The Grand Canyon

The final major stop on our trip before heading to KC for time with family and friends there was the West rim of the Grand Canyon. Since Las Vegas is not terribly far from there (at least by US travel standards), we booked a bus tour from there so we did not have to worry over driving, etc. After a good American breakfast of donuts (hard to find in NZ), we set off for a day of adventuring.

The first stop along the way was at Hoover Dam. I had never been to a desert before, and it was quite a change after living right on the coast. It is difficult for me to imagine living in such a dry place. The Hoover dam is built in the Black Canyon on the Colorado River, at the border between Arizona and Nevada. It was built during the Depression and is now a historic landmark.

Power Station by the dam

The Colorado River

We had one more stop along the way, for coffee etc. in a very quaint looking Southwestern community, and then were on the final stage of the journey to our destination. We visited the West Rim, which is located on an Indian Reservation Hualapai tribe. We were dropped out at the visitor center with our entry passes, a map, and suggestions on how best to plan the 4 hours allowed on the Reservation.

We started with the Skywalk, an attraction since 2007 which allows you to walk right out over part of the canyon. Not quite my cup of tea, I decided I was happy looking down with solid ground under my feet. No cameras allowed on the Skywalk, they preferred to make a bit of extra income by stationing professional photographers on the walk to take pictures for you. This part of the Canyon is called Eagle point. After our Skywalk, we got to meander through displays of Native American housing and take in the sights for this part of the canyon.

The Skywalk....clear floor so you can see straight down

The oven

This house was my favorite, it was nice and cool inside :)

He might be taller....but we're still the boss!

When we were ready to move on, we caught a shuttle to Guano Point, the other area we were allowed access. This was definitely my favorite, as you could find a high point and get an almost 360 degree view of the Canyon. It is hard to describe, and the photos do not even begin to do it justice, but here are my favorites just the same. 

Leftover from mining days

Clearly we showed them up :)

Las Vegas

Stop two of our trek across the US (or what parts we had time to cover) was Las Vegas. After a delightfully early 6am flight, our systems got quite a shock when we stepped out of the airport and the temperature was somewhere between 95 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That was more than double what we had been used to (it has since warmed up) so we sort of felt like we were melting in about 5 minutes. I suppose you get used to it after awhile.

None of us had any major interest in the activities which normally spring to mind for Las Vegas, other than possibly walking down the strip to take in the sights so we decided to see what else the area had to offer. We made what we thought would be a quick venture outside of town to a place called Red Rock Canyon. By mid afternoon, we were running low on water and definitely in need of lunch, but were wishing we had researched ahead enough to know it was worth a full day visit.

The highway itself presented an excellent view of the canyon, but once you reached the national park entrance, a driving tour allowed you to slowly take in the view in a much closer setting. The tour had frequent viewpoints, many of which led to trails around the park area. Due to the heat we were not able to undertake any actual hiking, but we certainly enjoyed the scenery.

And just because you do have to take in the lights of Vegasa bit:

Portland

At the end of August, Troway and I traveled to the states for a couple of weeks. My sister and her husband joined us on the West Coast, so they did most of the planning, and we did not realize until we got there how much they were able to plan into just a few days.

We spent our first two day in Portland, Oregon, hanging out with family and seeing great sights around the city (and eating delicious food!). After a hearty American breakfast at a pancake house (where we had an interesting time finding ingredients that should not have have been in our order, such as cheese on my waffle, chicken in the veggie omelet, and tomato in the hashbrowns), we headed to the riverfront for the Saturday market. After living across the street from the Naschmarkt in Vienna, I thought I knew what an impressive market was, but this was may have it beat. If you could name it, you could pretty much buy it at this market I think. One entire street was devoted to food vendors. A stage at one end of this street provided entertainment in the form of what may or may not have been a garage band, all wearing hawaiian shirts :) Arts and crafts were everywhere, but that was only the beginning. I am guessing we saw maybe half of it, but that is probably stretching it. We enjoyed the mask table the boys found, and sampled an elephant ear, which is a giant fried deliciousness.

One end of the market

Riverfront

Cool/crazy/scary masks

Elephant ear!

As if the above mentioned treat was not enough sugar to keep us going for the day, we made our way to Voodoo Donuts, which is one of the must-dos for Portland. They specialize in creative, over-the-top donut creations, and it comes in a pink box, which is clearly the best way to get your donuts. There was a bit of a line to get in, so we had time to admire the bricks of the Voodoo Donut building which were painted with sparkles.

Our last major stop in Portland was the Rose Garden. It is part of a botanical garden so huge it has its own shuttle system. The Rose Garden itself took an entire afternoon to explore, and we probably could have lingered much longer. There is also a zoo, a Japanese garden, a forest, and several other options, if you have a couple of weeks to explore the entire area.