Viva Las Vegas?

Staying in Flagstaff was quite nice, sure it was only one night but we got to play some pool and some fussball in the hotel after our drive back from the Grand Canyon and had another good nights sleep after a hard days drive.

Leaving at a respectable hour, just after 10:00. We got back on the road and headed for the legendary Las Vegas. On the way we noticed that Uncle Sam had thrown up another hindrance to our progress, the Grand Canyon caverns.

We took the tour, saw under the earth but even after our dissapointment at the Meremac caverns paled after the brief 'walk around some caves' which weren't even near the Grand Canyon. They only got the name through an affiliation with an air delivery service associated with previous owners. Again we felt gyped and dissapointed, but it was a welcome distraction from the incresing monotony of desert driving.
Who would have thought the landscape would be so barren?

Across the Mojave desert we drove and admired the heat haze as we gazed into it's glassy sky-like reflections in the hope of soda machine, some gasoline and a snack to keep us going for the 6 hour drive. As the road dipped and rose again we kept wondering what would be over the next peak in the two lane highway. It came as no surprise as it was again, just another 20 or so miles of straight road. After a calming drive through the Joshua Trees we started to rise up through the steep mountains. Ahead of us was a police checkpoint which proved no problem as we drove on through towards the Hoover Dam.

Since this was our first time out of the car for a while the heat of the desert hit us, much in the same way a sweaty tennis sock would offend you somewhat, the sheer heat was almost unbearable. A quick souvenir and photo session was all we could handle before it was back into the air conditioned glee of the car.

As we drove back down the winding roads we saw the Vegas Stratosphere and the strip skyline through the haze and went 'top-down' on the Mustang to cruise 'The Strip' because... Well, it would be rude not to. We found and checked into 'Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon'. Our reasons for staying here were three-fold;

1) It was pretty reasonable room rates
2) It was right in the middle of the Strip
3) It had the most amusing name.

As I parked up Joel jumped out to check everything was OK with the booking and came back with a look on his face somewhere in between confusion, amusement and that face you pull when you smell something bad. To say the least upon parking the car and stepping out of the elevator with Joel it was clear this was one of the maddest places on Earth.

After a quick check in it was time to check out Las Vegas boulevard. More popularly known as 'The Strip'. From The Flamingo to the MGM Grand on one side across to Excaliber, Luxor and New York New York all the way past the Bellagio and up to Caesar's Palace and the Mirage.

We were absolutely taken aback by the scale of the place with its thousands upon thousands of slot machines, blackjack tables, Poker dens, Craps pits all linked together by a network of cleverly designed sidewalks, escalators, moving walkways and mexican immigrants giving out call-girl cards everywhere you looked.

That first night was the best we tried to take it all in and found our quiet village life ways unable to comprehend the maelstrom of sensory information being hurled at us. I seem to remember we found a few cheap drinks liberally scattered throughout the various casinos we visited, but after our little 'incident' in St Louis with the $1 Coronas we though we would take it a bit easy.

A nice meal was had in the Rainforest Cafe in the MGM Grand, if Joel looks preterbed it's because there was a peel of thunder and flashes of lightning as if a tropical storm was about to hit... inside the restaurant.

A few drinks and a long wander around was all we could handle the first day, after a few goes on video poker and slots we headed back to our chosen hotel.

After five or six days on the road it was nice to have a bit of a lie-in and we arose slack jawed and fuzzy teethed at about 11:00. We cursed our sorry margherita drinking behinds as we had missed the Craps instruction course at 10:30 that morning in the lobby of our hotel. That game shall forever remain a mystery to us.

Deciding we had better do something constructive with our day we ventured forth once more down The Strip and had a leisurely walk around Miracle Mile shopping mall. Not that we bought anything but it was welcome respite from the unforgiving desert heat. From there we found a kind of Sega World and were over the moon to find a Daytona racing game, Star Wars Pod Racer and our own personal old time favourite, Police Trainer. Afterwards it was clear the heat wasn't taking a holiday, even if we were and decided to avoid the midday madness by finding ourselves a nice cool cinema, or movie theatre if you like. So we caught Hellboy 2, grabbed a snack and
headed off for some more sight-seeing.

Spending remarkably little money it was not entirely clear to us what exactly we were doing here. Not being gamblers or particularly big drinkers (it is a driving holiday after all) it was becoming more evident that vegas offered very little in the way of entertainment outside the realm of thowing your money in chance's direction and seeing what cards fate dealt you. (Insert your own anology here). Oh, sure there was plenty of places to drink but we really did just want to unwind and have a quiet chat. It may sound unusual that in the most entertaining town on Earth there really wasn't a great deal of places to 'get away from it all'. I'm sure some swanky pants hotel further away had a health spa and a quiet roof dwelling poolside bar. To be honest i think we both just wanted to sit in a quiet pub somewhere green where it isn't too dang hot and there is a chance of getting a decent pint of ale, none of that lager pap. The Stand Up in Lindfield springs to mind.

