Las Vegas - Day 2
Thursday, July 13th. 2006

Full-day tour of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead & Grand Canyon (South Rim). We got up early and was first to be picked up at the hotel at 6 a.m. It's supposed to be a 14 hour tour so we had to be one of those early birds for a change. Urghh...!

After devouring a packed breakfast supplied by the tour company (no coffee, shucks!), we headed out of Las Vegas Valley and began our way to Hoover Dam.

This is our bus driver/tour guide, Jimmy (see above). I thought he looked like Tim McGraw; the chubbier and funnier version, that is. He was trying to make the long trip more bareable by cracking cheap jokes (some were good though) and giving us pop-quizzes about the Canyon and it's geological aspects. Good try Jimmy but I've already forgotten all the questions and answers to your quizzes ;)

Along the way in Henderson & Boulder cities, Jimmy showed us some houses belonging to Hollywood movie stars like Denzel Washington, Sean Connery, Sammy Davis Jnr., Dean Martin, Patrick Swayze and golf-pro, extraordinaire Tiger Woods. Yup! He has a house out here too; complete with a golf course for him to practise.

We passed by Lake Mead; a huge artificial lake resulting in the damming of the Colorado River and completion of Hoover Dam.

A very picturesque Lake Mead

Hoover Dam (formerly Boulder Dam)

Here we are at the Hoover Dam; a National Historic Landmark, world-renowned structure & America's seventh modern civil engineering wonder. Prior to that, we were held-up for no apparent reason (Jimmy reckoned they're filming "Transformers: The Movie" so traffic was backed up for 20 mins. approaching the Dam).

The Dam was built during the Depression years; whereby thousands of men and their families came to Black Canyon to tame the Colorado River.

It was the largest dam built during its time and these men had only 2 off-days i.e. Christmas & Labor Day. There were no Labor Laws back then to protect the workmen so they were overly exploited. Yet, it took them only 5 years to complete this monolith project. Damn!

This funny looking structure a.k.a. the pill-box is not to be played with. It is situated atop the hill over-looking the Hoover Dam. If any "hanky-panky" or terrorists are spotted, big guns will emerge from the box and hunt you down. I kid you not! So far, it has only been used twice :( Oh..oh!

Kingman, Arizona

Our 15 minute rest stop at the TA. Time for snacks, restrooms, etc. Last stop before a buffet style lunch outside the Grand Canyon National Park Gates. Yipee!



Grand Canyon, Arizona (finally!)

What a sight to behold! Breathing is harder up here due to the altitude. Nevertheless, it's worth the time, patience and effort. Between 5-10 million people visit the Grand Canyon each year and yet, some were skeptical about tourists coming here to see a bunch of rocks when Roosevelt named it National Monument in the early 1900s.

Interesting statistics & facts about the Grand Canyon

Length: 277 miles /446 kms (approximate distance from Kuching to Sibu)

Depth: over 1 mile /1.61kms deep

Width: 18 miles/29 kms wide at its widest point (approximate distance from Kuching to Damai Beach)

Grand Canyon National Park: 1900 square miles

First inhabitants: Anasazi & the Cohonina's around 500 to 600 A.D. but disappeared between 1100-1200 A.D.; then Spanish conquistadors came in 1540 seeking the "Cities of Gold", named Colorado River /Rio Colorado (Red River)

Adrian & I at Bright Angel Canyon - widest part of the Grand Canyon