Magic..

Leaving Las Vegas
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We hired a car/jeep thing & hit the open road through the desert, over the Hoover Dam, to the Grand Canyon from Vegas. It wasn't so bad driving in the states on the wrong side of the road and the views were gorgeous.

The Grand Canyon is breathtaking, seriously stunning. It seemed such a contrast from the glitz, glamour & excess of Vegas. We stayed in a cabin type thing right on the South Rim which was lovely. It had a lovely porch with porch swings, views of the Canyon & stuffed animal heads sticking out of every wall! We watched the sun set over the Canyon from the swing & headed to bed early as we were getting up to watch the sun rise over it in a few hours! We did the sunrise tour, where we were brought to different scenic points along the rim to watch the sun rise (funnily enough). On our walk down to where the bus was picking us up in the morning there were a few deer less than a few feet from us grazing, it was like something off a Disney film! It was worth the extremely early start to see the first beams of sunlight hit the Canyon & light it up. The colours are phenomenal, watching it go from the blues & purples of night time to the reds & oranges of daytime.

they'll start talking about killing the white man. You wouldn't blame them really!

Going over the Hoover Dam
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It was a bit early for some people on the tour though! A group of them were discussing the seven natural wonders of the world & trying to name them all & discussing which was & wasn't a 'wonder'. Our (slightly narky & sarky) tour guide (he didn't usually get up for work till 10 am, not 4 am!) said "Actually, they number all the seven wonders of the world. Look over there at the cliff face opposite us - there's a big black 20 foot high 7 painted on" Everyone laughed except this one woman who pulled out her camera & started asking her husband where the 7 was, he tried to hush her but she wouldn't give up & even asked the tour guide & general people around her. I couldn't keep a straight face!

Desert view, on the way to the Canyon
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We heard stories of how horrible the native Americans were treated by the new immigrants - they lived in the Canyon for however many thousands of years, and when it was declared a national park they were forcably turfed out. The tour guide said you shouldn't get em drunk cause they'll start talking about killing the white man. You wouldn't blame them really!

But sad history aside, the Canyon was well worth it - the pictures we took don't do it justice. Beautiful place altogether!