Later that evening, when it was a bit cooler we headed up on Las Vegas' automated monorail to the far north of the strip and took a taxi to 'Old Las Vegas' and Fremont street, where Vegas all began. Under the giant covered way were the popular symbols of yesteryear, such as that giant cowboy character and the lady provocatively moving her leg up and down. The 'covered way' actually turned out to be the biggest video wall in the world... ever. It treated us to a free 7 minute show of fancy imagery and really shows what you can do with film crew, Adobe after effects and an unlimited budget. Did i mention the big-ass TV that you play it on, i did, ok.

Some quick munchies and Joel was a bit sleepy so he headed back for some well needed kip while I braved the heights of the Las Vegas Stratosphere, as you do. I was unsure I wanted to be thrown up and down on the Big Shot or go on Extreme (which drops you over the edge). So I opted for a go on Insanity, it seemed like the sensible choice. That merely hangs you over the edge in a tiny chair dangling from an over-sized claw and spins you round at 3G's.

The views were spectacular from the Stratosphere at night and Vegas really did 'light up like fairyland' as my mad northern Mother would say and it was quite a sight, but it was getting quite late so i headed back to the hotel after a few stops for photos en-route and was in bed and asleep lickity-split.


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Now playing: Kenny Rogers - The Gambler
via FoxyTunes

A Grand Day Out

Awaking in Holbrook we had a pretty good sleep, considering it was the cheapest hotel we had stayed in so far. After a few slices of toast (gotta watch our figures you know) we headed off west once again.

A few miles down the road was the small town of Winslow, Arizona and in keeping with the Eagles song I made sure I was 'standin' on the corner'. Sadly there was no girl in a flat-bed Ford slowing down to take a look at us, just some roadworkers. After buying more 66 crapola we were back on the road heading towards Meteor City and the nearby 'Meteor Crater'.


The self proclaimed 'best preserved meteor crater on Earth' was quite a site and was truly awesome in scale. 50,000 years ago a meteorite approximately 150 feet across impacted the site. As a result of the impact, the crater floor was 700 feet deep; it is now approximately 550. The crater is over 4,000 feet across and 2.4 miles in circumference. Needless to say it is difficult to show via just this picture the sheer size of it but believe us when we say, this was one big hole in the ground.

After seeing the crater we thought we had better move on and see another big hole in the planet, The Grand Canyon was our next stop. As we drove at a leisurely pace through the various national forests en route we were flanked by huge trees reaching up to the sky. What we weren't expecting was the scale of the Grand Canyon, but I get ahead of myself.

Before we had a chance to gaze upon the canyon itself we pulled into the Grand Canyon Airport, we were feeling quite homesick and I am still dying to get a decent cup of tea. We thought we should check out the flight situation. When it was clear they didn't actually fly internationally we thought we would find out what they could do for us. England and a cup of tea would have to wait. After all our driving it would be nice to get a bus tour or something, it turned out that a nice man named Kenny would take us by another mode of transportation over the Grand Canyon by helicopter!

Neither of us had been in a helicopter before so it seemed the perfect opportunity to quite literally live the high life and take to the skies. As soon as we were briefed, we boarded the EuroCopter ec130b4 and put on our headsets. We definately needed them as the noise of the rotor blades was deafening, as the video shows.

The view, to say the least was absolutely spectacular. Truly we had never seen anything of this phenomenal size and it made us think what the first travellers must have thought when they had crossed the great plains and forests of New Mexico and Arizona to be confronted with this:












After a 45 minute flight around a large section of the canyon it is still difficult to comprehend the size of it. While Meteor crater was immense the Grand Canyon defies explanation and put the behemoth meteor impact into perspective, like a dimple on a golfball.When we landed we thought it would be rude not to have a drive along the crater rim and get some shots before heading all the way back to Flagstaff and our classy Days Inn hotel. Another meal at the Outback Steakhouse was a brief, if overly filling meal and off to bed. Content in the knowledge that we had seen two major national landmarks today and felt we were ready for a few relaxing days in Las Vegas.

Neither of us knew what to expect... But that is another story.



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Now playing: Eagles - Take it Easy
via FoxyTunes

Monumental Achievements

Flicking through the map before we left Gallup, we noticed that we weren't a million miles away from one of America's most famous natural landmarks. We were in-fact around 220 miles away, but that didn't deter us from driving north toward the Arizona/Utah border, and visiting the rather fantastic Monument Valley, in the heart of the Navajo Reservation.

