After a two day drive from Yosemite, stopping at Bakersfield to break up the very long journey. We stayed there for a night, before beginning the second leg of the drive to Las Vegas. The heat was incredible, and we managed to clock 46 degrees Celsius on the in-car thermometer! After checking in the night before, we visited our relatives again where they were staying at the Paris hotel. I'll mention this in the next post because this one is devoted to a big long rip in the ground... The night before, we rang up and booked our Grand Canyon Maverick helicopter tour and bus-led rim visits for the next day...
After we arrived in a small aircraft, which seated around 15 people. It took a flight of around 45 minutes to reach the Grand Canyon airport terminal, around the equivalent of flying London from Manchester in the UK. There was a little turbulence, because of a large amount of storm/rain-cloud activity in the nearby area, but nothing too bad. After we'd landed, we were taken over to the terminal to board our helicopter flight. We were all very excited, and some were a little nervous... Not Juliet though!
After we arrived in a small aircraft, which seated around 15 people. It took a flight of around 45 minutes to reach the Grand Canyon airport terminal, around the equivalent of flying London from Manchester in the UK. There was a little turbulence, because of a large amount of storm/rain-cloud activity in the nearby area, but nothing too bad. After we'd landed, we were taken over to the terminal to board our helicopter flight. We were all very excited, and some were a little nervous... Not Juliet though!
We set off very smoothly, accelerating quickly to a ground speed of over 140mph as we soared over a large forest of Ponderosa Pines. After around 7 minutes of flight, we approached the rim of the canyon. As we crossed, a wonderful vista opened up before us, as our altitude changed from 700ft to over a mile high! We got a great look at the Colorado river, which we even saw some rafting boats in. Don't get too excited though, the waiting list for these rafting trips is 2 years long...
As well as the stunning Colorado river, we were treated to excellent, otherwise unreachable perspectives, of rock formations such as Vishnu, Brahma, Tower of Ra, Solomon Temple, Jupiter Temple, and many more. Take a look at the answer on this Yahoo question for more information right here
After our helicopter ride, we were taken by bus to some of the more famous points of the canyon, on the South Rim, which was where we were based. We visited both Mather Point and Bright Angel Point, and got some stunning views of the Canyon from right on the edge.
Our day at the Grand Canyon was very long, so after an awesome Vietnamese meal in Treasure Island and enjoying the 'Sirens of Treasure Island' show from our awesome viewpoint room, we slept!
Watch the next post for a view of Las Vegas and our shopping trip in the Fashion Show Mall!
Caroline :)
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