Cath and Ian USA & Canada: Day 3 ~ The Grand Canyon

Today started a little slower than most for the Avis' having their first night's full sleep for some time. We ventured forth to get some much needed retail therapy and thought that the Fashion Show Mall seemed like as good a place as any and was only 3.2 Km away.

Real proof below that we're in America!

As we left, we stopped at reception to ask which direction the mall was in and said we were going to walk, well, the girl said "you can't walk that far" and asked her counterpart who immediately agreed. 3.2 Km, really!!! They certainly don't walk much here and considering that a cab would probably drop you next door, it's not difficult to see why they may develop that behavior.

In our 3.2 Km trek to the Mall, Ian would have been offered at least 25 girlie cards as we call them or as the Las Vegians call them, Girls Direct to You! It really doesn't matter if you have Elle McPherson or Camilla Parker-Bowles hanging off your arm, they still offer (come to think of it, Annie and I were offered when we were here before). Ian declined of course because apparently "he only has eyes for me"!

Got some great bargains at the Fashion Show Mall and left to return to our hotel to be picked up at 4:30 in a black limo to take us to Sundance Helicopters. We were heading to the Grand Canyon in a Helicopter! I'll let Ian tell you about that experience because I have been there before, but having spent 4 hrs on a bus previously to and from the Canyon, the Helicopter is the only way to see it.

Flying over Hoover Dam

Hi all, Ian here! Well, what can I say about the helicopter trip out to Grand Canyon but to say that it was absolutely amazing to see it from the air and actually land down inside it (yes Mum we did go up in a helicopter....again!). To start off it was a little surreal; there we were sitting in a helicopter, in Las Vegas at the airport, on the ground ready to take off, head earphones on so we could hear the pilot with the theme from Austin Powers (they supplied the soundtrack) playing! Wow only in Las Vegas - which really sums up this place actually - all a bit surreal...! Anyway the trip out to the Canyon was fantastic, one of those once in a life time things - the landscape is something special; the colours are amazing and the photos do not do it justice. On landing in the Canyon we spent about 30 minutes wandering around and where provided with a nice little picnic with Champie ( Cath was happy). The trip back was at sunset so we so saw a beautiful sunset before coming in over the Las Vegas light show, which is Las Vegas itself (I am sure you could power a small country with the amount of power used), buy hey what a sight. The final bit was a pass along the Las Vegas Boulevard ("the Strip").

Our Helicopter