So … once again … I was familiar with neither the song (entitled “Grand Canyon”), nor the “artist”: Puscifer (whose name, I’d begrudgingly guess, rhymes with Lucifer) is described as a “super rock group.” WHATevs … if the lyric fits, blog with it!
In case you’ve not yet guessed … this entry is the story of our trip to the Grand Canyon!! Geographically close enough to Las Vegas to allow for a day trip, the Grand Canyon trip was the major event during this vacation to which Gerry was most looking forward; I would imagine almost as much as I looked forward to seeing Donny Osmond’s concert!
We’d been given a recommendation for a tour company … there are hundreds of choices in and near Las Vegas … and this company seemed very good at the outset. I received many update emails prior to August. The first several explained that the tour would leave Vegas at APPROXIMATELY 7 AM, and would depart from our hotel. A few weeks out, however, in my “IMPORTANT REMINDER” email, the time frame changed slightly to … “sometime between 6:30 and 8 AM, from a NEARBY hotel.” Ugh … this was getting a little more complicated. Every email they sent ended the same way: “We will contact you by 8 PM the evening before, with the exact pick-up details.” Fair enough.
Those details were provided during Donny’s concert, after which, when I read the text, I was less than pleased. “Please meet the tour bus at Treasure Island Hotel (about an 8 minute Uber ride from our own hotel) at 6:10 AM. If at all possible, please be 10 minutes early. The driver will make every effort to contact you if you are not at the pickup point, but may be forced to leave without you, if you are not on time.”
AWESOME!! 🙁
Therefore …. imagine my own displeasure, after we hoisted ourselves outta bed, and got to Treasure Island Hotel by 5:45 AM, when the driver of our van was LATE, and arrived at about 6:30. (For real, fella??) I said to him, when he finally arrived, “Traffic, huh?” to which he replied, “I couldn’t find MY PHONE!” (Those kids and their phones!!)
Despite such an inauspicious beginning, the tour did turn out quite well. We traveled in a 15-passenger luxury Mercedes Strider Van (a photo to a similar model below:)
It was comfortable and spacious. The drive to the Grand Canyon’s West rim is a little under 4 hours, so certainly comfort is key. Sufficient rest stops, and food provided made for a very nice day. Less than an hour after we got on the road, we reached another of my own personal milestones:
Arizona! My 44th state! (Of course, our driver whizzed past this sign going about 85 mph, so this is a Google stock photo of the location.)
It was actually an overcast day, with sporadic rain showers on our way to GC. The “glass half full” of that (aside from NOT having to drive!) was the appearance of a gorgeous double rainbow, seen at our first rest stop.
Our fellow traveler, Brent, actually noticed the rainbow first. Lovely!
Inside the rest stop, I was not really surprised to see where our 45th President has retired:
When we arrived at our first location at the Grand Canyon’s West rim, it was the Skywalk area. Initially, as we approached, our driver gave us disappointing news: the Skywalk was temporarily closed due to the rain. We parked, and honestly, I will always remember the first moment I saw the view:
I find it impossible to “poo-poo” the majesty of the Grand Canyon. Call it a hole in the ground, if you wish … but it’s the most amazing hole in the ground on Earth, in my humble opinion! We’d just barely taken our first few photos, and our driver hollered over to our group … “The Skywalk just re-opened!!!!”
Yay!! I was truly looking forward to experiencing the Skywalk. We’d watched a video all about the Skywalk on the trip out, and any concerns I had about weight limits on the thing were securely put to rest, and learning about the design and construction was absolutely fascinating! In a sentence, Skywalk is a horseshoe shaped walk way with a glass floor, that juts out from side of the Canyon. Certainly — with that glass bottom and 4,000 foot view straight down — not for anyone with acrophobia!
We generally enjoyed the Skywalk — me, more than Gerry, I think. He’s not afraid of heights, per se, but let’s just say he stuck to the side runners whenever possible.
OF COURSE, they have the prerequisite photographers, at the ready to snap plenty of photos, particularly as we were not allowed to tote our cellphones. (And … from a teacher / person of authority p.o.v. …. GOOD MOVE on the part of Skywalk. Not sure if that’s been a rule from the beginning, but there are dozens of gaps in the barrier for things to slip through.)
Our assigned photographer was a gangly hipster type, who seemed pretty much “over it”, and it was only 10 AM. He followed his script … “Put your hands up like you’re on a roller coaster” … “Put your arms around each other” , etc. And then Gangly Hipster said, “OK, sir, … now, pretend you’re pushing her off.” Gerry absolutely, flatly refused. Twice. Even after I said, “Aw, come on! It’ll be funny!” Nope. LOL Despite having the wind taken from his sails, Gangly Hipster came through with some nice shots. Here are the best ones:
We fell directly into the tourist trap of “Buy one for $20, or …” But, actually I feel it was a pretty good deal, because we could buy all of the photos, plus 20 bonus Skywalk professionally done photos, for $50 something. Might as well share the others, too … Enjoy!
(I know … you didn’t count 20 photos, did you? Some were so similar, I decided to give my readers a break. LOL)
Before leaving the area of Skywalk, we needed to take the obligatory “Lulu On Location” photo:
It was around now that we were socializing more with our fellow traveler, Brent. Brent was traveling by himself, and was a perfectly personable young man. I found that he not only looked a little bit like Jim Parsons (who plays “Sheldon” on “Big Bang Theory”) but sounded EXACTLY like Sheldon, and said things like, “I think I see a big whole in the ground” and “Imagine, all this time in the desert, and I haven’t seen one coyote chasing a road runner!”
Our second, and last, stop was another location on the West Rim. I’ve included a few more (of the best) shots, but before that, a few random observations:
- The Grand Canyon is a stunning sight.
- So stunning, it _ALMOST_ seems fake, even though I know it’s not.
- I am _SO GLAD_ I was able to visit.
- A two hour stop, to admire the scenery in the one spot, is way too long for me.
Here’s a very brief video of our view, from the outdoor eating area of the Guano Cafe. Brent (aka Sheldon) had just told me that he saw a lizard on the rocks. In retrospect, I wish I’d gotten more of his voice on record. Hilarious.
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/608400880
Many times some of these tours include brief stops for a look-see of Hoover Dam. Not us. We stopped to see grazing sheep.
I mean … I kinda got nothin’ for this, but the driver seemed pleased with his knowledge that the sheep regularly graze at this random park, and that they were not to be spooked or scared off by us. Hence, photographs. LOL
It was a really great day and excursion!
A wrap up to the vacation will close out the Summer 2021 blog in my next post!! Stay tuned!