On our third day of vacation in Vegas we did something I've wanted to do for a very long time. And it was on my 30/30 list and I decided that come hell or high water, I was going on this trip. It was pretty much the splurge (OK- so the entire trip was a splurge, but this was a big splurge) of my trip and in the end, I only got to go because of a really good deal I found online a week before.
Bitches- we went to the GRAND CANYON.
In a bus.
It was as glorious as it could be.
The day started with getting picked up at our hotel in a shuttle bus at 6am. There was quite a bit of confusion about which bus we were supposed to be on because there were two different canyon tours and everyone figured out we must be going to a holding place first. In my eagerness, I almost got onto a bus before I realized that the entire thing was full of Chinese people and nobody (not even the driver) spoke English. I was fairly certain that was not my bus. And finally, our bus did come, only a half hour late.
Once we got to the tour place, they made us sit on this bus for (no kidding) an HOUR. Every other bus got to get off, and get onto the bus that was taking them to the canyon. Seriously, after an hour I was kind of cranky. So we get off, we get organized into which group goes where (we were doing the South Rim tour and the other people were doing the West Rim tour, which is more expensive but I think would be more fun, more on that in a bit), and you get "breakfast".
Matt and I picked seats on the top (it was a double decker bus), near the back. We weren't the dead last row, but the one in front of it.
This is my breakfast. The name looked Swedish, but the thing was awful. I'm marking this as my "eating internationally" thing on vacation. It was the closest I came.
From there, we drove like two, almost three hours to the Hoover Dam. Which was actually kind of awesome.
And this is the new bridge they made for it for cars to go over since you can't drive over the Hoover Dam anymore because of terrorist prevention. The cool thing was that they said the concrete in this wouldn't fully cure for at least another 100 years. Kind of awesome.
And these angel statues were pretty neat. The one on the left is for the first man who died while working on the Hoover Dam and the one on the right is for the last man who died working on the Hoover Dam. Coincidentally, it was a father and his son. Amazing?
From there we drove another six hours to our first Grand Canyon stop point. We saw the Grand Canyon IMAX movie (kind of lame) and had "lunch". Lunch was included with our tour and honest to baby jeebus it was awful. First off, there are signs everywhere saying they have no running water because of a water main break. One of the workers said it had been that way for TWO WEEKS. No, I don't know if they mean the break, the lack of water, or both. But... gross. The bathrooms? I won't even talk about and you better be appreciative I don't have a picture for you.
So we get our food (Matt gets some faux Chinese food in a box under a warmer and I get a turkey and cheese sandwich) and get back onto the bus. By this point, we were running way late since we started way late so we had to eat and drive which was fine. Matt scarfed down his lunch and I took one bite and decided my gum had to do it because the sandwich was hard. The bread, the turkey and the cheese had all very clearly been hanging out together on that counter for quite some time. I'm going to say picking up food from a gas station would be better. Approximately 15-30 minutes after Matt finished his food, his intestines were clearly unhappy and it's probably good there was so much cold air blowing because everyone would have suffocated. I'm not even kidding.
But we finally got there. And it was worth it.
Nothing can really prepare you for how incredibly massive the Grand Canyon is. You know it's huge but seeing it, and knowing you are seeing less than 1% of it? Is just amazing. And being a kind of Geology nerd I was in total nerd heaven.
Another thing off my 30/30 list for sure.
We drove another half hour to the second (and last) Grand Canyon stop off point and that place was even more gorgeous.
This lookout point had a pretty huge cliff that you could walk fairly far out onto, and so that's where I got this one. Look at those striations in the rocks!! How cool is that??
After that stop we got back onto the bus for the long ass drive back. We stopped at a McDonald's for dinner (thank god- I was starving) and we encountered probably the stupidest and rudest McDonald's worker by far. First off, this place gets hit with a minimum of 10 buses daily, so this makes me assume that the staff here are pretty accustomed to working a large crowd in a short amount of time. I've worked fast food, I know getting a bus sucks, but you do it and you do it fast. Nope. They have two people working registers and our gal is kind of young. I'd say early 20's. For every single customer, after they ordered something, she'd say, "Are you sure? Because you should get something else." Just to be an asshole. Then the lady in front of us had to look at ingredient labels of EVERYTHING, but wouldn't move over so other people could order while she decides. Needless to say, we stood in line for 20 minutes, finally got our food only to *barely* get onto the bus and realized, that she rang us up wrong. I got the wrong meal all together and then half the stuff wasn't in our bag. Awesome.
