<description>Our Grand Canyon tour bus picked us up from Vegas bright and early at 6:30am. We underestimated the 5 hour road trip to the canyon but our first glimpses of the enormous wonder immediately made it all worth it. The majority of the guests on the bus were just on a day trip, but having not arrived until about 1pm and learning that they all had little more than 3 hours to explore the park, we were happy with our decision to stay overnight. To have enough time to fit in a hike into the canyon (which we really wish we’d been able to do), you’d really need to stay 2-3 nights at least. Our first stop was Mather Point and it was simply breathtaking. You simply cannot fathom how big this bloody thing is! It was quite moving. We started snapping photos and by the end of our time there, I’m guessing we probably took over 100 photos of the canyon alone. The bus was then moving o Bright Angel lodge with the day trippers, but dropped us at our lodge on the way. Having booked a package, we clearly got put in the cheap option of lodge. Although having paid $65 for an “upgrade” after the tour company told me that the standard rooms were booked out, I had to wonder what sort of school camp dorm the standard rooms much be! If funds permit, I’d recommend trying to get a room at the hotel, El Tovar, or at least Bright Angel Lodge, as they sit right on the edge of the canyon and are clearly nicer accommodations. We walked over to Bright Angel and were treated to yet another fabulous view of the canyon. With the sun beginning to go down, the colours of the layers of rock began to change and we settled in to await the sunset. It soon started to get very cold and it seemed as though it was taking forever for the sun to set. When we began to shiver and also realised that the angle of the sunset would not make for the best photos anyway, we thought getting a wine and a hot meal was the better option. The food at the Bright Angel restaurant was actually excellent and made even better with our window table directly overlooking the Grand Canyon. What a moment to savour. Tired after the bus trip and limping along with blisters on my feet (those who know me won’t be surprised about this), we retired to bed early, taking in updates on the Jodi Arias murder trial (huge news across the States since it began on 2 January), which had become a nightly ritual since Will became obsessed back in San Francisco. We headed off to the tourist desk to attempt to book into some sort of tour before the bus came t collect us at 4pm. The mule ride was out of the question as safety conscious Will objected to being so close to cliff edges on the back of an animal. The boat ride down the Colorado was also not going to be possible as without a car, as we had no way of getting to the jetty up river. That left a helicopter ride which we were pretty sure would be too pricey to justify, and at over $400 for both of us, it was. So we put the free shuttle bus that traverses the rim to good use and did a couple of small treks from point to point, enjoying the serenity and the amazing view as we went. We then returned to Bright Angel or a late lunch overlooking the canyon, watching cheeky squirrels trying to pinch food from fellow tourists. Although they can bite and carried disease, I secretly wished they were jumping all over me trying to pinch a piece of my hotdog. The bus picked us up around 4pm and we took the long ride back to Vegas, that somehow took close to 6 hours by the time we got back to our hotel. By this time we were exhausted and so longing for bed. We arrived at the Monte Carlos and were very pleased to enter the sanctuary of our lovely suite. After a very long day we showered and retired to bed, ready for part two of our stay in Vegas, this time determined to take it easy, stay away from the grotty strip and avoid the gambling floors heavy with cigarette and cigar smoke. The morning surprisingly brought a rather cold and rainy day to the desert. Being a Monday, the streets were also pleasantly much quieter than we’d seen before. After breakfast, we set off next door to the hotel casino, New York New York, a relatively new resort all in the theme of the Big Apple. The hotel building is a recreation of the NYC skyline and inside, replicas of the streets of the city form alleyways between the restaurants, bars and shops. We headed to the amusement park inside the casino, seeking out the rollercoaster. It was a thrilling ride, one which leaves you wishing we had more things like this in Perth. After wandering around more of the hundreds of shops and buying Will a bargain pair of Quiksilver boardies in anticipation of having a pool at our LA hotel, we enjoyed a few drinks at one of the many bars, having some good conversation with a friendly bar tender named Joe who had lived in Sydney for a few years in the early 90s. It was clear we could not leave this city without attending an obligatory Vegas show. We couldn’t decide between Cirque de Soleil (for which two tickets were going to cost us a steep $260!), a typical and cheesy Vegas style show, complete with showgirls adorned in feathers and jewels (which we would