We’d set Wednesday aside to go and see the Canyon That Is Grand. It was an estimated (and as we would learn, actual) four and a half hour drive from Vegas, so we got up not quite at the crack of dawn but shortly thereafter. We jumped into the glorious Pacifica
, grabbed some bad-for-me breakfast, then we were on our way. Sarah said, “Depending on time, we can probably take a detour and go see the Hoover Dam on the way back,” but we soon discovered that the Dam wasn’t a detour so much as it was directly in our path. About forty minutes out of Vegas we were driving over it. We pulled over briefly to take in the sights and point earnestly at Caution signs, then we were back on the road. It was a long haul, but not as bad as we though, and just shy of noon we crossed into Grand Canyon National Park.
What do you say about the Grand Canyon? It’s a pretty damn amazing to see. Zion and Bryce are far more accessible if you’ve only got a few hours, but I think the Grand Canyon has the strongest immediate impact. We were at the South Rim, and there are certain spots where tour buses come in and others where that they can’t. We (Sarah) were lucky enough (smart enough) to hit the non-tour bus spots to start, so while the lookout points weren’t abandoned they also weren’t totally overrun with people. We too
k a lot of nice pics, stood near a lot of precarious drop-offs, and generally had a good time. We hit three other vista points after this, but they provided only slightly different perspectives on the exact same thing (and we didn’t have 12 hours to climb down to the bottom). My tolerance for pretty views is lower than your average person, so I thought I’d be crawling out of my skin before anyone wanted to leave, but fortunately we were all full up on canyon watching at about the same time. We were back in Vegas by about seven, so we grabbed a quick bite and tried to squeeze a full day of gambling into just a few hours. This was accompanied by some truly epic drinking. This was followed by sleep and a torrent of night sweats.
We had a slow start on Thursday. Sarah and Colleen went to the pool; Blaine and I exercised our right to sleep in. Eventually, we all got mobilized and caught the monorail down to the Hilton for Star Trek: The Experience. We stared with Borg Invasion 4D, and the borg probe under Sarah’s seat reconfirms that the fourth dimension is still somewhere inappropriate. We followed this up with Klingon Encounter, which was friggin’ murder. As mentioned previously, this one ends with
a motion simulator ride, which is not the kind of ride I normally do well on. Last time: not so bad. This time, we got absolutely hurled around. And the previous night of drinking did not help the situation. End of the ride, we’re on the elevator going back to the main floor. I turn to Colleen and say, “Is your back as sweaty as mine right now?” This gets a huge laugh, but it wasn’t really meant to be a joke. I had some serious, nausea-induced back sweats going on.
After the rides, we went to Quark’s—the Star Trek themed restaurant. Sarah wasn’t up for a Warp Core Breach, so Blaine and I shared one. The reality of two guys sharing a big, bubbling, fruity drink didn’t really sink in until it was there in the table between us. Blaine pulled the face you see above, and I bawled I was laughing so hard. It took a good ten minutes until I could compose myself enough for the group shot. Oh man. Probably ranks in the top three hardest laughs I’ve ever had.
, grabbed some bad-for-me breakfast, then we were on our way. Sarah said, “Depending on time, we can probably take a detour and go see the Hoover Dam on the way back,” but we soon discovered that the Dam wasn’t a detour so much as it was directly in our path. About forty minutes out of Vegas we were driving over it. We pulled over briefly to take in the sights and point earnestly at Caution signs, then we were back on the road. It was a long haul, but not as bad as we though, and just shy of noon we crossed into Grand Canyon National Park.
What do you say about the Grand Canyon? It’s a pretty damn amazing to see. Zion and Bryce are far more accessible if you’ve only got a few hours, but I think the Grand Canyon has the strongest immediate impact. We were at the South Rim, and there are certain spots where tour buses come in and others where that they can’t. We (Sarah) were lucky enough (smart enough) to hit the non-tour bus spots to start, so while the lookout points weren’t abandoned they also weren’t totally overrun with people. We too
k a lot of nice pics, stood near a lot of precarious drop-offs, and generally had a good time. We hit three other vista points after this, but they provided only slightly different perspectives on the exact same thing (and we didn’t have 12 hours to climb down to the bottom). My tolerance for pretty views is lower than your average person, so I thought I’d be crawling out of my skin before anyone wanted to leave, but fortunately we were all full up on canyon watching at about the same time. We were back in Vegas by about seven, so we grabbed a quick bite and tried to squeeze a full day of gambling into just a few hours. This was accompanied by some truly epic drinking. This was followed by sleep and a torrent of night sweats.We had a slow start on Thursday. Sarah and Colleen went to the pool; Blaine and I exercised our right to sleep in. Eventually, we all got mobilized and caught the monorail down to the Hilton for Star Trek: The Experience. We stared with Borg Invasion 4D, and the borg probe under Sarah’s seat reconfirms that the fourth dimension is still somewhere inappropriate. We followed this up with Klingon Encounter, which was friggin’ murder. As mentioned previously, this one ends with
a motion simulator ride, which is not the kind of ride I normally do well on. Last time: not so bad. This time, we got absolutely hurled around. And the previous night of drinking did not help the situation. End of the ride, we’re on the elevator going back to the main floor. I turn to Colleen and say, “Is your back as sweaty as mine right now?” This gets a huge laugh, but it wasn’t really meant to be a joke. I had some serious, nausea-induced back sweats going on.
After the rides, we went to Quark’s—the Star Trek themed restaurant. Sarah wasn’t up for a Warp Core Breach, so Blaine and I shared one. The reality of two guys sharing a big, bubbling, fruity drink didn’t really sink in until it was there in the table between us. Blaine pulled the face you see above, and I bawled I was laughing so hard. It took a good ten minutes until I could compose myself enough for the group shot. Oh man. Probably ranks in the top three hardest laughs I’ve ever had.
Comments