Leaving Las Vegas
Sep. 17th, 2021 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanDay 10 & back into the wide open land... & a wide opening in the land!
Sept. 20 – Las Vegas to Kingman
Rising earlier than we’d thought ourselves capable, we packed & headed out through the still quite active Casino (losing money never sleeps), to collect Steve McQueen, with the twin goals of finding breakfast & finding our way out of Vegas. But first, a return to the suburb of Premium Brands to buy shoes for an Australian friend. However, none of the stores were open & didn’t look like doing so until about 10am, by which time we intended to be gone. So, earmarking that purchase for a later date & place, we went in search of breakfast & petrol. Food for us was easily found at a place called Farmer Boys, who go a bit overboard in their menus with the ‘fresh, farm-grown, supporting the little guy, independently owned, fresh, natural, home-grown, fresh’ hyperbole, but their bacon’n’egg sandwich was pretty good – even better when I got rid of all the mayonnaise
Petrol was a more difficult job... The first station we tried wanted a mysterious, obscure code entered on the keypad before it would dispense any fuel & every number we tried (today's date, the year, car license plate, home postcode, mobile phone number, the home phone number of an ex-friend) resulted in ‘Transaction Cancelled’. So, figuring they didn’t want to sell us petrol, we drove out, narrowly avoiding being run into by a red pickup being driven in by two Mexicans obviously in a hurry to gas up & go & went in search of another station. The one we found demanded payment at the counter before filling up... & only took cash. Then Julia had to go back in to collect our change. Granted this was in a neighbourhood that made Redfern look like Rose Bay(Sydney-centric reference!), but what a convoluted process when all we wanted was to hit the freeway & head east... ish. Julia reported that inside the station, the attendant was behind a glass partition strengthened with wire & that there was a poker machine in there (of course there was!!), with an old guy sitting at it who looked like he'd been born there
A couple of attempts at getting our bearings from both Madam NavMan & some road signs, then eventually we left Las Vegas – heading for the Hoover Dam & on to the Grand Canyon. The Dam was a relatively short drive from Las Vegas & this was reflected by the crowds walking on it, some of whom I'm sure we walked past, or bumped into last night on the Strip. Despite them... & the heat of the day & the humidity of the Dam, it’s an impressive sight & an amazing feat of engineering
As is the O'Callaghan Tillman Memorial Bridge a little way off & above it – a huge single arch span supporting six lanes of traffic that used to have to drive across the top of the Dam. We left the Dam & headed for the Bridge, parking on the western side & I walked halfway over to get a shot of the Dam from above... Waaaaay up above. In fact I could only take one shot because vertigo attacked & made me panic a little about standing out there so high up, so I just pointed the camera, clicked & headed back to the car, on the side of the walkway that wasn't close to the impressive edge
Then we crossed over the Colorado River & into Arizona. Spectacular desert scenery all the way to the western end of the Grand Canyon, interspersed with little towns so remote & small that you wonder how people make a living
Grand Canyon West is on Native American land & as such, is not a National Park. The local Hualapai tribe make their living by running a tourist sightseeing area which features the SkyWalk, a glass-floored loop out over part of the 4000ft drop to the Canyon floor. Having already tested my fear of heights earlier in the day, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it again... nor was Julia, but the combination tickets we bought when entering the park included the Walk, so we decided to get it over with at our first stop, Eagle Point. But first we went as close to the edge of the Canyon as we dared (no fences!!) & took some photos of the amazing coloured rock walls which were much more varied & vivid than expected
Eagle Point - I think you can see why they named it...
Some good advice
Standing so close to the edge of such a precipitous &, I remind you, unprotected drop, vertigo mounted a second attack & got both of us, so of course, that's the best time to go & do the SkyWalk. You enter the building via a hallway that gives you a pictorial history of its construction, which is meant to reassure you it's safe, as is the video of about a dozen or so Hualapai (extremely) Braves stomping & dancing their way around the glass loop. Off with shoes & boots, on with those paper disposable slippers you see forensic teams wearing at crime scenes... mustn't think about that right now... we stepped out onto thediving board I mean launch pad I mean starting platform & then very slowly, not looking down through the glass very much & hanging on to the railing for dear life... we did the SkyWalk!! There are no photos of us (you can't take cameras or phones out on the loop - if you drop them, it's quite a long trek down to get what's left of them!), so you'll have to take my word for it
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the various viewing areas around the Park, just overwhelmed with the scenery & by the fact we were actually there at the Grand Canyon. As the sun headed for the horizon, we returned to the Visitors Centre near the Skywalk &, of course, hit the Gift Shop. Discussing accommodation for the night, we considered staying at the Indian Ranch in the Park, but I was kind of dissuaded by the sight of a Hualapai Elder sitting behind the counter of the Gift Shop in full regalia, including an elaborate head-dress & the most pissed-off expression that spoke volumes (to me, at least) about what he thought regarding pandering to tourists on his land. So we decided to push on eastwards towards the next Canyon viewing area a few hundred miles away & find a small town somewhere along the way with a suitable motel. Back down the dirt road towards the highway, stopping for sunset photos
The day cooled down a bit when the sun finally set & we made it as far as Kingman, a town I’ve never heard of, but is fairly typical of one’s expectations of a mid-western town – all the fast food outlets, chain stores, budget motels, including the Super 8, which we’re staying in tonight before more Canyon tomorrow. Dinner at the local In & Out Burgers – we’re working our way through the fast-food chains faster than I thought we would, but the lure of reasonable food in a short amount of time is hard to resist when you’re on the road & it's been a long day... but a great day!!
