LISA & BOB:
Luxor, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon Travelogue
Thursday, Oct 7
I was exhausted, but I'd sworn that having missed the sunset, I wanted to watch the sunrise. I woke up at 6am, but it was extremely difficult to get my eyes open. Bob was convinced it wouldn't happen, by by 6:20 we headed out to the car.
The windshield was covered with ice! We scraped it all off and headed down the road. We paid and got our ticket, then drove to the first lookout point, the one with a view of 25% of the canyon.
What a gorgeous site! You could see the other side, plus tons of ledges, bluffs, curves, it was quite amazing. The just-rising sun was throwing all sorts of shadows that changed as the sun rose higher. There were a few intrepid photographers out, with gloves and hats and coats. Many had blankets wrapped around them!
We watched for a while, then went down to the second point. Just as gorgeous, little squirrels would poke their heads out. We saw golden eagles and hawks, and western chickadees and sparrows.
We drove back to see the third point, but it wasn't open. We did see a deer along the way though! We got some good photos of it. We then went back to the room and slept a bit. We then checked out and went back up to the Canyon.
We started at the Visitor's Center and hiked along the edge out to the old painters' studios and the top of the trail. We then took the bus back. Everything was beautiful, there were elk and deer that wandered about, plus more of the same birds.
We left the Canyon around 12:30. Since we took the same route back as we did coming in (minus the diversion into Indian country), I decided to take better notes this time about what we saw.
12:30
This is ranch country, low yellow little scrubs, cows in between. It was 98 degrees at this point. It moved into bigger treeish bushes, with goldfinches and yellow butterflies. Far off hills ahd low trees, and even further were a range of mountains.
1:40
We're now in the Kaibab National Forest. There are hills covered with evergreens, ravens in flocks. We turned onto 40, the large east-west road through Arizona. There are railroad lines along the road, with HUGE trails carrying cattle and minerals. Cows and sheep are in the hills, you can go 75mph according to the speed limit. Neat cactus, the roundish grouped standing up kind with flowers on top, and hawks are about.
2:00
Now the ground is flatting, with separate low scrubby bushes. Far off are bare mountains, just brown. There are more short, fan-spray plants and sparse tall ones. The lower areas are just yellow grass. Strangely, someone put a white huge "S" on one of the hills. We pass Seligman. Where they cut through one hill to send the road through, you can see the layers of red and grey rock.
2:30
We crossed a mountain, and are now facing lots of rough-topped brown mountains, with evergreen shrubs. There are strange piles of rocks, roundish and in jumbled piles, in one short section. We've hit 5000' here. A bit later, there are piles of much larger rocks, lying around in piles.
3:00
Now we're more deserty, as we move west. Some mountain areas are in here, we're at 4000'. There is dirt, and spiky plants, and the twisty-armed little green trees. We get to see some Grizzly Bear cacti.
3:30
We're ringed by barrent mountains, yellow grass, rocky random green scrub. There was a pale brown red-tailed hawk on a pole. We go down into Kingman, which is stuck up against some mountains. We pass exits for Route 66, and the grass fades away into sand. We are occasionally surrounded by round rock piles, and are passed by a four engine train pulling around 100 cars. Strange straight trees have a spray of green at their tops.
4:00
This is now mostly sand, clumps of woody plants, but no cactus. There are very jaggedy mountains off to the south. Occasionally we pass 20' and higher sand dunes, still no cacti. At 4:15 we cross the Colorado River at the same time a train does. We get waved through a strange inspection blockade, and then are in rocky desert with dry streambeds everywhere.
4:30
We pass Needles CA, no birds or cacti anywhere. The town has imported palm trees, and empty canals. We find the turnoff for the northern road, and move into a giant desert of dunes and short scrub. We did pass a strange small clump of 30' trees that someone must have planted. We crossed 66, and were now on roads that literally were wavy up and down, like you were on a mini rolelrcoaster. Very low shrubs here.
5:00
Little rock hills are off to either side, and dry water channels. It's a bit greener here, with puff tumbleweeds. We pass the trailer park of CalNewAri, hmmmm. The hills in the distance turn into little dirt hills.
5:30
We pass through the town of Searchlight, with rocks and sparrows, and trailer homes on narrow ledges cut into a hillside. There are lots of the strange twisty green trees, and some ravens too. Now there are craggy mountains to the west, and dunes tothe east. Ahead are misty mountains. Eventually we pass a big power station on the left, and then some salt flats.
6:00
Now we're near Boulder City, with veined mountains nearby. The casinos begin. You can see the rosy glow over the hills as you approach Vegas, with squashed one story homes with tile roofs. Soon enough we're back at the Luxor checking in!
We hung out at the Luxor for a while, then wandered over to the Mandalay Bay, next door. This was done in a brightish English-French style, with reds and blues and greens, light and gay looking. Maybe sort of a planty feel to it. We then went over to the Excalibur (on the other side) and saw the Merlin - dragon show, then tucked in to bed.
Day 4 - Friday
Day 1 - Tuesday