That night I slept only 3 hours, since we had to wake up at 4.45 AM to go to Grand Canyon. First, there was somebody broke into my room at 2 AM, said nothing like 'sorry' after I yelled 'what?!?!', nor showed his/her face (I could not see it, because there was a short corridor between the door and the room). For me that was really awkward, luckily I was not aslept yet, since I had a bad feeling about that room. I called the receptionist desk and the woman who picked up the phone just said 'the ones who have the key are the room service and the mechanics', such an answer - I don't like Stratosphere Hotel :(
Second of all, I thought I had to move to another hotel in LV, so I packed my belonging before went to the bus, but it turned out that the tour guide (Ken) forgot to tell me in English, that we were suppose to stay in the same hotel. Ken was a caring tour guide - he arranged the time, hotel and food well - but I did not like the way he put so little information in English in compare to Mandarin or Cantonese. The day before, he spent an hour speaking those languages, and said nothing in English, since I was the only 'english speaking person' in the tour after the other english speaking people left the tour hiks... :( I complained, because it was supposed to be an english and mandarin tour, and that day he explained more in English. Most of the tour participants spoke chinese / cantonese. Only me and an elderly couple who could not understand those languages (3 out of 60).
In the morning we visited Hoover Dam, and on the way to the Dam I saw the Lake Mead from a far. Since Hoover Dam is critical for the electricity of Nevada, Arizona and California states, before entering the area, the cars would be thoroughly checked.
Hoover Dam, also known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete gravity-arch dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. The dam, located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as Secretary of Commerce and then later as President of the United States. Construction began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. [Wikipedia]
Lake Mead is the reservoir created behind the dam, named after Elwood Mead, who oversaw the construction of the dam. It is the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the United States. Formed by water impounded by Hoover Dam, it extends 110 mi (180 km) behind the dam, holding approximately 28.5 million acre feet (35 km³) of water. The water held in Lake Mead is released via aqueducts to communities in southern California and Nevada. The lake was named after Elwood Mead, who was commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from 1924 to 1936 during the planning and construction of the Boulder Canyon Project that created the dam and lake. The accumulated water from Hoover Dam forced the evacuation of several communities, most notably St. Thomas, Nevada, whose last resident left the town in 1938. The ruins of St. Thomas are sometimes visible when the water level in Lake Mead drops below normal. [www.phoenix-getaway.com]
We then continued to the south rim of Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is a colorful steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona. The canyon, created by the Colorado River over 6 million years, is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 24 kilometers), and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
During prehistory, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran with a thirst for science and adventure, made the first recorded journey through the canyon on the Colorado River. [Wikipedia]
There were two locations which I visited, first the Eagle Rock View Point, where the Skywalk is built. I walked on it, and looked down to 2,000 feet of air between the glass floor and the bottom of the Grand Canyon. There was a funny feeling at the first time, but after a while, I did not think that it was extraordinary, especially because visitors could not bring their camera inside.
Located at Grand Canyon West on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the new Grand Canyon Skywalk opened to the public on March 28th, 2007. The structure, consisting of a U-shaped cantilevered glass bridge jutting 70 feet past the rim of the Grand Canyon, was dreamt up by Las Vegas businessman David Jin while taking part in a Grand Canyon tour in 1996. With the help of Las Vegas design firm Lochsa Engineering, Jin’s outlandish creation will be sturdy enough to hold the weight of a dozen fully loaded 747’s, and strong enough to withstand winds up to 100mph. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin lead the first walkers on the Grand Canyon Glass Skywalk in a private ceremony on March 20th, 2007. It is hoped that Grand Canyon West’s Skywalk Project will give an economic boost to the Hualapai Indian Tribe, who have battled widespread unemployment and poverty for decades. [www.grandcanyon.com]
Actually there was an offer to ride a helicopter to the bottom of the canyon. I felt stupid that day, because I did not order the helicopter ride, which cost 'only' $152, and instead only taking the skywalk $27. Because Grand Canyon was my main reason of coming to the west coast. It was partly because of my bad mood, due to not enough English info during the trip the day before, where we had to make decision to order the helicopter ride. After seeing how small a helicopter was, while it flew between the canyon, I tought, people could only 'feel' the massiveness of Grand Canyon by going to the bottom. As I could not really 'feel' that from the top of the rim.
The second place was Home of Huapalai, where I could get an Indian lunch. It was sweet beef, chicken, corn and salad. I was very hungry, so it tasted good. We ate in an open space, under a huge roof. Afterward I did a short hiking under the sun, that was burning my skin with temperature of 40 C / 100 F. But it was beautiful! As a single traveller, I took some pictures with the tripod, and since the area was stony it was difficult to do. Sometimes I 'cut' my arm :) But it was better than having nobody to take my picture. Thank God, I really enjoyed the four hours free time by hiking and taking pictures. Maybe I could come again to Grand Canyon and take the helicopter ride in the future.
Then we came back to Vegas, to see "Jubilee!" at Bally's. It was an awesome show choreographed by Don Arden. It had good music, talented dancers and impressing costumes with ostrich feathers and rhinestones. They had several scenes: "Hundreds of Girls" Cabaret, Samson and Delilah - complete with the fall of the Philistine's temple's central pillar, and Titanic scene where the ship sank on the stage. The sets constantly change and the performers move around with high precision. While the setting was changed, they showed talented chinese acrobats and gauchos from Argentina. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any picture inside.
The show finihed at 9 PM and I went to Bellagio again to watch the beautiful fountain show for an hour, it was so good that I always wanted to watch it. I also went to Rio casino, since I thought I could enter the Voodoo Club for free, but the free entrance ticket that I got was only valid before 10.30 PM and it was 11 PM.
I came back to Stratosphere hotel at 12.10 PM, but I could not meet Ken (tour leader). I thought I gave him my door-key-card in the morning, since I could not find it in my wallet and in the morning, I told him I would like to move to another room. I searched for his name at the receptionist, but they could not find it in the database. My room was even registered under a man's name. Apparently Ken did not sign us as official guests there. So I spent the whole night sitting in a sofa, felt cold and very sleepy, since the security would not allow anybody to sleep there. I heard the slot machine ringing the whole night...
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