It was a really long day. I got one picture of the sunset as we drove. OH! I can't believe I almost forgot the best parts! OK, so our neighbors on the bus? The four seats ahead of us (two on each side of the aisle) were gay boys from England. VERY gay boys going on an American tour of sorts, who spoke no English. Anyways. So they were going through their camera looking at photos (which I can clearly see because there is a huge gap in the two seats) and I see a TON of pictures of all four boys doing.... very sexual things. If I ever had questions about gay relations, those questions were answered.
The people behind us (two Chinese people and two people from Mumbai nobody speaks English well) were a trip, too. First off, the Chinese people made out almost the entire trip which completely offended the people from Mumbai. Only I think it did because the Mumbai people were an older married couple (I'd say mid 50's) and the guy was yelling at the Chinese couple (young 20's) and I kept hearing the word "Mumbai" which makes me think they were from Mumbai. It was entertaining for about an hour.
The people in our row on the other side of the aisle were nice, they were from South Carolina but have a vacation home in Lake Nebagamon, WI (which is like 30 minutes from me, if that) and they were lovely. But they (mid 40's, not married) yelled at each other. When they weren't, the guy snored and the lady read a romance novel and moaned a lot.
Not to mention? The Mumbai lady behind me? Well she was using the spring loaded foot rest and kept letting go of it. Not a big deal (aside from the annoying noise) except when she let go, it smacked the ass part of my seat. So for the ENTIRE trip, I was basically getting spanked by a foot rest. Not only that, but she chewed gum the entire time and was smacking it like a cow. AND? On the last leg of the trip she kept putting her feet in between my seat cushion and back cushion, completely fondling my ass with her foot. FINALLY, I had enough so I slammed my hand on her foot and she smacked the back of my seat like I was the asshole.
It was a long day.
I also should mention? This trip lasted an entire 16.5 hours. So.. put all of these people on a bus with me for 16.5 hours??
Miracles do happen.
9 comments:
Bloody Hell what a trip I wonder if anyone ever bothers to complain about the food and lateness....I would if I was there but I a a big complainer now days wasn't when I was younger but now days if I am not happy I complain.......At least it was worth it and you loved the Crand Canyon
first off- you look effing amazing in all your pics. you are glowing! second- you have the best adventures lol and you should've really gotten a pic with the gay boys!
It took you 2 or 3 hours to get to the Hoover Dam from Vegas?! It's only like...30 miles if that! I live 3 hours from Vegas (and an hour from the GC) and the dam is when we know we're close. It's exciting to see that they finally have that bridge up and running! Up until maybe 6 months ago we've just been driving over the dam and watching the bridge get built. It was crazy to see the people out on a half finished bridge!
Your trip looked fun despite all the annoying people and not always good food!
Seriously, the next time you go to Vegas I am going to have to meet you there because we would probably have a blast! I would just like to stay out of the ER this time.
You look fantabulous in all of your Vegas photos, by the way.
And the gay guys were from England but didn't speak English? What did they speak?
Great pictures. I would love to see the Hoover Dam.
We always think about doing a hoover dam tour. I think if we ever do I'm renting a car lol
UMMM... the Hoover Dam is like 45 minutes from Vegas - how the fck were you on the bus for almost 3 hours?!
I'm SO GLAD I was there when you could drive ON the dam... I had no idea you couldn't anymore - that's sad, but I get it.
Sounds like a long day - I hope you got a killer deal on the tour!
The Canyon IS so much more amazing in real life - pictures, even amazing pictures, don't come close to doing it justice!
I took a bus to the Hoover Dam and it was only 45 minutes. Of course it would be 2-3 hours for you! :) The pictures of the Grand Canyon are beautiful and I've never been there but wow, I would not be able to be on a bus for that long. I'd definitely rent a car.
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