We arose early from our beds in El Rancho, and headed downtown to Aurelia's Diner, which we had found the previous day. Adam got himself off to a hearty start, with a Rib Eye Steak and two eggs for breakfast. I settled for a English Muffin with the works, and we fiddled with the cool jukebox on the table that blared out Elvis to us as we ate. We climbed into the car a little heavier than when we last got out, and dropped the roof down for the day's journey ahead of us.

The driving would be done away from the 4 & 6 lane Interstates to which we had become acustomed, and also quite unlike the poorly looked-after Route 66. In short, the journey through the Navajo reserve, which took us around three and a half hours, was quite simply one of the most stunning drives we've ever had the pleasure of taking.

As we crossed into Arizona from New Mexico, the landscape - true to form - changed yet again, with a huge forest lining the road for mile after mile. All of a sudden however, this abrubtly stopped, and the land opened up to massive views of desert plains, with strange shaped rock and mountain lining the horizon. Unlike previous days where this new view would perhaps remain constant, and therefore become repetitive, these views adapted and enhanced themselves, as the road wound through and over the massive countryside before us. All these wonderful sights, and we hadn't even reached the landmark toward which we were driving.


As we drove through the town of Kayenta in the north of Arizona, we came across Monument Valley Scenic Road, and realised that we were just 12 short miles away from both the Utah border, and Monument Valley itself. These 12 miles again presented us with some beautiful views from the comfort of our Mustang, but nothing could prepare us for the shear majesty of the rock formations awaiting us at the end, so engrained in the conscience of people around the world, thanks perhaps to John Ford's famous Westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers.

The famous 'Mittens' were of obvious appeal to us, having studied many photos of them before we left for the States over two weeks ago. Imagine our delight when we were able to see them 'in the flesh' and take our own images home with us. Unfortunately, the visitor centre nearby is currently going through an overhaul, and a hotel is being built in the adjoining plot of land, so some of the facilities were limited. However, if we ever return in future, to stay in a hotel in the middle of such a view would be a chance not to pass up.There's a 17 mile track that runs around and through the famous sights in Monument Valley, and we weren't about to pass up the opportunity to drive it ourselves, and so we returned to the car and jumped in, eager to get started. Unfortunately, our little red machine got stuck in the thick sand as we tried to make our way out of the car park, leaving us red-faced and in search of a park-ranger to help get us out. After being told that we couldn't be pulled out due to some perculiar regulations, we started digging under the tires, and laying rocks down where we could, in the vain hope that the wheels may get enough traction to enable us to be freed. Thankfully, the hard work paid off, and we escaped unscathed.

So - did that stop us attempting the dirt track around the valley? Did it hell. We braved the track and started off into the park. We got about half a mile in before we realised our mistake. This joyous automobile may look and sound good, but it's a rear-wheel-drive automatic that weighs a bleedin' ton, and as such, is not made for this kind of road. We turned back, and headed for the exit, fearing all the while for the car, and our teeth, which were in danger of being shaken from our mouths. As we finally exited, we took a look in the rear-view mirror and saw the park-ranger from earlier in his SUV. He had obviously followed us to make sure of two things. One - that we were ok, and two - that we were leaving!

Back on the road, and we retraced our steps from earlier back down to the Interstate, and we headed toward the small town of Holbrook, where we were hoping to find an infamous Route 66 motel, made up entirely of Wigwams. However, we got a little side-tracked when we noticed we were coming up on the Petrified Forest. We thought we may be a little late for a jaunt round, until we asked the women on the entrance gate what time it was. Little did we know that Arizona doesn't run on Daylight Savings, so despite being in Mountain Timezone as New Mexico was, we were in actual fact an hour earlier than we thought we were, so we had time to drive through the Forest Park.

It was interesting enough and there were some nice views of the Painted Desert and of some Petrified Wood, but after seeing some of the most wonderous views you will ever come across at Monument Valley, the forest (which was anything but - no trees anymore thanks to years of erosion change) was a bit of a let-down. We spent around an hour driving through, but our cameras had long since run out of battery thanks to our snap-happy ways earlier in the day.

We headed for Holbrook, and the Wigwams. But, we were to be dissapointed again, as there were no vacancies. Such a shame, as the complex is unlike nothing you've ever seen. Would love to have stayed there, but I guess that will have to wait for another day. Perhaps we should do a sequel to this blog? Let me see - Joel and Adam's Even Longer Car Journey? If we do, remind us to take an SUV to Monument Valley - if just for the carpark!


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Now playing: Metallica - Enter Sandman
via FoxyTunes

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM MONUMENT VALLEY HERE

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE PETRIFIED FOREST HERE