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Las Vegas: Ride Of A Lifetime!
By
Caterina Christakos
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Most people share a common
"image" of Las Vegas. I used to be one of them
until I undertook the ride of a lifetime. Imagine flying
just a few hundred feet above canyons that nature has
painted orange and red, walking on naturally sculpted
rocks, and floating down a river of dreams. These are the
images that I will always carry with me each time I think
of Las Vegas.
While taking a break after about twelve hours of the usual
Las Vegas activities, my father and I looked at each other
and thought there surely must be more to Las Vegas than
the hotels and flashing lights. So we asked the wonderful
concierge at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort for a few
suggestions. He quickly arranged for a breathtaking
helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon.
Well, the Grand Canyon looks awesome in the movies so
thought we might as well give it a try. Neither of us was
anywhere near prepared for the amazing adventure that we
were about to experience!
The tour company sent a limo to the hotel to pick us up.
We rode through Las Vegas for only about five minutes
before we were dropped off at the chopper launch pad.
Fellow tourists from all over the world waited along with
us for the tour to begin. We would never have expected to
meet such friendly folks in Las Vegas!
A few minutes later, our pilot led us to one of the
waiting aircraft. Intelligent and quite attractive (in a
boy next door kind of way), he quickly told us that we had
ended up in a helicopter all by ourselves because several
of the other passengers decided to just fly over the
canyon and then return to Las Vegas. The tour package that
we chose actually had us landing on the bottom of the
canyon!
We flew for about 30 minutes over a huge desert canvas
which had been painted by nature in every color
imaginable. We saw amazing rock formations, mountains, and
the Colorado river.
After what seemed like mere seconds of smooth flying (the
flight was that awesome) we were over the canyon itself.
We saw the landing pad set amidst a backdrop of
tumbleweed, mountains and cacti.
After we got off, the pilot helped us climb down a dirt
and rock pathway that led to a little boat dock. There we
met a family from England who would be our
"partners" on our tour down the Colorado river.
Las Vegas was now out of sight and out of mind.
The boat captain was a small oriental man with bright eyes
and a wonderful sense of humor. He gave us our picnic
baskets and commenced to regale us with interesting
stories of how the Grand Canyon was created.
He stopped periodically to help us take the most
breathtaking photos of the canyon. He knew every rock and
ridge! He pointed out spectacular eagles and human faces
carved into the rock by eons of erosion.
At the completion of our Las Vegas helicopter tour, we
flew back to the launch pad and the limo took us back to
the hotel. Content and awestruck, dad and I were certain
that we would return to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon
where we would repeat the fabulous Las Vegas helicopter
tour.
Recommendation: Visit Las Vegas, have fun, then
take the ride of your lifetime! You'll wonder why you even
bothered with the usual Las Vegas activities!
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