Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Grand Canyon: West Rim

Our next stop was The Grand Canyon.
The West Rim is 2 hours from Las Vegas or 1.5 hours from Hoover Dam.
The South Rim is 5 hours away and we decided that was too far.
Neither of us had ever been to The West Rim so we were looking forward to it.
 The landscape of Arizona was filled with these cactusy trees.
 We enjoyed the scenery.
However, we were not prepared for a 14 mile drive on dirt roads to get to the west rim.
My touristy books and park information failed to mention this little tid bit.
 Kevin was wishing we signed up for a helicopter tour...
We kept seeing cattle crossing signs and were confused by them.
We had driven for many miles
and hadn't seen any sort of creature along the landscape.
 Bam... out of nowhere... cows with horns wandering to and fro.
Guess it was a good thing there were signs warning about this.
We saw lots of them
and were just hoping none would be there to surprise us around the bend.
It was pricier than we anticipated to get into The West Rim 
because it was on the Hualapai Indian Reservation
and not classified as a national park.
We paid $75 to get it and get tickets for a 3 stop bus tour.
 We enjoyed making it just in time for the LAST tour of the day.
Surprisingly enough, there were NO guard rails on these narrow roads.
 Our first stop was at:
Again, no guard rails and an over curious Kevin...
 Nothing to stop you from tumbling a LONG way down.
 The Sky Walk that hangs 4,000 ft above the canyon floor.
Unfortunately, we arrived 7 minutes after 5:00 and this closed at 5.
So we didn't get to go on it because apparently the Halaupai people
are serious about that 5:00 closing time 
and will just tell you to come back another day if you arrive after that.
We still got a great view of Eagles Point 
because apparently this looks like an eagle with its' wings outstretched.
 Close enough to the edge for me.
 We learned that you can't take anything with you on the Skywalk.  
No purses, cameras, etc. 
If you want to have pictures of you being out there,
you must pay their photographer to take them.
Not cool.
It's probably best that we didn't get to do this
because I don't appreciate being told not to take pictures
and my mom wasn't really fond of us going out on the Sky walk.
 The sun was starting to set, the wind was picking up and the temp was dropping.
Our 2nd stop, touted to have 360 degree views of The Grand Canyon.
Here's Kevin going as close to the edge as humanly possible.
Me taking the pictures slightly worried that he may slip...
 Great red rocks and NO chance of falling for me :)
Notice a theme here??
Kevin trying to scare his poor wifey??
Maybe he is just being adventurous?
I'd prefer safe but I agreed to take a few pictures
and prayed that he wouldn't make the news for falling into The Grand Canyon.
 Colorado River 4,000 ft below.
 Hiking out to Guana Point.
Old mining station and tram connecting point.
 Brave enough for me.
 Cross another National Park off our list Kev!
It wasn't quite as much fun driving the 14 mile dirt road back in the dark...
we trailed a few other cars which was nice and the cows must have gone to bed.
We really were in the middle of nowhere  :)

What I Wore Wednesday

Here's a glimpse into my closet this week:
I'm linking up with Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy
1. Striped Paradise
Lace top - A.N.A.
Flower bouquet brooch - vintage
Skinny gold belt - TJ Maxx
Stripey skirt - Thrifty find of the year!!
Ivory mum earrings - Claires
Tights - Macys
Lace up booties - Born
*Favorite outfit of the week*
 2. Polka-Dotty Blazer
Blazer - Thrifted
Green scarf - Macys
Ivory Mum earrings - Claires
Gold belt - TJ Maxx
Jeans -Target
Brown boots - Naturalizer
Ruffley metallic purse - Steven Madden
 3. Animal Print in Vegas
Fitted jean jacket & green belt - TJ Maxx
Feathery earrings - JC Penneys
Animal print top - Norstrom Rack
Red leather hobo bag - Coach
Mustard Corduroys - Old Navy
Black kitty heels - Ralph Lauren
*a close 2nd for favorite outfit of the week
 4. National Parking It
Notre Dame zip up - Columbia
Plaid scarf - TJ Maxx
Jeans - Target
Ruffley metallic purse - Steve Madden
Gray Converse - Macys
Aviator shades - Target
 See you next week!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam is about 45 minutes from Las Vegas.
It was one of our first stops on Saturday.
It was an easy drive.

Driving up to the dam and catching our first glimpse of the new bridge.
 We parked and started walking around the site.
I was here about 15 years ago with my family.
It was raining, there was no bridge and we didn't stay long.
It was fun to be here again with Kevin.
We walked across the dam.
 Sooooooooo far down
 Great weather
 After walking around, reading plaques, etc. we decided 
we should walk ACROSS the new bridge!
 It is really high up.
 It was SUPER windy up there
 and yet there were tons of helicopters flying over doing tours.
Kevin was eager to get across and lean over the rails to get a good look below...
We were just on the road down there.
 Getting closer to the middle of the bridge...
Let's be honest.
It was kind of scary with all the wind and being way far up in the sky.
 Swirly hair tornado with all the wind in the middle of the bridge.
 There is a walkway on both sides and two lanes of traffic going each way.
 A little bit of sunshine waiting for us when we hiked down from the bridge.