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Published: April 1st 2011
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We were up early the morning after the wedding to go to the Grand Canyon. Probably not a good idea but unfortunately the only day in Las Vegas where we had 15 hours to spare! Everybody else had done the 4 hour helicopter ride, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but we were travelling on a budget! Also we had read that the helicopters cannot fly over the main part of the Grand Canyon. This area had been declared a ‘no fly zone’ due to noise pollution issues. Ten in the van, and breakfast at McDonalds before we drove to the massive wall behind the Hoover Dam. A road bridge above the wall had recently been opened and we walked across it to view the dam before crossing it in the van The bridge appears to be on the border with Nevada and Arizona.
I enjoyed watching the scenery slide past the car - it was very dry, but the colours in the low hills and gravely plains were pretty. Our guide/driver was a bright young fit man, glossy white teeth and plenty of personality! He obviously loved the region and climbed as a hobby in the area. He took a detour of
the main highway to go to one of the small towns on Route 66. This historic highway has been replaced by a wider national highway and many of the towns on the original highway are dying slow deaths. Though there is a tourism industry around the Route 66 it appears not to be enough to save many of the towns - recently the Government has allowed the highway to be renamed Historic Route 66 to reintroduce tourism to the highway. When the National Highway had been built for many years Route 66 lost it’s name. An interesting, though sad dusty little place - Segilmann didn’t have a lot to offer. Dry gardens full of bits of weird and wonderful ‘decorative’ trash - it’s claim to fame was as the home of the man (the local barber) who instigated the revival of the route. It was a break from the cramped conditions of the van though.
It was three o’clock before we arrived at the main Canyon area - the South Rim where the canyon is 18 klms wide - stretching across to the North Rim, 300 metres higher and closer due to snow until mid May. Deep down (1.6klms)
to the bottom where the Colorado River flows for 446 klms through the length of the Canyon. To get to the North from the south side it is actually a 356 klm drive! The rocks forming the canyon are predominately in shades of pink though the upper Canyon had wide bands of white rock. We were very surprised to see snow lying on the ground around the edge of the rim. The storm which had hit Yosemite as it crossed the country also bought snow to the Canyon. During our drive that day we had gone from 2000 feet in Vegas to 7000 feet at the Canyon. It was very cold!
Eric (the guided) provided a tasty late picnic lunch from his backpack which we ate sitting on the edge of the rim. For the next few hours we wandered around the edge of the rim just absorbing the magnificent view. The South Rim view is the one that is used on all advertising and photography spreads of the Canyon. As it drew closer to sunset it got considerably colder and the pinks and purple colours in the Canyon walls deepened in tone. It had been definitely worth the long
drive to get there. Devin and Jerry took advantage of the snow to enclose some of David’s ashes into a snow ball and to toss them down into the depth of the Canyon.
It was bitterly cold by the time we clambered into the van around 7pm - the warmth was very welcome. Our hotel in Vegas was equally welcome by the time we arrived back around 11.30pm. Driving into Vegas the desert was glowing with lights which covered a very wide area - the size of the city was much larger then I expected. I had been to relieved to know that we were close to landing (after our bumpy flight) to take in much of the view of the city from the plane on our arrival. A long day but I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon so another dream has been fulfilled.
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Judy Aitken
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Lucky people
Thanks for your Blog I'm enjoying following your trip.