Tag 8 - Las Vegas - GRAND CANYON

Yesterday we started around 6:45 a.m. The meeting point happened to be right next to our hotel 😅. Destination of our day trip: Grand Canyon ⛰️

I was pretty excited - Elisa, on the other hand, was relatively calm. We had booked the “National Park Express - Bus C” tour, but appeared in the participant list for Bus B, but everything seemed to be fine... A company employee tried very hard to call out the names from all over the world somewhat correctly 😅👍 🏻.

Our guide's name is something like "John Wayne" (as he said) and he immediately stuck a sticker with "Wayne" on his top 😅. At the beginning there were a few tips and a power bar for everyone. He was immediately likeable. We were definitely on the right bus! Let's go! 🚌

After we drove out of LV, we noticed two huge solar farms that Elon Musk had built that will power - I think - 70,000 families. In addition, there is a large wind farm - in the DESERT! 👍🏻😀

Since the trip crossed a federal border from Nevada to Arizona (and to the native peoples), the bus was inspected by an officer at a checkpoint. Everything okay! Keep going! 👮‍♂️

First stop: Hoover Dam. This supplies the city of Las Vegas with 98% of its water and is indispensable in the region. It is the largest and/or thickest dam in the world (not entirely understood). The bus stopped nearby for about 20 minutes. We had to climb 96 steps up a bridge opposite to get a nice view of the structure. Some stayed right at the bottom 😅. It went down pretty deep 🫢 Quickly take a picture and go again!

After a stop at an amusing gas station/trucker rest stop, we continued to a viewing point right on the freeway. From there you had a good all-round view of the landscape/vegetation/mountains. You could definitely take it with you.

Now the heart palpitations slowly started. We were approaching the canyon proper. In the course of this we crossed the US border and came to the Hualapai Native American reservation.

We finally arrived at the base camp around 11am. From there the shuttle buses go to Eagle Point, where the famous Skywalk is located. When we got out, we got a first impression, which wasn't bad!

We got in line for the Skywalk and after about 30 minutes we came to the employee at the entrance who scanned our tickets. He noticed that we didn't have the correct tickets and sent us away (not included in the tour). We should buy an extra ticket and get back in line at the end. That was out of the question due to the limited time... I have to admit I was pretty depressed and had to struggle a bit to keep my composure. I was so looking forward to this moment and then it just burst like a soap bubble within a second. Elisa, on the other hand, accepted it very pragmatically and sportily. That was very, very bitter.

Afterwards we went to the Skywalk restaurant and ate mediocre food at best. But at least that was included in the price.

We then briefly debated whether we should take the shuttle straight back to our tour bus or to the Guano Point stop.

We drove to Guano Point. That was the right decision. We were presented with a view that we had never seen before. We can't describe it with words. These images are simply burned into our memories. Unfortunately, the time was short to allow the impressions to sink in more deeply. But it was enough for a few pictures 🤩.

Unfortunately, some people are very overconfident in order to take the perfect picture. Our guide said that 12 people had fatal accidents here last year. The edges are not secured and if you are not careful you will fall into the depths.

Ultimately it was a great day: The guide was great: very funny, committed, simply personable and was able to give us a lot of information. On top of that, there was a certificate from one of the Native Americans to visit the reservation. We are very, very happy about the trip to Guano Point and the disappointment at Eagle Point was completely swept away. I would even say that the impressions are more extreme. In this respect, we were so happy that we took plenty of images with us in our heads that we will surely keep for eternity 🇺🇸✈️😁🥰.

Good night 😴