Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon

The tour to the Western US National Parks that I took in 2013 was a change of pace for me. Usually I take trips to places with lots of history, architecture, art, and local culture. The National Parks are scenic. They are located in some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the US. So it was all natural beauty instead of much of anything man made.

We started our tour in Las Vegas. I arrived fairly early in the day. After checking into Treasure Island, where my room was located on the Mirage side (which a friend of mine had told me had the best views and he was right), I had some lunch and then went exploring. The Venetian, Flamingo, Mirage, Harrah’s, Caesar’s Palace were all nearby. The Bellagio, with its dancing fountains, was not far as well. The fountains could be easily seen from my room all lit up at night.

It was quite a hot day, with the temperature just a bit over 100°F. I walked down the Strip to take a closer look at the Venetian. It played off of an Italian theme, with gondolas and buildings modeled after those in Venice. After that, I visited Madame Tussaud’s for fun.

I headed back to Treasure Island, which naturally had a pirate theme. They had some battles between a couple of ships in the lagoons outside of the hotel. I found that these battles went on at all hours of the day and night. But they weren’t on my side of the hotel, so they didn’t disturb my sleep.

Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, but 1931 was a huge year for them when construction began nearby on the Hoover Dam and the state of Nevada legalized casino gambling. Located within the Mojave Desert, Vegas has a subtropical hot desert climate.

In the late 1930s/early 1940s, organized crime took an interest in building casinos just outside of the city on what is now called the Strip. One of the most famous of the early casinos was the original Flamingo – Bugsy Siegel’s pet project.

I met the rest of the group for drinks at 6pm. Surprisingly to me, most were from the US – mainly the South or the East Coast. There were a handful from Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Seemed like a nice group of people, so I was looking forward to traveling with them. I had also gotten a new smart phone. I was looking forward to sharing the trip as it happened with family and the friend that was planning to join me in the Black Hills.

The next morning, we set out for the Grand Canyon. On the way, we waved at Hoover Dam and Lake Meade as we went by. We also saw some lava flows from now extinct volcanos.

We traveled along Historic Route 66 for a ways. Our morning break was at Seligman. Pretty much lost in the 1950s, Seligman has several kitschy little shops, diners and such for the tourists.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon by lunchtime. We watched an IMAX movie called “Hidden Secrets” before those of us who had signed up for it, took a helicopter ride over the canyon. I had hoped we would dip down within the canyon a little. But the helicopter stayed above it. Something about the winds. I took lots of photos.

The Ancestral Puebloans were the Native Americans who lived in and around the Grand Canyon for thousands of years before the first European arrived in 1540. The first American expedition down the canyon took place in 1869 and was led by Major John Wesley Powell. Three men left the expedition and were never heard from again. To this day, their remains have never been found.

We stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge. A central lodge building, right on the rim, was flanked by several cabins. We had dinner in the lodge and spent quite a bit of time after dinner looking at and photographing the canyon from the ridge at that viewpoint. I managed to get a photo of a California Condor in flight over the canyon.

The next day, we continued along the South Rim to Desert View (which had a tower built to resemble ancient Anasazi watchtowers). We also made a stop at Moran Point.

After leaving the Grand Canyon National Park, we entered the Navajo Nation. Some of the canyon is located in part of the Navajo Nation, which includes most of the Four Corners – Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, with the fourth state being Colorado.

We drove through the Painted Desert, which mainly lies within the Petrified Forest National Park. Quite a bit of the desert also lies within the Navajo Nation.

We arrived in Cameron in time for lunch. We ate at a restaurant attached to the Trading Post. I had a Navajo Taco. This was a large portion of Fry Bread topped with ground beef, chili beans, lettuce, cheese, tomato and mild green chilies. In the Trading Post, I found a large peace pipe carved from a horn and a Hopi Kachina. Both were swathed in large quantities of bubble wrap in order to travel through the rest of the trip safely.

I had in it mind before taking the trip that I wanted to get a Navajo peace pipe, a Hopi Kachina, and a Lakota breastplate. I just hoped that I could get them at reasonable prices. I was excited to get two of the three items already. The Kachina was a bit more than I had intended to pay, but it was hand carved and all wood, which was the traditional way of creating them. It was a bear and a work of art. Photos will be included of the four items I eventually purchased on the trip with the next post.

Next time – Monument Valley & Tony Hillerman.