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Published: November 8th 2009
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24th - 27th October
We awoke slightly bleary eyed and packed up things in order to be out of the hotel by 11am. We met Rory and Morg who were looking in a similar state to the day before and off Doddy and Rory went to pick up the hire car. Turns out that the advertised deal was not quite as good as it first appeared so we hired one online instead. We picked it up from Las Vegas Airport and set off to Hoover Dam which is only about 20 miles from Vegas. This time we had a bit more of a look around and admired the amazing feat of engineering. Back in the car we continued driving to Williams with Rory and Morg taking in the ever changing scenery and “crazy, long, straight roads”. We stayed at Williams KOA campsite again and were soon in the hot tubs resting our weary bodies. We took Rory and Morg around part of the old Route 66 and had tea at a diner that was once a fuel station before retiring to bed in our log cabin.
We awoke feeling refreshed and revitalized and ready to face the day. A
quick dip in the pool and a quick driving lesson for Rory and we were off with Rory at the helm and Morgan navigating. Wasn't long till we arrived at the Grand Canyon park entrance. Rory and Morg were interested in a possible helicopter flight but decided to wait until they’d checked out the views from the car. It was definitely worth the wait as we drove round the first corner we all let out simultaneous gasps of amazement. The sight was truly spectacular, miles of deep red rock and gorges that stretched out as far as the eye could see. We sat and admired the site in front of us for about 15 minutes before driving onto the other various stop off view points, all equally as spectacular. We finished off the Grand Canyon with a visit to Desert View.
Leaving the park we stopped off to get some food for our BBQ that eve. We arrived at Bryce Valley KOA campsite and after eating we all got into our sleeping bags and lay out on the porch of the cabin and looked at the beautifully clear starry sky and although it was a little cold it didn't matter
as we must have seen at least 6 shooting stars including one massive one that lit up the whole sky.
The following day was spent with a trip to Bryce Canyon, another spectacular sight but very different from the Grand Canyon allowing us this time to hike through the canyon right to the bottom so we could get close up to the rock formations. The colours of the rocks were again beautiful and I liked seeing the chipmunk scampering about!
With Bryce Canyon explored we began the journey back to Vegas passing through Zion Canyon, yet another national park, and would you believe it, different scenery again! Very mountainous and was great to get some close ups of some wild dear. The sunset that evening was one of the best yet.
The drive back to Vegas went pretty quickly and as it was Rory and Morgs last night before returning back home to the UK the boys decided they wanted more night in Vegas and one more chance to win big, so they dropped me off at Nicole’s and headed off onto the Strip for a night of Blackjack and Craps whilst Nicole and I went to an Irish
pub.
The next morning I spent sorting the following week of our trip until Doddy arrived back at 11am, fed up after getting lost for 45 mins. We spent half an hour planning until we looked out the window and realised the hire car had gone. We looked around the neighbourhood but there was no sign and we then realised the car had been towed, with a couple of threatening signs concluding our suspicions. Darling Doddy had innocently parked the car on a red fire route where he'd seen other cars parked. Lesson learned: Don't be a sheep! The hire car was due to be returned back in just 2.5 hours and we had no idea where it was! Luckily Nicole’s housemate Glen was on hand and quickly located the car and took us down to the pound to pick it up. We arrived at what can best be described as a dog rough industrial estate where although we attempted to play innocent British citizens who were unaware of towing violations we were slapped with a $190 release fee by a dragon of a woman who said we were to pay in cash up front and every 15 minutes
it was in the pound would be charged at $45 extra.
$190 paid immediately and 1 really fed up and annoyed Doddy and Bowks. Still we had it back and luckily dropped it off at the airport with minutes to spare. Phew! Nicole picked us up from the airport again and returned to her house feeling a sense of disbelief of the whole car towing incident. A good hearty meal was in order so Doddy put his culinary skills to work and made lasagna for all, just what was required as tomorrow we were leaving Las Vegas heading towards San Francisco.
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Matt Herwin
non-member comment
Very Grand Canyon!
Canyon view, fantastic, friends with you even better, car thing... ouch!