The Grand Canyon

When Loretta got snowed in at Christmas, our trip to the Grand Canyon was canceled. As a consolation, she offered to fly out and meet me "where ever you are" for the MLK long weekend. I suggested that we try Vegas and see the Grand Canyon from there. This meant that we would visit Grand Canyon West instead of the National Park at the South Rim, which had been our original destination.  Despite another snow scare, this time we actually made it!

We set out leisurely from Vegas on Friday morning and stopped at the Hoover Dam en-route. We were timing it to arrive at the Grand Canyon for the sunset. It is supposed to be the best time to see the canyon because the colors are the most vibrant and the shadows highlight the rocks. We approached the complex just as the sun was going down, only to learn that we would need to board a bus for the final couple of minutes drive to the rim and that the buses had stopped running! What?!? I snapped a quick picture of the beautiful landscape visible from the parking lot and swallowed my disappointment.

View from the West Rim parking lot

Luckily we were staying in the area overnight, so it wasn't a big deal -- it was just annoying. We hit the gift shop and grabbed a brochure about the admission fee and different tour packages that they offered. We discovered that the cheapest visit to the rim was over $60 per person. It would cost another $29.99 to go on the 'Skywalk,' which is a glass platform built over the canyon. Even more restricting, you can't take pictures on the platform. Instead they sell them to you. You are also required to wear booties, which cost $5 a piece. The whole visit would be one fee after another. Grand Canyon West is not part of the Grand Canyon National Park, but is located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. I guess they are too close to Vegas to build their own casino, so instead they are bilking tourists for every dollar. When we arrived at the Grand Canyon Ranch for the night, we learned that they offered 20 minute helicopter tours into the Canyon for a mere $160 each. We decided to go for it.

The next morning we got up early (easy to do when you go to sleep at 9:30pm), had breakfast and boarded the horse-drawn wagon to the helicopter pad. In a piece of luck, we were the only people on the fight and got a private tour of this part of the canyon. The pilot even took a picture of the two of us (I was thinking "shouldn't you be FLYING the helicopter??). I'm sure Loretta will be posting it on facebook momentarily. The helicopter was a great way to view everything. We even saw the Skywalk. From our vantage (we were inside the canyon and actually looking up at it), it seemed small and pathetic. I took a billion pictures -- enjoy!

I was still disappointed that I had missed the sunset, so on Monday I decided to head for the National Park at the South Rim ('cuz really, I have nothing better to do!). A five and a half hour drive and I was there at 4:30 pm. Excitingly, and unexpectedly, the $25 parking fee for was waved because it was Martin Luther King Day! Yeah, National holidays. (You may have noticed that I've become obsessed with the price of things -- this is because I'm hemorrhaging money. Granted this didn't stop me from gambling prodigiously while in Las Vegas.) The colors and views were beautiful -- sunset over the canyon is magnificent and it was worth the drive. You can even see the moon in some of the pictures. I'm sorry you missed it, Lolo.