Day 4 Las Vegas

Neither of us could believe our eyes when we looked at the clock and it said 10am.  I can't remember sleeping in until that time since I was a teenager.  I guess our bodies needed it.  The plan was to do the Hop-On Hop-Off bus this morning, rest in the afternoon and then do the Sunset Helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon that we had pre-booked.  The late start threw that into disarray.  

Food.  That was all we could think of when we woke.  We were very hungry!  Once we had showered and dressed we headed into one of the hundreds of restaurants inside the Venetian for breakfast burgers.  They were delicious and gave us a pep in our step.  

It was a long walk to the bus stop to board the Hop-On bus and the temperature once gain hit the 40 degree mark.  Philip and I headed straight upstairs for the open air seats on the bus but after the first kilometre I knew it was too hot for me.  I went and sat in the air-conditioned downstairs area that was not that much cooler.

There are only ten stops on this tour but only one that really interested us and that was the Mob Museum in the old area of Vegas. It is fascinating to learn about how the mob established themselves in Vegas and the amount of money that they "skimmed" is mind-boggling.  It was also interesting to find out that up until the 1980's the mob still ran Vegas.  Inside the museum, three floors are dedicated to certain times throughout the mob history right from bootlegging and the speakeasies through to modern day casinos and the establishment of the "Strip". 

It would take a full day to read everything inside the Mob Museum but we only had an hour before we had to board the bus to take us back to the Venetian Hotel.  We passed Trump Tower that dazzles the eye with all the gold plating and not surprisingly it stands tall and looks straight down Las Vegas Boulevard.

It was only a few bus stops back to the Venetian and surprise, surprise we found out that there was a bus stop right across the road from the Venetian. It would have saved us a long walk earlier but hey, on the positive side we saw things we might not have seen if we had found the short cut!

Back inside the Venetian I took a couple of photos to show you just how impressive it is.  You really could be standing inside the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

By the time we arrived back to our room we only had time for a quick change of clothes before heading downstairs to the meeting point for the bus to take us to the airport for the Sunset flight.  Our pick-up time was 4.30 but just as we were about to head out the door the helicopter company rang us to say the bus was waiting for us! Half an hour early!  Of course the one time we didn't want to get lost, we did.  The lady from the helicopter company rang again to see where we were and she managed to guide us, over the phone, to the meeting point.

The helicopter flight was great. As we departed Vegas the pilot pointed out various places of interest eg. Boulder City and Hoover Dam.  The ground beneath us is very dry and parched and as Philip would say "it wouldn't grow a bandicoot". Just a point of interest, Nevada has a population of 4 million and 3 million of them live in Vegas!  

We finally arrive at the Grand Canyon and I'm really lost for words to describe flying through the canyon.  It truly is one of the great wonders of the world.  The Colorado river snakes its way through the canyon and we commented that it would be awesome to do a boat trip along the river.

The flight was a little bumpy with lots of wind updrafts that tossed the chopper around, but nothing too scary.  The pilot landed the helicopter at a high point that he called sunset valley where we were given champagne to sip as the sun set over the canyon. 

The flight path back to Vegas took us paralell to the Strip with all those dazzling lights that entice tourists from around the world.  In daylight the Strip is a totally different experience and very underwhelming…...

To be continued……..