Wednesday was a great day. We got picked up by Bill of ATV Adventure Tours for a "Four Aces" trip to Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and the Joshua Forest. We shared the van with 8 others, only 2 of which were Americans, from New Jersey. Not great representatives for their nation, but whatever. Two others were from Mexico, two from England and we had two other fellow Canucks from Victoria, BC. Of course, they were the nicest, and like us, were always back where we were supposed to be at the right time, next to us. Canadians are the best. Really.
Now before I get into details of the trip, I should mention that I think this was the day that someone got shot and killed in the parking lot of the Palms, which is just off the strip. Or, I guess it was late the night before, whatever. Anyway, it was affecting traffic the next morning, and the local shows had helicopters above. You could see the body, covered up, as well as several people standing around the scene, with the usual police tape all over the place. If you saw me glued to the tv then, you might have thought I was worried about safety, as Nancy and I planned to go to the Palms the next day. Really, I was just looking for Grissom. :)
So the first stop on our adventure was Lake Mead. The roads on the way there look nice and new. It would seem that Las Vegas benefits from some state and federal infrastructure money (HINT HINT to tptb here in Canada). Got lots of good info from Bill, our guide, about how Las Vegas is 7 years into a drought, about how residents aren't allowed to have grass in their front yards, and have a maximum amount they can have in their backyards (I forget how much, but it didn't sound like a lot). Both Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam had rings of white on the cliffs around the water, calcium deposits I suppose, that showed just how low the water level was.
Since my parents went to Vegas, 9-11 has changed the tourists view of the Hoover Dam. There are checkpoints with with some level of police on both sides (federal? state?) checking out your vehicle and who's on board. Also, you can't get deep into the workings of the dam like you used to. It's clear that things have changed. The feds are funding a giant highway that by-passes the dam entirely, as commercial traffic is no longer allowed to drive across it.
So next, we began the long drive to the Grand Canyon, part of it being off road in the Joshua Forest. Good thing they had some heavy duty tires on that van. Two-thirds of the Grand Canyon area is the property of the Hualapai nation (pronounced Wall-a-pie). We went to the West rim, which, I'm told is the least commercial view. First you stop off at the little Grand Canyon West airport (where we lost four of our ten to the helicopter tour) and then we hopped on a big bus for a lift to "Eagle Point" then "Guano Point" (yes, that guano, it means what you think). Eagle Point is so named because of the eagle formation you can see in the rocks. I'll try to throw a picture of that up here in the next little while. Very cool. But it was warm, just windy, which is a little frightening when there's nothing separating you from the top and a fall to your demise and being eaten by wildlife. But, as I'm typing this, you know I didn't fall. Never really got closer than 2 feet from the edge, and quite frankly, that's a-ok with me.
At Guano Point we had a BBQ lunch prepared by the natives. The beef had apparently started cooking sometime the day before on hickory wood. It was good, but hard to keep the paper plate down. So about the Guano. I really don't know. I think that's what the rock in that part was originally. It didn't smell or anything. Great view.
I was still pretty cautious, and didn't go as high up as Nancy. Quite frankly my legs were killing me from all the walking and I really didn't feel sure-footed enough.
On the drive back to Vegas, most of us were asleep, at least once we got past the off road portion and onto the smoother highway. But back to the off road portion....we stopped in the Joshua forest to take some pictures and a got stabbed in the hand by one of those suckers, which are more like a cactus than a tree really. Some were apparently as old as 900 years, but that's through carbon dating, as they have no trunk to allow you to count the rings--I'll try to get a picture of that up later. We also drove by a Dude Ranch somewhere around there. Yes, there are actual Dude Ranches still out there, letting your average business guy be a cowboy for a week. I saw horse covered wagons and the like. Didn't see the snakes, but they were apparently there, so I was happy we stayed in the van and kept going.
So the tour was fun, and maybe next time I'll be brave enough to try the helicopter one. We'll see...
Back on the strip for dinner we went to the Venetian's Taqueria Canonita for more Mexican food. More guacamole. More margaritas. Yummy. The restaurant was right on the canal so we got to watch the gondolas go by with their opera singing drivers.
After dinner we took the bus to the Freemont District to see the ceiling light show. It was okay, but compared to the rest of the trip, it was kinda boring. The people gambling at the downtown casinos looked like life had been really hard on them, as they drank and smoked and lost more nickels. It was definitely for the more senior, far too serious gambler.
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