Monument Valley

Day 51 of the trip saw us take a trip to Monument Valley.

Monument Valley itself is very impressive and some of the formations are amazing. Unfortunately it is very isolated and our hotel was located in a town where everything closed by 7.30pm - not great for a Saturday night! Nonetheless, the views we saw during our time more than made up for the poor evening entertainment....



A 180 degree panoramic view of part of Monument Valley



Dave in a 180 degree panoramic view of some of the formations in Death Valley

Dave searches on the camera for the setting to create the above shots

Me with some of the formations in the background

The formations above in black and white and without me present - a nice effect

Further formations within Monument Valley

Another formation, this one was just before the proper 'Monument Valley' park area

These formations were located outside the valley itself but are none the less very impressive

Further monuments within Monument Valley

A substantial monument in the valley

Another good formation from the valley

This shot was taken just outside the valley itself

....And Finally

On our way to Phoenix we saw this car which appears to have over sized tyres - we surmised that the owner may be large ('a tank') and so require heavy duty tyres to support them in the car

We also saw a road with an interesting name...

Grand Canyon

Our first stop after Vegas was the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, consider by many to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I don't think either me or Dave would argue with it being on the list...

Our time in the Grand Canyon was split between a helicopter tour, a jeep ground tour and an IMAX film about the Grand Canyon.

Helicopter Tour

Dave's share of the helicopter tour was kindly paid for by Reads as part of his leaving present - unfortunately the other part of his leaving present, the "Reads & Co 2" case, did not make it along with us due to baggage limitations. None the less here are the pictures from the tour, which was an amazing experience...

The helicopter tour took in part of the North part of the Canyon.

Dave prepares to board the helicopter, he insists he's not pissed - he just wasn't expecting a picture at that exact moment!!!

Dave outside the helicopter

Me outside the helicopter

The control board of the helicopter. Dave and I had seats next to the pilot which gave us the best views on the helicopter

Me next to the pilot. It was thought best not to have Dave sit next to the pilot in case he caused some sort of electrical malfunction.

Dave sat in the helicopter

The approach to the Grand Canyon was covered in woodland

The Canyon, as viewed from above

Another shot of the Canyon

And another, this time featuring the river running along the bottom

The rim of the Canyon

Further views of the Canyon

Another view of................................ yes, you guessed it, the Canyon

Further Canyon view

A wide shot of the Canyon

Jeep Tour

The other picture opportunity of the day came from a two hour Jeep tour that covered a small stretch of the south rim of the Canyon.

Me and Dave sitting on the South Rim of the canyon, in the distance you can see the North Rim

A view of the Canyon from the South Rim. The North Rim is opposite

Further view of the Canyon, the North Rim is again in the background

Close up of the valley

Another view of the valley, featuring the 2 'Battleships' in the foreground on top of the first ridge and to the centre and left



View of the Canyon

Me with the Canyon in the background

More formations that are in the Canyon. The light coloured rock is limestone

The wildlife in the canyon includes Elk. In this picture you can see a female sitting on the ground

A bull elk can be seen here. Note the impressive horns

Las Vegas

Days 43 to 47 were spent experiencing the 'delights' of Las Vegas - it's fair to say that its like nothing we've ever seen before. Vegas has many things, but predominately 3; Casinos, Shows and a small selection of Designer Shops.

Shows

During our stay we went to two shows, Michael Jackson Cirque du Soliel (excellent) and David Copperfield (average) - the above ratings are set bearing in mind the respective costs of each show.

Michael Jackson Cirque du Soliel was sensational - the acrobatics were amazing with some great stunts. The show is expensive but it is well worth it.

David Copperfield was ok on the basis that although it was a 90 minute show he only did about 10 tricks and spent the rest of the time padding the show with aliens and stories. He did however manage to put a car on stage without anyone noticing and make 13 members of the audience disappear on stage. It is fair to say that it just did not compare to the Cirque du Soliel show.

The Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas strip is unique as all the hotels have something special about them, but inside they are all very 'samey' (with the exception of the décor) - one person had an idea of a hotel with casino on site and the occasional shop and it been replicated many times. Vegas is like Blackpool on steroids but unlike Blackpool the hotels are not decorated like we are still in the 1950's and you wont see McDonald's wrappers flying around in the wind. It is also fair to say to wont ever see 40c heat in Blackpool.

Below are pictures that show some of Vegas' extraordinary hotels...



Our hotel was called New York New York - themed based on New York and it also contained a roller coaster. The level of detail was excellent

A hotel on the strip was themed on Paris

This is the Bellagio and you can also see Ceasers Palace in the background (Ceasers Palace has a Roman theme)

Bellagio contains impressive indoor gardens. The flowers in here are real

The inside of Ceasers Palace, here an impressive statue

Again inside Ceasers Palace, including fake sky

The Harley Davison Café, which as you might expect features motor bikes

The pool out the front of Bellagio, which features the famous fountains that active every few hours- unfortunately we have no pictures with the fountains in action but they are impressive!

Another Roman-esque monument

This is the inside of the Venitian hotel, which includes gondola experience where people can ride around a canal system. We did not partake but it looked ok

Dwayne Johnson

We were trying to take a picture of the Rock here but unfortunately this guy came round the corner at the wrong moment...

Overall

Vegas is quite an experience but somehow it doesn't quite compare to the natural beauty of Yosemite and Death Valley...