have to walk down the strip to get to) and David Copperfield. We chose the former, since it would be easy to get to, was reasonably priced and in our minds, was the epitome of a typical Vegas illusionist’s show. The David Copperfield show was pretty good. There were some fairly dull and predictable acts and the man himself is not only showing his age, but seems to be quite absent in his performance, like he’s just going through the motions. However, we like the way he takes the piss out of himself; he was quite witty. Additionally, there were a few illusions that were completely amazing, and even my cynical husband was impressed (maybe more than me?). The highlight was definitely my involvement in the show. Before it started, I was approached by an usher and asked if I’d be involved, and that all I had to do was “hold a piece of paper”. I was tentative but said yes – how could I miss out on an opportunity like this?! When it was time, David scooted into the audience and grabbed my hand, bringing me up on stage and sat me on a stool. He then told the audience about a young Jewish girl from World War II. He had a poem she'd written about being hopeful she'd survive. He had me hold the piece of paper with the poem on in, while he read it to the audience. It was also up on the big screens. Then he took the paper and folded it into an origami butterfly. He then made it jiggle and move its wings like a real butterfly and moved it onto my hand. Then he cupped his hand over it and slowly revealed a real Monarch butterfly (!!) that crawled over my hand and then flew out into the auditorium. It was pretty amazing. Then he told us the girl did survive too. After the show, we jumped in a taxi to check of Freemont Street, which is the original strip, where the first casinos were located. Many people told us we had to see it and Will also wanted to check out the largest TV screen in the world. Freemont Street was loud, packed with people and absolutely choked with smoke that was trapped by the huge TV screen forming a ceiling above. We must have been there less than ten minutes before we decided it was time to leave. So we quickly jumped into a taxi and forked out another $30 to get back to our hotel. Waste of time, energy and money! We retired for the night, ready for our flight to New York in the morning. </description><generator>Jauntlet.com</generator><link>https://jauntlet.com/</link><atom:link href="https://jauntlet.com/rss/8047" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Las Vegas

<description>Our Grand Canyon tour bus picked us up from Vegas bright and early at 6:30am. We underestimated the 5 hour road trip to the canyon but our first glimpses of the enormous wonder immediately made it all worth it. The majority of the guests on the bus were just on a day trip, but having not arrived until about 1pm and learning that they all had little more than 3 hours to explore the park, we were happy with our decision to stay overnight. To have enough time to fit in a hike into the canyon (which we really wish we’d been able to do), you’d really need to stay 2-3 nights at least. Our first stop was Mather Point and it was simply breathtaking. You simply cannot fathom how big this bloody thing is! It was quite moving. We started snapping photos and by the end of our time there, I’m guessing we probably took over 100 photos of the canyon alone. The bus was then moving o Bright Angel lodge with the day trippers, but dropped us at our lodge on the way. Having booked a package, we clearly got put in the cheap option of lodge. Although having paid $65 for an “upgrade” after the tour company told me that the standard rooms were booked out, I had to wonder what sort of school camp dorm the standard rooms much be! If funds permit, I’d recommend trying to get a room at the hotel, El Tovar, or at least Bright Angel Lodge, as they sit right on the edge of the canyon and are clearly nicer accommodations. We walked over to Bright Angel and were treated to yet another fabulous view of the canyon. With the sun beginning to go down, the colours of the layers of rock began to change and we settled in to await the sunset. It soon started to get very cold and it seemed as though it was taking forever for the sun to set. When we began to shiver and also realised that the angle of the sunset would not make for the best photos anyway, we thought getting a wine and a hot meal was the better option. The food at the Bright Angel restaurant was actually excellent and made even better with our window table directly overlooking the Grand Canyon. What a moment to savour. Tired after the bus trip and limping along with blisters on my feet (those who know me won’t be surprised about this), we retired to bed early, taking in updates on the Jodi Arias murder trial (huge news across the States since it began on 2 January), which had become a nightly ritual since Will became obsessed back in San Francisco. We headed off to the tourist desk to attempt to book into some sort of tour before the bus came t collect us at 4pm. The mule ride was out of the question as safety conscious Will objected to being so close to cliff edges