring background on what Hoover Dam is. Hoover Dam was built in the 1930’s for a cost of $49 million (A LOT for that time) and is made up of enough concrete to create a freeway from one side of the US to another. I find this slightly hard to believe, but this is what I’m told. The Hoover Dam was developed to produce electric power. Personally, it didn’t thrill me too much. It is one of the greatest structures of modern time and I am glad I saw it, but I couldn’t help but think that it’s just a lot of concrete. I discovered what was meant by rafting and was slightly disappointed. I was actually holding out for the hope of some small rapids and maybe one person rafts, but alas, they were these huge rubber duckies that held about 20 people in each. We briefly learnt more about the Hoover Dam whilst floating on the Colorado River right below it before we started our meander down the river. The water is a beautiful blue and looks so clean and is a freezing 52 Fahrenheit. The area has been in drought for the past 9 years and if things don’t change they will face serious problems within the next 5 years as water levels continue to lessen.

As the tour guide took us down the river we were to keep a look out for the local wildlife, including Big Horn Sheep and types of birds. How excitement...not. We spotted the sheep early on and everyone was so pumped to see these sheep, I was interested for about a second and got over it. Little did I know at the time, the excitement of others to see the sheep did not dampen for the rest of the tour. We saw some birds, including the Peregrine Falcon, which is a scavenger that can fly up to 200 miles per hour.

We then stopped at along Black Canyon to eat our packed lunch. I was hoping to go for a swim too given how hot it is. Thinking no water is cold enough for me I dived in. Once I popped up I literally could not breath, the cold water had taken my breath away. I scrambled for the edge of the water and thus ended my swimming adventures of the Colorado River. I munched down lunch and headed back onto the raft for the rest of the journey. The scenery is very beautiful and also very unchanging along the journey. We passed a lot of actual rafters along the way as you can seek a permit and camp out along the river for a certain period of time. Along the river you would see several temperature gauges that used to be used when Hoover Dam was first created to measure water flow etc. These temperature gauges were accessed by the dodgiest bridges along the canyon walls I have ever seen. Someone on the tour asked why they didn’t just get to the gauges by boat, the tour guide informed us they discovered they could do that later. Derr.

We finished up the journey at Willow Beach mariner where we were to be picked up and taken back to our hotels. A loong journey back to the hotel and the first touri had been on that got to my hotel on time. This meant I could have a quick 40 winks before I headed out for tonight’s plans.

Later that night, I got myself dolled up and very excited because I had booked a ticket to see Monty Python’s Spamolot at Wynn Casino. I had to make my way to the Grail Theatre. Obviously I made a quick trip to the ‘Rippe Offey Shoppe’ outside the theatre first. Spamolot’s run in Las Vegas is almost over so they were selling Spamolot goodies super cheap. I scored Coconut shells, imported by African Swallows, and a knight with detachable limbs (it’s just a flesh wound). I was getting seriously excited to see the show by this point as I LOVE Monty Python. King Arthur was to be played by John O'Hurley, who for me most famously played J Peterman in Seinfeld. After walking through the Grail Theater, passing pics of Cleese’s Silly Walks, I got to my seat, popcorn in hand, ready to see the show. And what a show!! It was hilarious, and just so cool. The acting and props were amazing, and you gotta love a show that finishes with the song, ‘Always looks on the bright side of life’. It was great to hear John Cleese as the voice of god too. If you are in NY, London, or Melbourne…see Spamolot!

After Spamolot I headed back to the hotel to find a bar to get a drink or two. I ended up in Centurfuge bar that’s situated next to the Poker tables. I met a group of guys while there who were visiting from Michigan, so I hung out with them and had a couple of drinks. Michigan is obviously the place where people don’t want to live as it cost one of them $120,000 to buy a 3 bedroom house. Good luck doing that in Sydney!

By 1.30am they shut up the bar so I thought it best to head back to my room and ready myself for my next day in Sin City.

What I learnt in Las Vegas today:

• A sheep is a sheep, I don’t care where it is.
• You’re never too old for a packed lunch.
• Monty Python never goes out of style, and is bigger than I had expected in America.

Up close and personal at the Hoover Dam.

As you can see, the river's level is really low at the moment as evident in the cleaner, 'whiter' in appearance rock where the water level used to be.

A picture capturing us waiting at the bottom of the Hoover Dam to start our trek. It gives you an idea of how we got down the river.

The Colorado River. On one side is Nevada, on the the other side is Arizona.

Me with my hero, Sir Arthur, in the Grail Theater about to go in to see the show.

Inside the New York, New York casino where they have re-created the streets of New York. My camera doesn't pick up the light too well, it was much brighter. It was done really well and included pizza and pretzel stands.