Maverick Helicopter<\/a> tours to go to the Grand Canyon then raft down the Colorado River. Got all sorted and weighed for the helicopter and we were off. Way nifty to ride in a helicopter! We flew over the Strip then off to Lake Mead and over the Hoover Dam (whoa!). Then into the Canyon flying under the rim. Got to see the new visitor centre with the skywalk, which looked teeny tiny from where we were. We landed for about 20 minutes to have breakfast (with champagne) before loading back up and flying off to get refuelled in the middle of no where. No really, middle of no where, there was nothing but a couple of tanks and a pump! Then back to Boulder City airport where our ride to the raft was waiting.<\/p>\nHad to drive down to the rafting place to pick up our packed lunches, then join the queue of cars to the dam. Lots and lots of dam tourists. We turned off just before the dam and drove down to the river and the raft. The raft was a large patoon boat, very steady and no white water. We stayed at the bottom of the Hoover Dam for a bit learning about it and getting a good view from the bottom. Then we were off pottering down the river. Right off saw a golden eagle soaring above us, then a little bit down the river was a bald eagle having lunch! Photos to be on Flickr soon. We were rafting through Black Canyon and it was lovely. Stopped at a beach for lunch, then carried on to see the old gauge station and hear stories from our guide. Then our boat stopped. Wouldn’t start. So we got to drift while another raft came for us!<\/p>\n
Got off at Willow Beach where our bus was waiting for us to take us back to Vegas. As we were on the other side of the river we got to join the queue of dam tourists again and take ages and ages to cross the Hoover Dam. But nifty to see the top! We didn’t stop to gawp – well except when the tourists did to get their dam photos. So we took photos then as well.<\/p>\n
In all a very fun day. We’re now off for dinner at the Stratosphere!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Up far too early. Had a wake up call for 4.30am scheduled but they rang at 4am. ARG. We rolled over, set another alarm, and tried to go back to sleep. Up at 4.30 and first thing is put on the coffee. Then get ready. Down to the front by 5.30 for our pickup to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[14,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4T97-canyons","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":335,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/03\/warm-at-last\/","url_meta":{"origin":316,"position":0},"title":"Warm at last!","date":"Sunday, 3 January 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally warm! San Diego is warm - about 80F which is lovely. Love the warmth. Almost too hot in the car as we'd dressed for a cold Death Valley early morning. We wandered around Furnace Creek and watched birds and generally pottered about. Didn't see the roadrunner, of course. Never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":326,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2009\/12\/31\/vroom-vroom\/","url_meta":{"origin":316,"position":1},"title":"Vroom Vroom","date":"Thursday, 31 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Up before dawn again and out on the road by 6. Stopped for a few photos but mainly just went for Racetrack Road. Saw several different ecologies on the drive up to the Playa - started with the usual salt tolerant plants, then a few cacti and a few more,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/10\/home-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":316,"position":2},"title":"Home","date":"Sunday, 10 January 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, we made it and I still hate flying. Clarification - I hate long haul commerical airline flying! My knees are still sore from being banged into. But we left only a few minutes late, were an hour late into London, our taxi was waiting for us, and we are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2009\/12\/23\/i-hate-flying\/","url_meta":{"origin":316,"position":3},"title":"I hate flying","date":"Wednesday, 23 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The first flight, between Lexington and Dallas, wasn't too bad. They are only dinky little planes going out of Lexington. We were seated in different rows (Joe right behind me) but the bloke next to Joe moved to a single and I then moved into his seat. Actually I had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":161,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/22\/onwards\/","url_meta":{"origin":316,"position":4},"title":"Onwards","date":"Sunday, 22 June 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Last day in Jamaica and we're off to Trinidad. Being collected at 10.30 and the flight is at 2pm. We're flying off with many of the Caribbean delegates who were at the conference as we're stopping on another couple of islands along the way to Trinidad. So I get to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":320,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2009\/12\/29\/death-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":316,"position":5},"title":"Death Valley","date":"Tuesday, 29 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Picked up our car, a cute little VW Beetle. Which was great until I got to Death Valley and realised we really should have booked a four wheel drive! We got lost getting out of Vegas, they don't much like road signs or warning you before a turn. 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