Ahhh, the desert.  This trip was very exciting for me, for a few reasons.  First, I had never been west of the Mississippi.  Second, I had never been to the desert.  Third, this was the first trip that I had planned, from start to finish, all by myself.  I kinda felt like a grown up, for a few minutes, hehe.

Truth be told, the real reason for going to Vegas at all, was to have a cheap area to stay in while getting to tour the Grand Canyon, in nearby Arizona.  And, that arrangement worked out quite well.  Las Vegas, NV is usually a pretty cheap city to fly into, so air travel was not expensive.  Plus, I found a small hotel in the old part of the city that was cute, and quiet, for $60 a night…not too shabby.  I’m definitely not a 5-star hotel kind of girl…gimme a clean, safe, quiet, cheap room, and I’m as happy as a clam! 🙂

Also, I’m not a gambler, so I wasn’t tempted to throw lots of money into the pockets of scary looking machines and people wearing funny sequined vests.  Although there are opportunities lurking everywhere…besides every single hotel having at least one casino, you can also begin gambling right in the McCarran airport, hehe.

Even though it was a short trip, the few days I had to explore Vegas were lots of fun.  Especially since there is a lot to see for free.

The first thing I got to enjoy for free was the scenery.  Even the view from the airport was breathtaking.  I didn’t know what to expect when I tried to picture what the desert was going to be like.  And seeing the colors in the distant rocks, the reds, purples, tans and browns, were absolutely beautiful.  The lack of trees did not seem weird at all and it did not make the view seem naked one bit.  Trees would have just subtracted from the perfection.

Driving along The Strip was fun.  And, I didn’t realize how long The Strip actually is.  The road seems to go on forever, passing hotel after hotel after hotel.  To make the journey easy on tourists, taxi’s are never hard to find, and there are also double-decker busses making the rounds every 20 mins, which is very convenient.

Evening is when the city comes alive, and all the hotels have something exciting to show off.  The Bellagio has a larger-than-life dancing fountain, the Mirage has a tranquil waterfall that turns into an angry volcano, and Treasure Island has a pirate ship battle in their moat! There is also the Freemont Street Experience, where a canopy covers a few blocks that are closed off to cars.  The canopy is like the world’s biggest screen-saver, and every 30 mins or so, huge light shows and animations are shown, often to a different style of music.  Pretty cool.

In between seeing all the sights the city had to offer was a day-trip to the Grand Canyon…aka…the real reason for going to the desert.  The package I chose was a door-to-door service helicopter tour, and it was fabulous.  After getting picked up from the hotel and driven a short distance to the air strip, I was whisked away by plane to the Grand Canyon site.  Even though the flight was short, we still got to see the beautiful topography, the Hoover Dam, and gorgeous Lake Mead.  And then…out of no where, I saw cracks in the earth so large, it was as if I had a magnifying glass up to my eyes.  The Grand Canyon was before me and it was indeed grand.

I have to say, a helicopter is an awesome mode of transportation, and if they weren’t so expensive, I’d get one.  🙂  I got to sit right next to the pilot to drink in 180 degrees of unobstructed canyon view as we flew into the massive cracks.  We were bobbing and weaving around pillars of rock and sheer cliffs, before touching down on a bank near the Colorado River.  Then we had a leisurely boat ride down a portion of the water before having the helicopter take everyone further on, through more crevices, before bringing us to our complimentary picnic area.  After we had a delicious meal, everyone had some time to look around the little gift shop before being whisked back to where we all came from.  An excellent use of a long afternoon.

It was late October, the temperature was a perfect 75-80 degrees, the sun was shining, and it was impossible to take a bad picture of the beauty before me.  I remember a sense of accomplishment washing over me as I was returning to the hotel.  I had wanted to see the Grand Canyon for a long time, and I made it happen, and it was easy, and most importantly, it was everything I expected it to be and more.