Not just a big hole in the ground...

Canyon View
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A very early start today, getting up at 5am for our 6am tour pickup. Not a good look after a late-ish night in Vegas. We managed to get to the tour lobby on time for our pickup, then spent the next two hours on the bus picking up other passengers and travelling to Boulder Creek for our flight to the Canyon at 8am.

We borded our light plane for the trip which lasted about 45 mins. The views of hoover dam were amazing, as well as our first view of snow on the ground!! We boarded our tour bus and were taken to two different lookout points for photos and the obligatory souvenier purchases. Paula got to touch snow for the first time in her life and was very excited.

Grand Canyon

Joe in the Helicopter
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Joe took the new digital SLR camera and got some great photos of the canyon. After our canyon viewpoints we were taken to a local hotel for a small buffet brunch. It was ok and they had something really wierd looking for dessert. I decided to try this yellow thing with black stuff on top, which ended up being vanilla pudding with crushed oreo's! Not my cup of tea. And might I just say at this point, that the tea they give you in the hotels here is just cr#p!. I should have taken a smal box of liptons with me as their excuse for English Breakfast tea just doesn't cut it!!

Paula's first look at snow..
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After lunch we boarded our helicopter flight for a 30min view through the Grand Canyon. This was totally amazing. It was also Paula's first time in a helicopter (and her last!). She managed to swallow deeply and keep her lunch down! As soon as we landed we were taken to the airport and boarded our flight home back to Boulder Creek. Paula couldn't swallow hard enough and took advantage of the "motion sickness" bag!

On return to our hotel we picked up a latte each and headed up to our room for a little nap. Joe and I then headed off for our evening Vegas Lights helicopter flight (Paula had booked to go, but decided not to temp fate!). Joe and I ended up in the rear seat of the helicopter, so didn't get the best photos of the city night lights - but it was still a great flight.

We saw this little fella!
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When we returned from our flight we found that Paula had hit the strip again on her own, so Joe and I decided to go try out a buffet at another hotel. We walked down to Treasure Island hoping to catch their pirate show before hand - but missed this by 15mins. We went into their "Dishes" buffet which was very nice - I liked it much better than the one at the Flamingo. Even the setting was nicer.

After our big dinner we decided we should do a decent amount of walking, so wandered up the strip passed the Monte Carlo, Mirage, Wynn, Frontier, Venetian, Casino Royale, Harrahs and then home again, arriving back at about 11:30. Looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow. It is now 1:30am and both my room mates are asleep, which is where I should be too.. until my next entry.. adieu!