Wednesday 7^th and Thursday 8^th November

Today we checked out of the hotel, but needed to fill in another 12 hours until our late night plane trip to Canada, so we booked on a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. We had not been on a chopper since 1979 so we were unsure what to expect.  

Our fears were put to rest as soon as we took off and had views of the outskirts of Las Vegas.  Before long the pilot was inviting us to look at the Hoover Dam, a construction which was completed two years ahead of schedule back in 1935.  This dam was constructed primarily to control flooding in and around the Colorado River basin.

Before long he was welcoming us to the Grand Canyon, and I really have to admit I shed a tear or two.  It was a sight which I didn’t expect and the enormity just took me by surprise.  

The steep cliffs reach down to a ribbon of the river below, and very soon we were landing on a small space with tables, umbrellas and champagne to celebrate being part of the canyon.

The trip then took us back to Las Vegas with very clear views over the “Strip”. This is a street about 3km long full of heavily illuminated casinos interspersed with a shop or two.

As we had been sitting for most of the day and armed with the knowledge of another eight hours or so on the plane we decided to walk to what is known in Vegas as “Downtown”.  The walk took us 90 minutes and along the way we saw the wedding chapels which were nearly always adjacent to a motel which had seen better days.  There were many dark spots along the street with very few people in sight.  

The aim of going Downtown was to see Fremont Street which we had been told was a “must-do”. The most obvious and largest part of the Fremont Street Experience is the Viva Vision canopy and light show. The canopy towers 90 feet above the ground and spans the length of five football fields. Featuring more than 12 million LED modules and a 555,000-watt sound system, the light show attracts tourists and locals alike. The show is performed on the top of every hour.

Time for the airport for our 11.30 pm flight to Moncton, Nova Scotia, via Toronto.  In all our travels there have been very minimal changes or disruptions, however this one was two hours late leaving Vegas so we missed our connecting flight to Moncton. I was able to make a quick phone call to our exchange partners to give them the bad news, and they were able to come to the airport at a later time to collect us.  Aileen had prepared a wonderful slow cooked meal for us and it wafted through our nostrils as we entered their lovely cozy home.  We certainly felt the temperature drop – Amherst here in Nova Scotia was about 3 degrees C , compared to the 30 odd degrees we experienced in Las Vegas – bring out the winter woollies!!