Las Vegas/Grand Canyon Vacation

Charles and I just returned from vacation yesterday. We spent a week in Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. We flew in to Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon (9/10). Charles wanted to experience the landscape between SLC and Vegas, so we rented a car and drove to Vegas. Wow. It was a beautiful drive, especially the descent through the mountains at the edge of Utah, going through a tiny corner of Arizona into Nevada. I wish I had my camera out, but I thought it was packed in my suitcase.

Friday
We checked into our condo, bought some groceries, and then went down to the strip. I'm not a gambler, but I do enjoy architecture. Those casinos are AMAZING!!!!! I think the one that took up the most land was Caesar's Palace. It was huge. But my favorite, or two favorites, were New York New York, and Paris.

Saturday
We had to pick up our tickets to the Cirque de Soleil Beatles Love show for later that evening. Marlee and Ashley have both asked what my favorite part of the trip was. I would have to say that that show was right up there close to the top, although you can't top the Grand Canyon. Charles is a huge Beatles fan. Huge. He had seen the show when he was out there with his daughter 3 years ago, and he wanted me to experience it. It was just, WOW!!

After the show we walked along the strip. Many of the casinos have "shows" for people on the sidewalk. We saw the fountain show that's set to music at the Bellagio. Way cool. It's crazy how many people are out there along the strip at night. THOUSANDS! It's like Disney World at closing time.

Sunday
We left the condo (did not check out, returning after 2 days) at 5am to drive to the Grand Canyon. I so wanted to see some of those big cacti, saguaro, but they aren't in that area. We were scheduled for a mule ride at the canyon for 1pm (or something like that). We got there quite early. We had reservations to spend the night in a cabin close to the rim, at Bright Angel. The rules for the mule ride were pretty clear: must have a hat, must wear long sleeves. I had to go shopping at Target after we got to Las Vegas to find a hat. It was lovely. If I can post some pics, you'll see what I'm talking about. Bought a long sleeve T shirt in the gift shop at Bright Angel. So.... then the mule ride. I was expecting something scary. I was really nervous about it. I thought we were riding part way down the canyon, but it wasn't anything like that. And I am finding out something completely new about myself. I'm getting more scared of things as I get older. Specifically of heights. We didn't ride anywhere near the rim. We rode an hour to get to the rim, then got off our asses and walked to the rim.

My mule was named Cracker. I don't feel the need to ever get on another pack animal. You know what the butts look like on Macaques? Yeah. You know how they got that way? From riding mules.

Not only was the ride painful, but Cracker fell down on both front knees on the return ride. I screamed. Cracker growled. Yes, mules growl.

Monday
This day was blissful. We did a slow-water raft ride on the Colorado through Glen Canyon. Glen Canyon is above the Grand Canyon. The sides of the canyon were 1200 feet tall on both sides of us. Truly awesome and amazing. The rock formations were so cool. I didn't have my camera with me because I thought it wouldn't be allowed, so any pics we have are what Charles took. I still need to get them from him. We had a 3 hour bus ride to get to the rafting launch site. We went through the Navajo reservation, which is one of the poorest of all reservations. It was mostly mobile homes, very far apart, and even the small houses we saw were decrepit and many had outhouses for their bathroom. It's interesting that the Hopi tribe that was relocated in Arizona (can't remember the town) is very wealthy, whereas the Navajo tribe is one of the poorest.

After the raft trip, the bus ride back to the Grand Canyon stopped on the Navajo reservation at a depot/gift shop. I bought a pair of earrings that were made there on the reservation. I wanted to get some of the turquoise and sliver jewelry made there, but holy cow. Mucho $$$$$

Well, I think I will try to continue this tomorrow. I need to go to bed. Trying to get my body back in the EST frame of time. Gotta get up at 5am. yuck.