Never-ending trip to the Grand Canyon

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After arriving back at my hostel following the Cirque de Soleil show, I was looking forward to just passing out in bed, knowing the my alarm was set for 5.15am. Unfortunately, when I arrived I realised that new people had moved into the room, one of whom was sleeping in the bunk above me. However the bed hadn't been made. Therefore, they would have to make it when they returned. It was already gone midnight when I got back, so any visions I had of even 4 and 1/2 hours sleep uninterrupted were quickly disappearing. Nonetheless, I put in my earplugs and put on my eyemask and hoped for the best!
My worst fears were soon proven. Around 1.30 2 girls came back and whilst they didn't make too much noise, it was more the rocking of the bunk that woke me up. After falling back into a restless sleep, I was woken way too quickly by the most strange and horrid sound. I can't even describe it as snoring... it was like a fog horn and a very bad trumpet player rolled into one and then multiplied by infinity, and it was coming from right above me... by now the whole room was awake (except the girls travelling companion, who must be deaf by now). No amount of swearing and complaining would wake snoring beauty, so one of the girls went and pysically woke her and asked her to try and stop. Miraculously she did (aided my some snoring strips - why couldn't she have used them to begin with?!) By now it was 3ish, and I was despairing ever getting any proper sleep. And suprise surprise, I was awoken at 4.45 by alarm... and not mine, but that of snoring beauty, who was also leaving early.

So it was a very tired, disgruntled and bleary-eyed Emma who stumbled up the strip 3 blocks to the Stratosphere Hotel where I was meeting the shuttle to take me to the bus terminal. Thanks to my extra-early wake-up I was there early, and practised the art of sleeping whilst standing. Luckily the bus arrived on time, and I was soon on my way. Upon arrival at the terminal,we were directed to the back of a huge queue. It turned out that the company I had booked through also operated airplanes to fly people to the Grand Canyon, and they got queueing priority. Eventually, after a good half hour, I was checked in and given a yellow sticker to wear for the rest of the day. We were supposed to leave at 7.30. But 7.30 came and went and still people were in the queue waiting for their stickers. Eventually, around 8ish we were called to a bus. My queue jumping skills were put into use once more, tho I was beaten by a rather rotund American and a sprightly Indian lady. However, soon we were all on the bus and had been given our breakfast package containing a honey pastry, an apple and a carton of orange juice.

Our bus driver took over the dual role of tour guide, and was soon informing us of little known facts about anything and everything as well as giving us his own personal spin from time to time. Our first stop was the Hoover Dam, about 30 mins outside of Vegas. The dam itself was impressive, and we stopped at a viewpoint above it, that gave us views of the area. I personnally would have liked to stop a little bit lower, but such is the way with guided tours...
After a 20 minute stop we were on our way. To give his voice a rest, our driver out on a dvd about the construction of the dam. Unfortunately, interesting as this was I was soon asleep, and woke only when we got to our rest stop an hour or so later. Whilst we would be getting lunch at the next stop, as it was some 2 hours away, the driver advised buying some food if we felt hungry. There was a Subway at the petrol station, so I got my usual Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki... and it proved a wise move. We had been back on the road for all of 15 minutes, when there was this almighty bang and then a huge hissing noise. the driver swerved immediatley onto the side of the road, and whilst we were all looking around bewhildered, the driver announced that the air system which inflates his seat was responsible for the noise. After trying to fix it, with the help of the other bus driver from the bus that was joining us on the trip, our driver decided to carry on, and see if we could put up with the noise.... Within 2 minutes he had decided this was impossible, and he left the freeway in search of a miracle fix or a mechanic.
We soon arrived at some kind of vehicle maintenace place, but there was no-one around who could fix it. After sitting around for over half an hour, the driver played around some more with the seat... and suddenly there was no hissing. Why he couldn't have done that an hour ago is anyones guess, but at least it meant we could go on our way again...albeit delayed.

It was over 2 hours before we made it to our lunch destination, and Tusayon, Arizona, the gateway to the Grand Canyon National Park. This amazing buffet lunch which had been talked about since we got on the bus a million hours before, turned out to be a mediocre selection of mediocre foods (has anyone ever heard of having jelly with salad??). But it was food and technically it was free... Anyways, after munching my way through the best the Quality Inn had to offer it was time to get back on the bus. After about 5 mins we were in the Grand Canyon National Park. I'm not sure why, but our driver loved telling us how much everything on this trip cost. I guess he was trying to let us know what a good deal we were getting, but I really wasn't that fussed about how much it cost to fill the tank with petrol, or how much the entry was to the park. Anyhoo, it wasn't long before we were at the first stop: Mather Point. We were dropped off at the bus parking area and had to walk about 3 mins to the viewpoint. And there it was: the Grand Canyon. As much as I was expecting some huge sense of awe and wonderment, I wasn't too surprised by the sense of, well, nothing really. I was totally underwhelmed by what I saw in front of me. I know everyone says that the best way to see the GC is by air, but given the huge amount of people who view it from the ground, I was expecting something more. Don't get me wrong, it was impressive. I guess I was just expecting more. Part of the problem was the sheer amount of people where I was, so I set off walking. Once I got away from the organised view points it began to feel better. I'm not a "tour" person, I much prefer to do my own thing - I really don't like being told what to do, where to go and when. Eventually tho, I found a jutty-out rock that was kind of isolated, and just sat down and looked. As I heard people going by, and just leaving me be, I began to feel a lot better, and began to appreciate the Grand Canyon for what it was: amazing.

All too soon it was time to go back to the bus, to go to the next view point. It was only 10 mins or so down the road. We passed the train station, where you can ride the historic-touristic train from a town about 60miles away. Apparently in the summer they even use old steam trains stolen, sorry, bought from England. Our next stop was Bright Angel Point, which is also where a lot of the accomodation is for those wanting to stay overnight or longer. Again I tried to spend the least time possible in the crowded areas. I actually spent a lot of time on this balcony above one of the gift shops, which for the most part was deserted. It gave me a bit of a better view, and it was a good place to watch the Californian condors, the largest bird in the USA, which they are trying to re-introduce to the GC. After our hour was up, it was back to the bus and homeward bound.
We had a rest-stop at a gift store about 20 mins outside the park. The driver said he chose to stop there as it was cheaper than inside the park... but it wouldn't surprise me if he got some commission... why else would the cashier write down everything we bought?!

To pass the time on the way back, we watched Seabiscuit, except the dvd kept freezing every so often. We had one final stop at a McDonalds for dinner, which I skipped as I couldn't stomach it. By the time we got back to Vegas it was pushing 11... only 2 or so hours behind schedule. I was looking forward just to getting back and collapsing in bed. However, the shuttle bus to take us back to our hotels obviously had a different idea.... it was 1am when I got back. It would have been easier for me to get off at the 1st stop and walk. Maybe with hindsight I would have. Instead, I set my alarm for some ridiculously early time, as I still had to pack and prayed that snoring beauty wouldn't be so vocal during the night.
As luck would have it, I was woken up before my alarm yet again - snoring beauty was also leaving that day... However, enough of that. I packed my bag and got the airport shuttle. The shuttle turned out to be the guy from reception driving me in his car, but I wasn't complaining, and even less so when he didn't charge me the $7 that it was supposed to cost.

And so that was it, next stop: San Francisco.

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Photos

How Hot?!
Bearing in mind it was only around 9am...