What Goes Down Must Come Up!

Friday, July 12, 2013
Los Vegas and helicopter to the Canyon floor!

(Here's a warning!  As I went through the photos deciding what to add - the choices were overwhelming.  Grab a cup of coffee and prepare to fly through these or you'll lose a whole day!)

We get kind of a late start today, after last night's outing.  Breakfast, organizing and off to do a little sightseeing before we meet our ride to the Boulder City Airport.  We park at New York, New York and it's free!  There are pedestrian overpasses across many of the streets and we use one to cross Las Vegas Boulevard to get to the MGM Grand for the Lion Habitat.  As we enter a lady gives us free tickets to preview something or other...everyone is giving free tickets to something or other!  She also tells us that there are no longer any lions here.  Bummer!!  We explore a bit just to see what another casino looks like.  There is a Rainforest Cafe, like the one in Orlando and some fascinating friezes that have movie cameras in them!  Other than that, it is dark and filled with machines and tables for taking your money!

Look at all those people!

 Back across the street and another overpass takes us to Excalibur.  Like MGM except with a Medieval theme.  There are some signs with puns of a sort!  And there is a passageway that goes all the way to the Luxor.  It takes us past lots and lots of shops and restaurants and even has some moving sidewalks because there is a lot of walking!

They also have "No Spain, no gain" and "Let's Russia to the show"!

We have a pretzel so that our tummies aren't empty when we fly.  They will feed us but probably not before five or so!

The Luxor is Egyptian-themed.  Go figure!  Other than that it is pretty much the same.  It is always dark, there are no clocks or places to sit unless it is in front of a machine or a dealer!  There is quite a science to this!

Back to NY, NY so there is lots of time to be at our appointed meeting place.  Again, no where to sit so Marilyn decides to get a salad.  We can sit in a restaurant!  I get an iced tea because I feel guilty just taking up space!  After we eat we get to our "spot" fifteen minutes early and the van is already there!

Lady Liberty is filled with Jelly Bellies

Street scene inside New York, New York

It is about a half hour drive to the airport and there are twelve of us filling the van.  Once we arrive we check in and have to stand on the "footprints".  There is a little give when you do that;  it's the scale!  And they don't say the number out loud!  YAY!  Then there is a safely video and a lot of waiting for our particular bird to be ready to take to the air.

There is a possibility that we might not get to fly.  We have to sign a release saying that we know there is that chance and that we might get to fly but not put down.  There are thunderstorms in the area and while the fire fighters are thrilled, we are hoping for clear skies!

This one is just lifting off.

"Three Little Maids from school are we"

Each helicopter holds six people plus the pilot.  Our pilot, Christian, is a young man who is working on his turbo license but has fifteen hundred hours in helicopters.  He and his wife have a cat named Lucky because she was found inside a truck engine!

We fly over Hoover Dam and get marvelous views of Lake Mead, over the spot where the Colorado River enters Lake Mead, over Spirit Mountain where the young Huavapia braves did their spirit quests, over land that is totally bare but marked out in lots, and then the Grand Canyon comes into view.

There are no words.  We follow the Colorado River for a bit before settling down along the shore to have our picnic lunch and take pictures. We are reminded that this land is sacred to the tribe and we lucky that they let us use it.  Accordingly we are very careful not to disturb anything or to leave any trash behind. Lunch is served under a canopy from darling little woven lunch baskets.  They contain turkey croissant sandwiches, chips and brownies and a champagne glass that Christian fills for us.  Everyone has a chance to take pictures and Christian is happy to do the honors, too.

That's the glass walkway over the Canyon

Too soon we climb back aboard for the return flight and Christian puts on some background music.  We are all wearing noise-canceling headsets with mics so we can ask questions;  but only one lady tries to do that.  The rest of us are all too enthralled and spend all our time jockeying for position to get our photos.

Darn!  It's over!  We succumb to the need for the photo of us with Christian in front of our helicopter surrounded by views of the Canyon.  How could we not!

Back to Las Vegas.  There are some Indian (from India) children aboard and one is thrilled when he spots a Chili's!  The next time we pass one everybody cheers!  Quite a giggle.

Cancun Resort

We are dropped off at NY, NY and decide to see how much of the night-time Vegas we can see.  We're hoping for the fountains at the Bellagio and, maybe, the volcano at the Mirage.  Boy oh boy is that a lot of walking and there are sure a lot of people!  Up and over the overpasses is great but sometimes there is a sign suggesting an escalator that really seems to be a lure into the stores!  We only try that once.  I'm sure it's there somewhere but it's not worth the effort to find it!  Speaking of stores, if it's expensive, it's here.  Prada, Louis Vaton, Gucci...all of them!

We get a pretty good spot for the fountains and wait patiently.  It is just getting dark so they dance every quarter hour and the show lasts a bit over three minutes.

More walking takes us past Caesar's Palace.  It must cover three normal-sized city blocks!  Fountains, statues, a replica of the Colosseum, I can't imagine how many rooms there must be!    Marilyn says walking these sidewalks is like a gigantic midway.  Every casino name you've ever heard is here.

As on Fremont Street, there are people hoping for your money.  Some are dressed for photos, others play instruments or just sit on the ground with a sign and a basket.  They are soliciting "tips".  Perhaps that keeps the police away?  No one is as funny as the man we saw the first day.  He had two signs.  Onc said "Family kidnapped by ninjas" and the other said "Bet you can't hit me with a quarter"!

Most people are dressed in shorts but as night wears on there are lovely ladies hurrying along in heels and evening wear.  And others are passing out fliers for Ladies' Nights and reduced admission to the clubs.  We finally, finally arrive at the Mirage in plenty of time to stake out our view of the volcano.  Along the way we have spotted The Quad, which will be the site of tomorrow night's adventure, a drag show called "Divas" that looks fabulous!  We ordered our tickets this morning and because it's summer we were able to get good seats on such short notice.

There are animal noises that grow in volume, the lights on the rocky waterfall go out, and the volcano begins to erupt!  Red lights, smoke and FIRE!  This is quite a show! It lasts minutes and thirty-five seconds according to the video on Marilyn's phone (her camera battery is exhausted - like us!) and we're glad we were so early because there are a lot of people stacked up behind us!

Time wo enter the river of gawkers and let them carry us back to NY, NY and our car.  We figure that we must have walked five or six miles today, most of it tonight!  One foot in front of the other.  If we stop we may not start again so it is imperative that we keep moving!

A giggle to end the day!

Fifty-five minutes of non-stop action and we are back!  Up to our car and back to the Wild Wild West.  We aren't feeling very wild and don't even look at our photos!  Take me to my bed!!  How can it only be 10:15??  What a day!