OK, so we did manage to stop at Grand Canyon again in the morning before heading out to Vegas. Nice morning light, thought we’d head out to Yaki Point, which is one of the more popular spots. Funny thing, though, you can only get there by shuttle bus. So rather than be pinned down by a shuttle bus we figured hey, let’s just park at the entrance and walk in, I mean how far could it be?

So approximately 1.5 miles later we were there. Did I mention it gets real hot in the morning? Did I mention we didn’t bother to bring water? Fun, not hallucinating fun but getting there ;). Anyhow well worth it, great view from up there:

Decided to check out a couple of the other popular points on the way out as well:

But eventually we did head to Vegas. Not a bad drive, considering. Other than some crazy traffic at the Hoover Dam, including a Police/Homeland Security checkpoint. I kid you not – they let us through though, must’ve been the Mini – I mean what kind of terrorist would drive a Mini anyway?

Oh, it was hot, as said Mini will attest:

Hoover Dam was interesting, other than the traffic:

Huge, and interesting to see:

But eventually we had to get to where we were going, which of course was Vegas. We were set up to stay at the MGM Grand, in a basic but nice room. Huge hotel/casino – it took about 5 minutes to walk from the elevator to our room. Had a relatively quiet night, basically stayed in the MGM and tried not to lose too much money. The real sightseeing is tomorrow.

OK, so we didn’t drop off the face of the earth – just off the Net. So now that I have the chance (on glorious dial-up) I thought I’d put in a quick post to update everyone on our trip. Sorry, no pics on this one but I’m going to edit everything hopefully tomorrow night and fill in the last 3 days.

We are now in Yosemite, after travelling from Grand Canyon to Vegas for 2 days. Vegas was Vegas, and apparently everything stays in Vegas, so sorry can’t fill you in ;). Actually we put in a pretty full day of casino hopping, checking out a lot of the new ones that we hadn’t yet seen (it’s been 10 years since we’ve been). Tough to do when it’s 110+ F. on the strip. Insane, but you sure welcome the A/C in the casinos. Took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower at Paris in the evening and got some pictures of the strip, that was a highlight.

After about 2 days in Vegas we hit the road for Mariposa, which is just outside of Yosemite. Another long day of driving, about 460 miles or 8 hours by the end of it. Turns out the B&B that we are staying at is quite a bit off the main road (12 miles) and quite a bit outside of Yosemite National Park (at least an hour’s drive). We’ll know to book way earlier next time ;).

We were up at 4:30 this morning to hit Yosemite and El Capitan for the sunrise. That’s early. Sick early, but who’s counting. Well worth it, though – can’t wait to post the pics.

Anyway that’s about it. Consider this a temporary posting, real ones to follow tomorrow night sometime….

Busy day today, starting with getting up to watch the sunrise at Bryce Point in Bryce Canyon. That was an adventure in and of itself, especially for a late-night guy like me. But we got there, about 10 minutes before the sun came up. The place was crowded, to say the least:

But it turned out to be more than worth it. The sunrise was great, and the lighting on the canyon was amazing:

So we stuck around for a while, taking pictures there and at the other points that we had not yet seen (Sunrise Point and Sunset Point). Again, great lighting which helped my picture taking:

But we had to head out eventually, so by 8:30am we were on the road to Arizona and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I already know that the US seems to kick our butt as far as highways go, but US-89A (alternate) was a great drive, right alongside many amazing views of mountains and canyons. Made the 250+ miles pass by quite quickly, and we got to the Hotel in Tusayan, AZ at 1:00 local time (1 hour behind Bryce Canyon time).

Prior to reaching the hotel, however, we had to drive through the Grand Canyon National Park. This was because we entered through the Desert View entrance and the hotel was actually at the Southern entrance. So as we were driving through the park we “forced ourselves” to stop at a viewpoint and at least take a look at what we’d be seeing after we checked into the hotel. All I can say is wow:

The picture doesn’t do justice to the sheer mangnitude of the canyon. For those of you that haven’t been, it’s HUGE. The Grand Canyon National Park is approx. 1.2 million acres in size. Bryce Canyon, by comparison, is approximately 35000 acres in size. The span across the Bryce Canyon Ampitheatre is about 3 miles, while the span across the Grand Canyon is as much as 18 miles across. Big difference, and it shows.

We spent a little bit of time at the viewpoint, then headed to the hotel to rest a bit (we got up way too early after all ;)). We did, however, head back to the canyon for sunset. We chose Mather Point, which is apparently one of the best. It was great, and the lighting really set off the canyon floor:

We’re hoping to visit once more tomorrow, checking out some of the other popular viewpoints before we head out to Vegas.

If you’re wondering “hey, are you going to check out that new Skywalk?”. The answer is an emphatic NO. There are many reasons for this. First off, it is not in the Grand Canyon National Park. It is in Grand Canyon West. This is quite a distance from the Grand Canyon everyone knows, which makes things a bit more complicated. Add to this the fact that the last 14 miles of the only road into Grand Canyon West is a bumpy 1 1/2 lane dirt road and it’s getting less attractive. Add even more reasons? OK, it costs $50 just to enter the reservation that has built the Skywalk. It then costs $25 just for the pleasure of walking out onto the Skywalk – a walk that requires you store all of your personal possessions (camera, etc.) in a locker before going out. No pictures, no video, nothing. Their reason: you might drop your camera and damage the glass. Right.

Now you could opt for a “package” from the reservation, which includes a bunch of activities (horse-drawn wagon ride, traditional native dances and presentations, etc.). The beauty of this package is that it includes access to the reservation. But wait, there’s more. It does NOT include the cost of the Skywalk, which is that same $25 again. And the “basic” (i.e. cheapest) package is approximately $85 per person.

Anyhow, wow, and no chance of even getting anywhere near that Skywalk. I hear Vegas has a bunch of stuff like that and most are cheap if not free ;).