The Grand Canyon

Rock Squirrels at the Grand Canyon -  they sure do look friendly!

This week I thought I would talk about our 2015 visit to the Grand Canyon. We based ourselves in Las Vegas and took a tour bus to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The reason we went to the Southern Rim was it reputedly has the more panoramic views, however it is further from Las Vegas. The South Rim is looked after by the U.S Government. The popular West Rim, is a closer distance to Las Vegas and is looked after by the Native Indian population. The West rim also has the skywalk experience, where you walk on reinforced glass over the Grand Canyon- for a fee. 

We were not at all happy with the bus tour company (with their upselling, delays in herding people together in their collection/depot area) and would not recommend. Choose wisely with regards to whatever bus company you choose. The tour took us to the Hoover dam, and then on to the Grand Canyon. It took about 4 hours to get to the South Rim from Vegas, with a stop midway. I thought the 4 hour bus trip would bore our daughter A.J silly, however, she was quite content to look out the window at the changing scenery. There were also movies shown on board the bus, including documentaries on the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. I think as we had spent the previous two weeks running around theme parks, our family was ready for some chauffeuring around in a tour bus. A lunch was included in our tour package, which was good value. However, the lunch spot was just outside the Grand Canyon National park!

The entrance to the park. I remember being so excited and had yet to experience the Grand Canyon

Nothing prepares you for the vista of the Grand Canyon. My first word when I saw it was “Wow”. It truly is awe inspiring and a great wonder in the world. The air also felt different there too, and the place felt ‘eerie’ and special. No 2D photo can every do this place any justice at all. You need to actually experience it. It is a lot bigger than you think and just goes for miles in each direction as far as you can see. We saw lots of people posing for some great shots, right on the far edges of the cliff face, where its 2km straight down. However, there is signage everywhere, that the risk of falling is real and not to risk it. There weren’t many barriers or railings at all preventing people from going far out on ledges. And apparently 12 people a year die at the Grand Canyon, either from falls, or more commonly dehydration and heat related problems. 

You can see people on the ledge, top left hand corner

There is some railing around some areas of the park to prevent falls

This is where the horses are kept for the Grand Canyon trail ride

We saw some cute Rock Squirrels too. However, some of them carry the rabies and bubonic plague diseases (yes, the black death is still recorded here, although rare, someone died in 2007 from it at the Grand Canyon!) and there are signs everywhere that these 'friendly' Rock Squirrels do bite.

This is the scenery surrounding the Grand Canyon

To read more about other theme parks and zoo's in the U.S.A, please check out the following links:


Universal Studios Los Angeles
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Sea World
Anaheim Disneyland
California Adventure Park

Hope you enjoyed reading this post, have a magical week,
KJ 

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