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Our second day in Vegas started earlier than any day should ever start – 4:30am we were awake. We had to be ready to go on our Grand Canyon tour at 5:30am, and so got up early enough to grab a quick breakfast at Starbucks (24 hours in the hotel casino). When Ed met us in the lobby at 5:25am, we headed outside to meet the bus driver. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the nicest of fellows and was already upset because “you should always be 10 minutes early for a tour”… why, then, don’t they just tell us a time that is 10 minutes earlier, and only get there 10 minutes after?!

We saw some new areas of the Strip while we ducked from hotel to hotel to pick people up, then made the 25 minute journey out of town to Boulder City, where we would board a plane to the Grand Canyon. It was only our second day in Vegas, but this bus driver made it very clear that not only do the women have no shame, but neither do people asking for tips. I’m more than happy to give someone a tip out of good faith, but when they tell you that you should give them one, or blatantly ask for it, then I’m not the greatest fan.

The Hoover Dam

A short wait later and we were out on the tarmac (freezing cold, mind you – we were wearing jeans, and jumpers; but not prepared for this kind of cold) on the way to our 10-seat (or maybe 8?) Cessna Caravan where Ed was selected to be the co-pilot (oh god…). The flight was smooth, and very scenic, and certainly made for quick access to the Grand Canyon West Rim. We arrived at the West Rim about 30 minutes later, and soon after headed back out (into the freezing cold again) to board our helicopter flight to the base of the canyon. Pip decided to keep warm by jumping up and down, conducting a Grand Canyon aerobics class. After a few minutes wait, the helicopter arrived and we were on the way down to the base of the canyon.

It wasn’t a long trip down, but it was certainly picturesque – even if the sun was hiding behind the relatively high cloud. A short walk to the riverbed and we met our boat driver, who took us on a nice, yet quick, trip up the river. We did learn that the water in the river flows at about 12 miles an hour, and can get considerably deep and wide in parts of the canyon. For whatever reason it seemed warmer at the bottom when compared with up top, and the boat driver reported that the difference was 6 degrees. A few photo opportunities later, and some driving time for each passenger, we turned around and headed back to the riverbank. After this, and the return walk to the helicopter landing site at the base of the canyon, we soon left for the airport at the top of the canyon.

At the base of the canyon

Upon returning to the airport, we were informed by our plane pilot that we had to be back from the short bus tours by 10:40am in order to make our return flight. This didn’t leave much time for lunch (which came included in the tour), but we thought we just get it at whatever time happened to be right then eat what we could). We first headed to the Grand Canyon Skywalk – a glass-bottomed walkway that extends out over the canyon. While we didn’t actually go on the Skywalk, we went to the Skywalk shop so that Pip could buy something to keep her warm. By this stage, it was so cold outside that it was actually snowing (we definitely weren’t dressed for snow). She ended up with a beanie, gloves, scarf and a mug of hot chocolate for $25! A comment made by the salesperson, however, was somewhat scary – it was along the lines that “the last time it snowed up here, it took me 9 hours to get home”.

Dressed and ready (a little warmer), we caught the bus to the second stop – Guano Point – where the Hualapai (native indian tribe) Buffet was available. It was before 10am, but we still ate enough for it to be lunch (however, we had woken up at 4:30am, so technically it could have been lunch!). Unfortunately, seating was outside, so we ate our lunch while freezing to death in the snow and wind. Because of the weather, we chose not to stay long and after a quick walk around the viewing areas, we caught the bus back to the airport terminal so that we were well ahead of our 10:40am deadline.

The snow that had started earlier had continued, and looked set to continue well into the afternoon. There was so much fog about the place that anybody who had not already seen the canyon was certainly not going to be able to see it today. It was at this point that we were informed that the planes were no longer flying, and hence there was no way (other than road) for us to get out of here. All of the helicopter tours had now been cancelled, except for those flying directly to Las Vegas which were still going out. The only reason we had chosen this air tour was so that we didn’t waste a whole day getting to and from the canyon; but it now looked like that was precisely what we were going to be doing. It was a three hour wait for the bus to get to us from Boulder City, and then a three hour return journey – oh great.

The snow cactus

With no other option available to us, we decided to try and waste the time be seeing the only thing still left to see (we’d already exhausted the, um, extensive gift shop shopping) – the Hualapai Ranch. This was a small Western town set up for visitors to stay overnight in small cabins, but it did have a warm dining hall where we camped at a table for an hour or so. Once we got bored here, and flushed out by the mass of visitors arriving to do the same, we returned to the airport to check on the status of the bus. By this point, nearly two hours in to our wait, the bus had not get crossed the Hoover Dam – at least 1.5 hours out from our location. Anger was growing amongst the crowd in the terminal who had been stranded here with nothing to do, and finally the tour company decided to allow us to use one of the busses sitting at the terminal in order to go down the hill and meet our bus at the bottom in order to save some time. We’re not sure why this didn’t happen hours before, but nonetheless.

We set off in the most disgusting yellow school bus ever known to man – clearly made for children with a lack of any useable leg room. 30 minutes later and we were finally at the base of the mountains around the canyon, ready to transfer to our tour bus. We did so, and prepared for the remaining hours of driving that lay ahead of us. We finally set off (after waiting for a few stragglers), and headed for the Hoover Dam. An hour into the drive, however, we met one of the worst traffic jams ever… it was nearly 6 miles of traffic, lined up to cross the Hoover Dam, moving at no more than 2 miles an hour.

The drive home

Unfortunately our driver did not inform us of an alternate route until we had been sitting here for over an hour… good going bucko. Although the traffic moved at times, those who had jumped out of their cars to get some fresh air walked much faster than the traffic, and some that passed us early on were not seen again at any stage while we were waiting. We were stuck in this traffic for almost three hours, and the uncomfortable seats on the bus (made only as a transfer bus, not a long-haul vehicle) made the waiting worse.

We finally cleared the traffic after the sun had set, and saw the Hoover Dam by night (ie, not really at all). An hour later, and we were finally home – grumpy, tired, and wishing our day back. Returning to our hotel room, we discovered that the key for Pip and my room no longer worked, and so after spending seven hours trying to get home, we couldn’t get in! Security blamed the malfunction on the way the keys were stored (if they rub together, sometimes they stop working), but in reality they had been in two separate locations all day, so more likely it was a system error that someone had made.

After a bit of time relaxing, (and after Ed had managed to convince the hotel to give us a free meal at one of the restaurants for the trouble caused), we had dinner at the Spice Market Buffet then played a few dollars on the machines at the casino. Having no luck here, we returned to the rooms to get some much needed rest. We simply hoped that tomorrow would come and go with no problems/arguments/major annoyances!

We took lots of photos today, so check the full gallery out here – alternatively, watch the streamlined version in the photo mash-up below!