Leaving Grand Canyon

[Tuesday 19 September]

Another cool morning, crisp and cloudless. A perfect day for a helicopter ride over the canyon.

After coffee and finishing our packing we strolled along the rim one more time until time to check out. 

saying good-bye

We drove out of the village and headed for Rt 64 south toward Williams. After about 7 miles we pulled into the Grand Canyon Airport and made our way to the Maverick Helicopter building where we checked in, a process that included standing on a scale one at a time. (Significant weight limitations in place.)

A few minutes later we watched as four helicopters landed one after another and the passengers disembarked. They gathered around the pilot, took photos, and appeared to have had a grand time. At 10:00 am the pilots began calling out the names of their passengers and as luck would have it we ended up with John.

After introductions he took six of us out to the helo and we were given a brief introduction to the safety measures, things like how the seatbelts worked (NOT like on airplanes) and, oh don’t open the door while in flight, that sort of thing.

It was then time to climb aboard. We were given assigned seats — presumably based on weight distribution — and once buckled in put on our headsets (so we could all communicate and it reduced the noise SIG-NIF-I-CANT-LY). 

the Colorado

And off we went into a gorgeous blue sky above the Kaibab National forest. At one point we actually flew by Point Imperial on the north rim and over the road we had just traveled three days earlier.

 

It is beyond my limited vocabulary to describe the incredible thrill of the ride and the grandeur of seeing both rims of the Grand Canyon from the air. Crossing the National Forest -- the world's second largest Ponderosa pine forest we were told -- we then plunged out over the canyon which was the first introduction to the incredible adventure and left most if not all of us breathless. 

John was nothing short of superb in his handling of the helo and his insightful and helpful narrative was much appreciated.

Once back at the airport we gathered around John to have our pictures taken couple-by-couple. 

This once-in-a-lifetime trip had been a genuine blast and was worth both the time and money.

But soon we were back on the road south to Williams where we picked up I-40 heading west. We left the interstate at Kingman, got gas and turned north on Rt 93 in the direction of Hoover Dam.

Once we reached the dam we stopped at a scenic overlook of Lake Mead but opted not to get out in 94-degree heat to walk the bridge to see the dam.

It was a short hop back into Las Vegas and after some jockeying around a traffic snarl — thanks to Susie’s navigational skills — we made our way to our hotel, the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. I dropped Susie off with the bags and then headed off to the car rental return center near the airport. I then called an Uber to take me back to the hotel and we checked in.

the Tropicana

Tropicana Avenue

That evening we decided to  just chill out and had Chinese food at one of the restaurants in the hotel.

Another good day indeed.