The Grand Canyon adventure.

What an amazing day! The Lord has blessed us so much - there was no sign of the predicted rain or storms and we have been able to do all we'd hoped.

The day began with our leaving the house about 6am and walking the half hour to Green Valley Hotel. No one seemed sure of exactly where we were supposed to be waiting (including the Tour people), but thankfully the mini bus arrived and 'Gary' stowed us aboard. Only 12 people on the bus so it was nice to have it a bit more personal. Gary Bates was loud, but a mine of information and filled our brains with history and other facts all the way. That's him on the right, with Don, a member of the Hualapai people who own the Western Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We left Nevada fairly soon and found ourselves in Arizona in the Mojave Desert - bare mountains all around with some huge areas of very flat desert. Sandy pebbly earth with small grasses, very grey, red, brown appearance. The 'Joshua trees' were interesting; that is what they are called but actually they are cacti; they can be a thousand years old and this is the only place in the world where they are native. Gary pointed out numerous varieties of plants, shrubs and trees, most of which are small, as you'd expect in a desert region.

When we were leaving the pick-up point, we told Gary that we'd like to upgrade our tour to include the helicopter/boat ride, and that his booking clerk had said that we could do that at the Canyon. He assured us that would be doable, and sure enough, after we arrived at the main shop/booking area, Roy took our money, and we joined a party of four Chinese tourists. (Most of the visitors were of the Asian persuasion -- hardly any Muggles at all.)

Neither of us had ever been in a 'chopper' before, and it was great -- really exhilarating! Especially when we 'dived' off the edge of the Grand Canyon, and began our descent to the Colorado River below.

Flying close to the massive cliff faces, we slowly descended to a landing platform alongside the river.

Then it was down a rocky path to a boat, which took us upstream for a few hundred metres, then went round in circles while the pilot took photos of his passengers. The river is very deep apparently and was flowing very fast.

Too soon, we were aboard the chopper, and back to the landing area. Gary met us, and we joined a hop on/off bus to Eagle Point, where is the (in)famous Skywalk -- a glass-bottomed walkway that extends out over the Canyon. 

At $32 per head, we might have considered it, but we'd had a chopper ride, compliments of our loving children who had gotten together and presented us with a sum of US currency, with the instruction to 'do something frivolous' with it! Well I don't know whether it was 'frivolous' but we sure had to pinch ourselves realising we were in a helicopter in the Grand Canyon!!

Another visitor offered to take our picture:

It is hard to know what to say about the Canyon - it really is mind blowing. The majesty and might of our amazing God is so clearly evident. The Hualapai whose land this part of the Canyon is on want to keep it like it was for their ancestors, and so there are no fences, safety rails or nets etc. After caring for it for 25 years, they've had not one tragedy. Their community is dry and that is perhaps another reason that their record is so good whereas on the South Rim part operated by the US Govt where alcohol is permitted, safety rails and fences are installed, they have an average of 10 falls per year!

Next we went to Guano Point - so called because of the massive amount of bat guano found in a cave on the opposite side and subsequently mined using a cable car to access it. It was very beautiful here and we clambered over rocks and walked all over the area.

Part of the package was lunch at the Hualapai Ranch. We enjoyed totally scrumptious pork ribs, while being serenaded by a C&W guitarist. Outside, miscellaneous cowpokes were throwing lassos, shooting blanks, and locking up tourists. There was almost a lynching...

Then back to the Hoover Dam, where a pistol-packing security person conducted a peremptory inspection of our vehicle to make sure we were't carrying a nuclear device, or similar ( the yanks are very security conscious -- but I suppose I'd be paranoid too if everyone was out to get me).

The Hoover dams the Colorado, and forms Lake Mead behind the massive wall.

Finally, we visited Boulder City, created in the 1930s to house the 5000 dam workers who built this engineering wonder. In Hemenway Park, we encountered the (wild) Big Horn Sheep which come there to feed.

And then back to Las Vegas, where our guide kindly dropped us not far from the BnB. So tomorrow, on to Maryland, and the Houghton family!