Las Vegas - The Grand Canyon

After nine days of driving and a short flight to Vegas is was time to relax. Yeah right!!!! The jam-packed days continued. Talk about planes, trains and automobiles. Well we had a mini-bus, plane, helicopter, boat, helicopter, bus, plane, bus, monorail day. Very busy but a once in a lifetime (especially at the price). Getting the kids out of bed early again seemed difficult on this day. The Grand Canyon didn't hold much appeal for Jaxon until I changed it's title to the 'Big Hole in the Ground'. 'Can I take my matchbox cars Daddy' 'It's probably best you don't buddy'.

 

Jaxon: 'Daddy that's a very small plane'

Scott: 'Yes boy, that it is'

Jaxon: 'Is it going to make it all the way to "the big hole in the ground"'

Indi: 'Of course it will, it can fly'

Righteo then........

 

Jaxon and Indi were happy with headsets and music.

Indi: 'We're just like adults Daddy'

 

Hoover Dam (bottom right) holding back the water of Lake Mead.

 

 A very impressive civil engineering feat. The concrete is so thick that it still isn't set, 76 years after completion. 

After a short scenic flight we landed at a very organiced tourist processing centre. The Australian Government might want to look at this place for ideas on running the Nauru refuguee centre.

 

Yep, it's small.

 

And it seemed a whole lot smaller once you got up in the air. This was our first view of the Grand Canyon.

 

It's definately a 'been there'.

 

 

And no less impressive once you're on the ground.

 

Safe and sound on the ground smack bang in the middle of the grand canyon.

 

 I hope that thing is coming back for us. It's bloody hot down here.

 

The part of the adventure had us on a boat for a half an hour narrated 'cruise'. The water was really flowing hard, I would guess at least a 5 knot current.

 

 It's taken a few years to get this way, let's see how long it takes for mankind to stuff it up. The high water mark at the bottom of this photo is a result of a river diversion further upstream and a subsequent reduced release of water through the Grand Canyon. 

 

 A couple more family photos.

 

 Facing the other way....

 The colour of the water reminded us of Pohnpei. 

 

After the helicopter brought us safely out of the canyon we hopped on a bus and headed to the Skywalk.

 

 

 Next stop was the Skywalk. It was 'okay'. Over-priced and over-rated for me. Walking out on see- through glass 240 metres up was a buzz though.  But we did it and can tick it off.

 

 Lunch was the next stop, not a bad back-drop for a midday meal. 

 INDIANNA, DO NOT PUSH JAXON OFF THE EDGE.

 

 Jaxon got the window seat on the way home.

 

 Pretty good day heh buddy.

 

 Indi didn't seem to mind giving up the window seat. She did really well for a littlen, even if I had to hold her head for the half an hour flight.

 

Grand Canyon - Done it!