on the back of an animal. The boat ride down the Colorado was also not going to be possible as without a car, as we had no way of getting to the jetty up river. That left a helicopter ride which we were pretty sure would be too pricey to justify, and at over $400 for both of us, it was. So we put the free shuttle bus that traverses the rim to good use and did a couple of small treks from point to point, enjoying the serenity and the amazing view as we went. We then returned to Bright Angel or a late lunch overlooking the canyon, watching cheeky squirrels trying to pinch food from fellow tourists. Although they can bite and carried disease, I secretly wished they were jumping all over me trying to pinch a piece of my hotdog. The bus picked us up around 4pm and we took the long ride back to Vegas, that somehow took close to 6 hours by the time we got back to our hotel. By this time we were exhausted and so longing for bed. We arrived at the Monte Carlos and were very pleased to enter the sanctuary of our lovely suite. After a very long day we showered and retired to bed, ready for part two of our stay in Vegas, this time determined to take it easy, stay away from the grotty strip and avoid the gambling floors heavy with cigarette and cigar smoke. The morning surprisingly brought a rather cold and rainy day to the desert. Being a Monday, the streets were also pleasantly much quieter than we’d seen before. After breakfast, we set off next door to the hotel casino, New York New York, a relatively new resort all in the theme of the Big Apple. The hotel building is a recreation of the NYC skyline and inside, replicas of the streets of the city form alleyways between the restaurants, bars and shops. We headed to the amusement park inside the casino, seeking out the rollercoaster. It was a thrilling ride, one which leaves you wishing we had more things like this in Perth. After wandering around more of the hundreds of shops and buying Will a bargain pair of Quiksilver boardies in anticipation of having a pool at our LA hotel, we enjoyed a few drinks at one of the many bars, having some good conversation with a friendly bar tender named Joe who had lived in Sydney for a few years in the early 90s. It was clear we could not leave this city without attending an obligatory Vegas show. We couldn’t decide between Cirque de Soleil (for which two tickets were going to cost us a steep $260!), a typical and cheesy Vegas style show, complete with showgirls adorned in feathers and jewels (which we would have to walk down the strip to get to) and David Copperfield. We chose the former, since it would be easy to get to, was reasonably priced and in our minds, was the epitome of a typical Vegas illusionist’s show. The David Copperfield show was pretty good. There were some fairly dull and predictable acts and the man himself is not only showing his age, but seems to be quite absent in his performance, like he’s just going through the motions. However, we like the way he takes the piss out of himself; he was quite witty. Additionally, there were a few illusions that were completely amazing, and even my cynical husband was impressed (maybe more than me?). The highlight was definitely my involvement in the show. Before it started, I was approached by an usher and asked if I’d be involved, and that all I had to do was “hold a piece of paper”. I was tentative but said yes – how could I miss out on an opportunity like this?! When it was time, David scooted into the audience and grabbed my hand, bringing me up on stage and sat me on a stool. He then told the audience about a young Jewish girl from World War II. He had a poem she'd written about being hopeful she'd survive. He had me hold the piece of paper with the poem on in, while he read it to the audience. It was also up on the big screens. Then he took the paper and folded it into an origami butterfly. He then made it jiggle and move its wings like a real butterfly and moved it onto my hand. Then he cupped his hand over it and slowly revealed a real Monarch butterfly (!!) that crawled over my hand and then flew out into the auditorium. It was pretty amazing. Then he told us the girl did survive too. After the show, we jumped in a taxi to check of Freemont Street, which is the original strip, where the first casinos were located. Many people told us we had to see it and Will also wanted to check out the largest TV screen in the world. Freemont Street was loud, packed with people and absolutely choked with smoke that was trapped by the huge TV screen forming a ceiling above. We must have been there less than ten minutes before we decided it was time to leave. So we quickly jumped into a taxi and forked out another $30 to get back to our hotel. Waste of time, energy and money! We retired for the night, ready for our flight to New York in the morning. </description><generator>Jauntlet.com</generator><link>https://jauntlet.com/</link><atom:link href="https://jauntlet.com/rss/8047" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Las Vegashttps://jauntlet.com//45120https://jauntlet.com//45120Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:00:00 -0700