Day 11 and 12: The Canyon and Vegas

I decided to do a combined post for the past few days as Day 11 was basically a very long drive to the Grand Canyon. When I say long, I mean about 7 hours of driving, not including breaks. That day we were actually in three states! We started in California before travelling through Nevada and we ended up in Arizona. We checked into our very nice accommodation that night and after being indecisive and going for a drive, we decided to eat at our huge accommodation place. The weather was certainly a shock to our system. It was bitterly cold and lets just say I was worried about how cold it was going to get! By bed time, the outside temperature was in the negatives at about -2 degrees celsius if I remember correctly. It was expected to get to -8 overnight!!!

Now onto Day 12...

I awoke this morning being presented by Dad, with a can of pepsi that had been sitting in the boot of the car overnight. It was frosty and even colder than the bottles of water and cans that were in our fridge! Just crazy really!!

After leaving our accommodation we set off for the Grand Canyon. Mum and I had absolutely no idea what to expect or what we thought we might see. When we first hopped into the car it was again freezing cold. Touching anything in the car was a bad idea and the heater took an extra long while to heat up. My beanie that we got in San Fran came in very handy to keep my ears and head warm and toasty!

My first glimpse of the Canyon was something that will remain vivid in my mind for a long time to come. A huge expanse of earthy colours in every shade you can imagine. It was simply breathtaking. No amount of photos will ever do it any justice, you simply have to see it to believe it. Not too far up the road my jaw dropped to the ground for a second time. We were driving along and out of no where two Elks (or what we think were Elks) leaped across the road in front of us. Luckily Dad had a very quick reaction time and no damage occurred to either party!

Family photo at the Canyon.. Good old camera timer!

We continued along exploring the different spots to take pictures and the lookouts along the side of road for a few more hours. At what I think was our last lookout spot, we were driving out of the carpark and Mum saw another Elk on the side of the road. Mum and I leapt out of the car, cameras in hand and walked in amazement to view the creature from a closer distance. We literally got to about a metre away from it. It was extremely tame and absolutely gorgeous!

Throughout the day we saw many squirrels and have now seen a countless number on the trip. They are very cute and extremely quick, so to get a picture you have to be quick or them not realise that you are there.

Mr Mick and Goofball also got up to some mischief today! Often thanks to Daniel, Goofy can be found doing various naughty things, especially when I am not around. The two of them keep us entertained in the car, but today they also got to see the sights of the Grand Canyon as you'll see in the pics. We just couldn't resist getting them out of the car for some photos opportunities!

After the Canyon we headed off on a 5ish hour drive to Las Vegas. Mum and I napped for some of the way and we could all feel the effects of coming down from being in a much higher altitude! After getting here, we checked in to our home to be for the next three nights and soon after headed off on a walk down the strip for  sightseeing and dinner. I thought I remembered what Vegas was like, but after seeing and experiencing it again I  was completely mistaken!

I got my first stomach attack in Vegas after going to Maccas and it was a surreal feeling walking past the exact area where I remember being at the time! So much has happened and changed since then in my life and I metaphorically deposited my current stomach to the spot and hopefully changed it for a new one!...... It was worth a try anyway!!

We are all settled in for the night and it is Time for sleep now, more Vegas fun to come tomorrow!!

(Sorry only one pic would work tonight! Mum and I took heaps between us, but they are taking FOREVER to load, I will try again tomorrow night!!)