Las Vegas photos part 2

[fbhjr]

Saturday morning we got up at 4AM, got the bus to the airport at 5AM and drove out of the city into the dark.

(Yes, I know that looks like Utah from the air. But, dark is dark, right…)

After we got to the airport the sky began to have some light.


My wife enjoyed the artificial lights.


Just before it crossed the horizon we went to our plane.


For some reason my seat had 6 air sickness bags. Don’t know what they expected.


My wife was happy with the large windows.


As we took off we could see why the ride was so dark. Nothing in the mountain pass to see.


Not a lot in general out there.


The sun did finally show up.


Things began looking more canyon like.


This is a photo of my wife taking a photo of Hoover Dam.


See…


It is interesting landscape.


Scale is hard to tell. It took me a bit to realize this was house trailers.


But, cool to look at.


We did get a view of where we were going.


As I said, nice big windows.


That is certainly a canyon.


When we landed it was very clear it had been raining recently.


Many clouds were still around.


A local friend came out to greet us.


Even on the ground, lots of big spaces.


Our first stop was the ranch. It seems like a nice idea. No one went there…


Finally we got to Eagle Point where the Skywalk has been built.


They call it Eagle Point because they say this looks like an eagle.

Don’t really see it myself…

They encourage you to go look over the edge first.


I think that guy there was supposed to stop you from going so close you’d fall off. But, that’s just my assumption. Nothing was said about it. He could just be someone who was hoping to see a tourist fall to their death…


My worry was you had to step over a big crack to get to the edge.

The talk on the plan as we flew there said the canyon gets bigger when these cracks form, rocks split off and fall to the bottom.
Hmm…


Well, it was a nice view.


Anyhow, that isn’t why we were there. We were there so my wife could go out on the Skywalk.



The photographer said she should pretend she was pushing me over, but to me it looks more like she’s just rubbing my belly.


Yay!


And now, the photo that was the thing desired for the whole trip:

(Look, I got to go to Wales and it isn’t like that was cheap, right?)

That done, back on the bus to the next place. (We did actually spend a fair bit of time out on the glass. But, they took the photos so there aren’t so many of them…)


Across the desert along the rim.


Off to Guano point for more views of the canyon and lunch.


It is a nice view.











They let you go as close to the edge as you want. All that stops you is a sign.


The crows are just waiting. You go to the bottom, they’ll come visit.


We were worried about this woman from India walking backwards off the cliff as she looked at her viewfinder.


And, it is a long way down.


We had a talk with her about it and offered to take her photo if she needed it.


Just for a sense of scale, this is my wife pouting out a helicopter to her. It’s that little white dot.


My wife liked looking at what grew there.

Some of it had clearly just bloomed. We attributed it to the rain.



When we explained the family curse to the Indian woman she said "how nice you bring life wherever you go." That’s a nice take on us always being cold and wet…

I liked seeing the boulders, birds, tree and moon.


My wife did seem to enjoy it there.



It is called Guano Point as there used to be a bat poop mine there.


They had a cable car down to a cave that was the mine. You can just make out the other tower on the rock in front of the river.



It seems like a very strange idea that folks would show up at a place like this to take a cable car to a cave to go mine bat poop for a living.


But, there I was paying to see where people showed up to take a cable car to a cave to go mine bat poop for a living.


For more more scale, you can see our bus at the top of the cliff.

And, that helicopter again.


Then we had lunch with the crowd.


This one came up to our table and posed for me. He got a bit of a roll for it.


Then, back to the airport.


While we were there we heard some music. Apparently they were doing traditional dancing outside the airport. Sadly we didn’t know that or would have gone to watch.


Our friend said goodbye to us as we left.


It had clouded up again and gotten colder, so we were happy to get in the plane.


Then, back down the runway and off.






Back to Nevada.





One of the things about the plane was you could see the folks doing the flying as they came in for the landing.


Then, back on the ground.


In the daylight there was far more to see on the ride back to Las Vegas.



I can see our hotel from there!


But, I really liked the clouds in the mountains.


It didn’t seem to take as long going back. But, maybe that was just being able to see where we were going.





Back to the hotel and up to our room about 12 hours after our first time there.

Comments

[tjoel2]

Wow! Great photos. I love the crow. I actually lived in Vegas for about 3 years.

[malterre.livejournal.com]

Just curious, how is it to live there year round? Is there a big temperature variation? And I feel that outside of the strip-it was set yup a lot like the town we live in -with fewer pedestrian traffic hazards.

[tjoel2]

There are huge variations in temperature in the desert during the year. The summer we moved there it was 122 degrees. That December, it snowed.
Yea, we were in a very nice residential area. So close that you could see the lights from the strip at night, but it seemed like a million miles away.

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Amazing photos. Really gorgeous! You really brought the canyon to life for me. I loved seeing y'alls adventure.

(I totally saw the eagle. It is spreading it's wings..)

[circumspectly.livejournal.com]

What a cool trip! Amazing pictures!

[cosmicirony.livejournal.com]

That glass walkway terrifies me (I have a fear of heights), but judging from Holly's smile you guys had a good time!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

My wife is also afraid of heights, but picked this for the present. And, she had less trouble than I did on it.

[endlessblush.livejournal.com]

I love love love love love all the photos.

Your wife looks so happy! What a wonderful gift to give her. Happy Birthday!!

I flew to see the Grand Canyon, a long time ago now, I was violently ill several times as there was a lot of turbulence due to the heat thermals or something?? I don't know, I didn't hear the explanation very well - I was too sick.

I'm so glad you had a wonderful time - your photos are truly magnificent.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

So, all those bags in the plane were for you!
At least they were prepared...

[meathiel]

Wow ... amazing!
I just wish it wasn't so far away or I'd totally go ... haha ...

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

COOOOL!!!

Those Ravens are pretty bold…but then, they're known for that.

Thanks so much for sharing these!

[idic-writer.livejournal.com]

We have been to the Grand Canyon, but never seen it from the air--amazing! So glad you two had a fun trip. :)

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

you got some truly amazing photos of the Canyon, and i love the photos on the skywalk, esp Holly laying down. LOL

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Those are some gorgeous pics!

[frozendoll.livejournal.com]

These pictures are great. Thanks for sharing them! I've been to Vegas many times and my friends never want to go see the Grand Canyon, which is so depressing to me. I mean, how much gambling & drinking can one do before it becomes tiresome?! (In my friends case, a whole vacations worth!)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

What great pictures! Thanks for sharing them, they really reinforced that I'd like to see the Grand Canyon one day.

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

Amazing photos, amazing birthday present!

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

LOLLLLLLLLLLLL look another black one!! I love your humor Frank!

Great pics!! i would love to visit the grand canyon some day

[katefinn.livejournal.com]

Great pics! I got antsy just by looking at some of the canyons shot... scary! But pretty!

[merilune.livejournal.com]

Such great photos! I can see that it would be a ton of fun there! I love that picture with the wet ground and the clouds, it's so pretty!

I've said it a couple of times now but MAN that hotel is so cool!

[cissa.livejournal.com]

That looks fabulous!

Although I have nightmares that resemble that glass walk! :)

[peterb.livejournal.com]

Looks like a brilliant trip :)

Although that skywalk thing looks like it has the capacity to turn one's bum into a rabbit's nose.