Today is the day we are all very excited
for as we are off to visit the Grand Canyon.
After a lot of research Andre and I decided we wanted to visit the South
Rim, not the West Rim where most helicopter tours go to. The tour we booked involved a plane ride of
about 40 minutes to just outside the Park, then a shuttle ride to 2 scenic
spots where we could walk around a little.
The plane ride there was fantastic. We were all invited to the cockpit to take
some pictures as we were flying over. It
was fun for us as we saw Lake Mead and Hoover Dam from the air, where we had
just been the day before.
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| At the gift shop before leaving for the Grand Canyon |
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| Diane being brave |
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| Hoover Dam |
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| Early in our flight |
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| We were invited to go up and visit, great friendly crew |
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| The lookout on the West Rim |
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| The Grand Barachois/Vegas/Grand canyon gang |
After landing it is about a 15 minute drive
into the park. Our first stop was at the
Bright Angel Lodge lookout. First
impression is it takes your breath away, really hard to explain just how beautiful
it is here. The scenery seemed like a
backdrop, is this even possible? The
colours are fantastic, I am sure pictures will not do it justice. We were given a box lunch on the tour to eat
at this spot as well. It is only about
9:30 AM at this point, but a very early morning so we were all ready for a
little lunch. We got to spend about 1
hour at this spot, we could have spent so much more time here, it would have
been great to be able to walk and explore some more.
Our next stop was at Mather Point, which if
possible I think was even more beautiful than the first spot. This is also the spot where we saw crazy
people that had gone under the fencing to climb on the rocks. Really?
My favourite is the parents that were getting their kids to go under the
rail for pictures, urgh.
Back for our plane ride back to Las
Vegas. A perfectly smooth plane ride to
the Grand Canyon, but a little bumpy on the way back.
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| Our first view, WOW |
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| Having our box lunch at 10 in the morning since we did not want to carry it around |
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| Lots of people at the lookout but not hard to get a spot |
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| Trail going to the bottom of the canyon, not possible when you only have 1 hour |
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| Crazy people |
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| Colorado river way down at the bottom of the canyon |
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| One last view before leaving |
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| One HAPPY HAPPY gang |
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| Anybody for golf? Not much protection from the wind here and it was very windy today |
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| The Las Vegas strip as we are landing in Henderson |
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| On our way back from the airport |
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| Inside the shopping mall by our place where we stayed |
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| The lobby of the Paris Hotel, beautiful Casino, Hotel & Shops |
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| Where we stayed for the week, The Carriage House, pretty small compared to the other 3000 room hotels. |
Supper tonight was at the Battistas Hole in
the Wall Restaurant. Jackie had heard
about this place, sent out an email to everyone a while ago, and the free wine
with dinner had us sold, we were all in.
A fun supper, great waitress who has worked there for over 30 years, I
can imagine the stories she has. Rumour
has it this is where the mob used to hang out, no windows in the place, and
lots of pictures and memorabilia to look at.
A really fun night and dinner.
(throughout the week we saw this restaurant
many many times, it was on Andres “shortcut” back to the hotel)
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| What an experience |
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| One of my favorite meal Osso Bucco |
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| Lots of pictures of famous people including Elvis himself |
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| Love the name, Battista's Hole in the wall |
After supper we went to the Flamingo hotel,
and found the live flamingos that Andre and Diane missed last time. Not sure how they missed them, but they
did. Their Vegas trip is now complete.
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| One of the bar had a band playing inside and these 2 girls posing outside to draw customers in |
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| Extra large flamingo |
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| The real flamingos |
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| The Flamingo hotel |
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| Slot machines, not suppose to take pictures inside the casino but no one was in this section |
We had another groupon ticket to use
tonight as well. As if our unlimited
wine at dinner wasn’t enough, we booked a .5 hour open bar on the new
Highroller Wheel that starts at 10PM.
This is a new attraction in Vegas, similar to the London Eye. There are a few cabins that have a bar in
them, and this groupon was a promotion for these cabins. There were about 20 of us in our cabin, and
we kept the bartender hopping. As soon
as the doors close they start serving, and you are served until you do the full
loop. You are allowed to take your drink
off with you, but only one hand, no double fisting allowed! Lots of fun, beautiful views from the top,
and we lucked out and saw the Bellagio fountains going off as well from the
Wheel.
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| The capsules on the High Roller |
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| Looks like a big bike wheeel |
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| View of the large hotels on the strip |
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| The fountains in the center |
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| Enjoying our 30 minute open bar and the views |
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| What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, not really if Andre has a camera in hand |
After the Wheel we staggered over to watch
the Bellagio fountains again. We also
made plans for bungie jumping, as Diane is now a daredevil getting up in a
small plane and walking around, and doing the wheel all in one day.
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| Bellagio & Caesars Palace |
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| Bellagio fountains |
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| Caesars Palce |
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We appreciate any comments/questions you would have or any stories about the places we visited.