Sept. 20 – Las Vegas to Kingman
Rising earlier than we’d thought ourselves capable, we packed & headed out through the still quite active Casino (losing money never sleeps), to collect Steve McQueen, with the twin goals of finding breakfast & finding our way out of Vegas. But first, a return to the suburb of Premium Brands to buy shoes for an Australian friend. However, none of the stores were open & didn’t look like doing so until about 10am, by which time we intended to be gone. So, earmarking that purchase for a later date & place, we went in search of breakfast & petrol. Food for us was easily found at a place called Farmer Boys, who go a bit overboard in their menus with the ‘fresh, farm-grown, supporting the little guy, independently owned, fresh, natural, home-grown, fresh’ hyperbole, but their bacon’n’egg sandwich was pretty good – even better when I got rid of all the mayonnaise
Petrol was a more difficult job... The first station we tried wanted a mysterious, obscure code entered on the keypad before it would dispense any fuel & every number we tried (today's date, the year, car license plate, home postcode, mobile phone number, the home phone number of an ex-friend) resulted in ‘Transaction Cancelled’. So, figuring they didn’t want to sell us petrol, we drove out, narrowly avoiding being run into by a red pickup being driven in by two Mexicans obviously in a hurry to gas up & go & went in search of another station. The one we found demanded payment at the counter before filling up... & only took cash. Then Julia had to go back in to collect our change. Granted this was in a neighbourhood that made Redfern look like Rose Bay(Sydney-centric reference!), but what a convoluted process when all we wanted was to hit the freeway & head east... ish. Julia reported that inside the station, the attendant was behind a glass partition strengthened with wire & that there was a poker machine in there (of course there was!!), with an old guy sitting at it who looked like he'd been born there
A couple of attempts at getting our bearings from both Madam NavMan & some road signs, then eventually we left Las Vegas – heading for the Hoover Dam & on to the Grand Canyon. The Dam was a relatively short drive from Las Vegas & this was reflected by the crowds walking on it, some of whom I'm sure we walked past, or bumped into last night on the Strip. Despite them... & the heat of the day & the humidity of the Dam, it’s an impressive sight & an amazing feat of engineering
As is the O'Callaghan Tillman Memorial Bridge a little way off & above it – a huge single arch span supporting six lanes of traffic that used to have to drive across the top of the Dam. We left the Dam & headed for the Bridge, parking on the western side & I walked halfway over to get a shot of the Dam from above... Waaaaay up above. In fact I could only take one shot because vertigo attacked & made me panic a little about standing out there so high up, so I just pointed the camera, clicked & headed back to the car, on the side of the walkway that wasn't close to the impressive edge
Then we crossed over the Colorado River & into Arizona. Spectacular desert scenery all the way to the western end of the Grand Canyon, interspersed with little towns so remote & small that you wonder how people make a living
Grand Canyon West is on Native American land & as such, is not a National Park. The local Hualapai tribe make their living by running a tourist sightseeing area which features the SkyWalk, a glass-floored loop out over part of the 4000ft drop to the Canyon floor. Having already tested my fear of heights earlier in the day, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it again... nor was Julia, but the combination tickets we bought when entering the park included the Walk, so we decided to get it over with at our first stop, Eagle Point. But first we went as close to the edge of the Canyon as we dared (no fences!!) & took some photos of the amazing coloured rock walls which were much more varied & vivid than expected
Eagle Point - I think you can see why they named it...
Some good advice
Standing so close to the edge of such a precipitous &, I remind you, unprotected drop, vertigo mounted a second attack & got both of us, so of course, that's the best time to go & do the SkyWalk. You enter the building via a hallway that gives you a pictorial history of its construction, which is meant to reassure you it's safe, as is the video of about a dozen or so Hualapai (extremely) Braves stomping & dancing their way around the glass loop. Off with shoes & boots, on with those paper disposable slippers you see forensic teams wearing at crime scenes... mustn't think about that right now... we stepped out onto the
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the various viewing areas around the Park, just overwhelmed with the scenery & by the fact we were actually there at the Grand Canyon. As the sun headed for the horizon, we returned to the Visitors Centre near the Skywalk &, of course, hit the Gift Shop. Discussing accommodation for the night, we considered staying at the Indian Ranch in the Park, but I was kind of dissuaded by the sight of a Hualapai Elder sitting behind the counter of the Gift Shop in full regalia, including an elaborate head-dress & the most pissed-off expression that spoke volumes (to me, at least) about what he thought regarding pandering to tourists on his land. So we decided to push on eastwards towards the next Canyon viewing area a few hundred miles away & find a small town somewhere along the way with a suitable motel. Back down the dirt road towards the highway, stopping for sunset photos
The day cooled down a bit when the sun finally set & we made it as far as Kingman, a town I’ve never heard of, but is fairly typical of one’s expectations of a mid-western town – all the fast food outlets, chain stores, budget motels, including the Super 8, which we’re staying in tonight before more Canyon tomorrow. Dinner at the local In & Out Burgers – we’re working our way through the fast-food chains faster than I thought we would, but the lure of reasonable food in a short amount of time is hard to resist when you’re on the road & it's been a long day... but a great day!!
