iewgniqmus: Las Vegas

Monday, June 18, 2012

West Coast Tour Day 3 - Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam

Our itinerary for Day 3 were the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. As they were far from Las Vegas, we were on the road very early in the morning.

There are two routes into the Grand Canyon: the West Rim and the South Rim. Although the West Rim is newer, nearer, and has the Skywalk, there is also an entrance fee into the West Rim, whereas the South Rim is the older and the furthur route, but is free to enter. Since it was our first time to the Grand Canyon, we decided to go to the 'traditional' South Rim.

Full of tourists!

I couldn't figure why, but the entire Canyon looked very unreal, as if I was staring at this gigantic wallpaper.

After spotting some people hiking down an unmarked path, we decided to be a little adventurous and went down as well!

Panoramic photo of the Grand Canyon.

We were only given an hour to spend at the Grand Canyon, which sounded short given that we were on the road for five hours. That was one disadvantage of following tour groups, but one hour was okay for us we felt.

Soon we were on the road again, and our destination was the Hoover Dam.

The Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

The Hoover Dam. Built to harvest hydroelectric power from the Colorado River, there were scenes in the Transformers film which were shot here.

Very beautiful piece of engineering work if you ask me.

At night we were back at Las Vegas for our last night there. Spent the night walking around on our own, which still awed me quite a bit.

West Coast Tour Day 3

West Coast Tour Day 2 - Las Vegas

[There are plenty of things to say about my entire month of travel around the US, but its a chore for me to blog, and a chore for readers to read too, so I shall try to keep them short :)]

Our original plan for travelling at the end of the semester before returning home did not involve any cities in the West Coast at all. Then one day we stumbled upon a website that offered a 7 day tour to major cities and places of interest along the West Coast, and the price and timing weren't too bad, hence we decided upon it.

The 7 day tour started off the day we finished our examinations. After a mad rush to pack our bags and check our rooms out, we were on our way to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to take a domestic flight to the Los Angeles International Airport. At LAX we met a tour guide who brought us to our hotel. There was nothing planned for the first day; it was the day to gather all the tour participants, so we spent the rest of the day walking in the vicinity around the hotel.

Day 2 started early in the morning where the tour bus took us to Las Vegas, weaving through the Mojave Desert, along the way stopping at Barstow for lunch and shopping.

Las Vegas was gorgeous. While I have heard more than enough about how it is the entertainment capital of the world, the sights there still overwhelmed me. There were tall and beautiful structures, performances and casinos everywhere.

Famous structures around the world like the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower were replicated.

Casinos were everywhere. As in really everywhere. Most if not all hotels have casinos right at the lobbies.

At night, everywhere was lit with bright lights and outdoor performances like musical fountains and simulated volcanoes. Hotels themselves become tourist attractions as they outdid each other in terms of interior design.

Musical fountain.

Tourists flooded this hotel lobby where structures of a windmill, merry-go-round and flowers were on display. I wonder how tourists will feel for the lack of privacy though.