Day 7

Damn what a day today was.  Where do I possibly start?  In a way that my mate whose initials are SA would understand, it was FUNKILICIOUS.  We are absolutely funked out tonight with joy of what a great day we have had by taking the bull by the horns.

As per yesterday we had a hire car.  First though we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel so that we wouldn't have to worry about eating over the day.  It was AWESOME.  Anything and everything to eat.

Then we hit the road in search of a supermarket on the way to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.  And we found Wal-Mart.  Imagine a Kmart, Coles, Target and a Liquor store, all in one.  A case of 36 cans of beer for $25 or around $28AUS!  So with supplies of batteries, water, soft drink and nibblies it was on the road.

A few missed turns had us exploring lots of places and in one case reversing back from an intersection across 3 lanes to make a right turn.  Right turns on Red Signals is awesome, just stop, look for traffic and turn through the red light.

Hoover Dam was interesting, some really awesome photos.  We didn't do any tours there, just a look see.  Then it was off to the Grand Canyon.  One of the reasons we wanted to hire a car is to experience real USA, not Tourist USA with a tour bus full of tourists.  Tour Bus tours are $225 per person, basically $900 for us or $1,000AUS.  We spent probably $800 all up including meals and tour costs at the Grand Canyon but have a car that we used to get to the Criss Angel show the previous night.  And parking everywhere in Las Vegas is free, and that is Valet parking, just a couple of bucks for a gratuity.

We saw real USA today, stopped at the Castle Rock Trading Post, chatted to real people, had a light snack meal.  We stopped where wanted to to take photos, went where we wanted to, it was awesome.

I'm not even going to try and describe the Grand Canyon, words do not do it justice, have a look at the pictures and come and see it for yourself, you can go right up to the edge of it, a 4,700 foot drop away into the canyon, Lorraine and I didn't, but Ebony and Jade did with assistance from a Park Ranger, all four of us did the Skywalk, a glass walkway out over the canyon, its just plain scary, but I did it.  I will be back in 2016, on a Harley, with mates, I'm looking at you SA and KM.

The best part of doing it our way is that we went later in the day, after the tourist buses had left, we saw it without crowds.  We spoke to one of the Hualapai Indians at length about their history and once she realised we were genuinely interested she really opened up.  It was fascinating to say the least hearing her tell us the history of the tribe.

The drive home was also awesome, on the interstate doing 65mph and being passed like you're standing still.  Then laughing as you see one of the speed demons sitting on the side of the road with a patrol car.  The road network is awesome and just what you imagine it to be, roads going everywhere and spaghetti like junctions.

Dinner is pizza and there is a story in that that I cannot tell as Lorraine will kill me.  Tomorrow is the Elvis wedding and Las Vegas bus tour.  More pictures to come.  We are getting a DVD of the wedding, but that will have to wait till we get home for public viewing.

Pics from today, plus some others from the airport/flight from the other day I forgot were on the phone.  Careful there's over 200 photos in the link below.

Another point to mention, while we were waiting for the passports last week, I saw a girl using a "selfie pole", its a pole that you attach your phone or camera to, it extends out and you basically point the camera back at yourself on timer to take a picture.  That's how I get a lot of the pictures with all of us in them.

Sean & Lorraine

Day 7
Day 5/6
Day 4 Photos
and videos
http://youtu.be/Fhm-bt4ZIgs
http://youtu.be/burf7_6_uU4
http://youtu.be/CfDxYYOZm8o
http://youtu.be/DVkzfa9jcjc
http://youtu.be/dQYTj6lxUBw
Day 3 Pearl Harbour + more
Day 2 Holidays
Day 1 USA