Galloping Horse: USA Trip: Canyoning in Arizona & Catching David Blaine!

Grand Canyon, Arizona

When I found out that Grand Canyon was doable from Las Vegas via day trips or tours, I was very determined to make it happen. There were a number of national parks and canyon also within the vicinity such as Death Valley and Zion. After much contemplating and considering the time that I have in the States, I decided to include Antelope Canyon and I signed up for 2D1N package with MaxTour which cost 399 dollars for single occupancy. Made my booking 3 weeks before the actual day, this tour was one of my most anticipated itinerary.

One of the pick up points for other tour members. Saw this hotel during my search before deciding to stay at AirBnB eventually.

The day started as early as 4am as I needed to take a ride to El Cortez Hotel, nearby Fremont Street for 5.30am pick up as the tour only offered free pick up from hotels nearby The Strip and downtown. Thankfully Lyft was available in the early (or late hours) so I didn't need to walk the same path when I first arrived in Vegas. As I waited for my tour van, there was a police car pulled over another car right in front of the hotel. All the police scenes that I usually came across in the news started to flash in my mind, thinking what could happen next, just to see it ended well (or anti-climatically). The big van came and I was the first one onboard and we went on to pick up the rest before we continued on the journey. Free flow of snacks and drinks (bottled Starbucks included) were provided in the package. Picked up last passenger from MGM Grand, along with another family who didn't show up as per schedule at the previous hotel, we made our way to Hoover Dam as our first bonus stop.

The building of this dam believed to promote the growth of population in Las Vegas back in the 1930's by offering job opportunities during The Great Depression.

Crossing Nevada-Arizona state border at this point.

Admiring the desert of view of Arizona as we cruised along Route 93 before we arrived at Seligman, birthplace of the historic Route 66. It was a little township which gave old school cowboy town vibe. We did a quick stop at Motoporium for toilet break and there was mini exhibit of antique cars inside the store. When I thought I would no longer see snow after my trip at the far north, we were passing by stretches of the white matter before reaching Williams for lunch. Moving on further up along Route 64, we were getting closer and closer to the main destination of the day.

My Tour Van with the entourage. A Thousand Miles is playing in the background.

Hello, Route 66! Couldn't believe I get to step my foot at this iconic route.

One with the cars. There was no real explanation why these cars were here. Or is there?

This gave me Cruella Devil vibe, from 101 Dalmatians movie.

Couldn't leave this route without a photo, could I?

Lunch break at Pine Country Restaurant.

Little township of Williams. Our last stop before the main event.

We entered the park via South Rim of Grand Canyon and Yavapai was our first view point. Despite of the cloudy weather, it didn't dampen the magnificent view of the canyon. My breath was taken away as many times as I looked down and beyond which seemed to know no boundaries. During this time of the year, snow was visible which definitely icing on the cake, compensated the gloomy sky. We tracked along Rim Trail for different vantage points where the pathway was icy and slippery. Essentially there was no tracking required to get to these view points as there was proper concrete walkway for visitors with railing in place, with public restroom provided nearby. Bought myself few souvenirs at Yavapai Museum of Geology before being brought to Pipe Creek Vista, further down along South Rim. It was close to 6pm when we were at last view point before we decided to call it a day. It was getting dark as the sun started to set. Looking at the grandeur structure for one last time and we were brought to have our dinner at New York Teriyaki in the little township of Page. There were few options given by Joseph, our tour guide and everyone seemed to be opting for the same eatery. I started to get acquainted with another traveller during dinner who happened to be doing solo travel as well. We went on to check in to our hotel and rested for the night. Arizona has different time zone than California and Nevada, which is one hour faster.

Standing at the precipice and in awe of this view.

"I am on the edge... of glory. The edge, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge..."

Another viewpoint, with snowy sidewalks.

Model of Grand Canyon at Yavapai Museum.

One with the signage before moving to another check point. In case you couldn't see it or you were wondering, yes, it was raining.

View from Pipe Creek Vista.

One last shot with the canyon.

My stay for the night. 399 dollars seemed to be a very good bargain.

Lower Antelope Canyon, Navajo Nation & Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

Day 2 of the tour needn't to start as early since we were already nearby to our next point of interest. Breakfast was included but I decided to skip just to have a banana instead. The group gathered at hotel lobby around 8am and off we went to our first pitstop of the day, which was just 30 minutes away. This particular stop wasn't part of main highlight of this tour, at least for me, at least not in the beginning since the major driver was Grand Canyon. More so, for this particular excursion, additional 70 dollars was not included in the initial fee of 399 dollars. There were two reasons for this; the visit to Antelope Canyon was very much weather dependent and the tour would be cancelled should the forecast indicate heavy rain for the fear of flash flood. There was history of hikers being swept away as stream of water started to gush through the narrow channels and never been found or presumed dead, which made it mandatory only guided tour is allowed at the canyon. Secondly, the canyon is located at Navajo Nation whereby only Navajo is allowed to lead the tour, which explained the separate charge was to be paid separately to another agency. Lucky for us, the weather was on our side.

There were so many points of interest at this region. I'm seeing myself returning in the future just to check these off my list.

Each tour only allowed up to 10 pax and since my tour has extra member, I volunteered to join separate group, joining Italian tourists. The weather was rather gloomy with mild rain, fortunately it didn't get any heavier throughout the time we were there. I thought my guide was a serious dude with the stern look but turned out to have good sense of humour. The tour started with walking down very steep staircase towards the canyon, a slight slip could be fatal. Only photo taking was allowed within the canyon. I overheard the the other group guide (which was actually my original group) caught one of them recording video and asking him (or her) to delete it, else to leave the canyon. With that said, the rules were being enforced pretty strictly. No bagpack is allowed as well. Just before the tour started, Joseph taught us to configure the camera settings on phones so that could we capture the vivid colours of the sandstones walls as we would be going down of the canyon with limited lighting.

My tour guide on the left. Started to walk down to where the little shelter was, the starting point of the steep stairs.

View from the top looking down. Looking at the formation. You would be in for a treat.

One of the stairs within the canyon. Look at that steep stairways.

The trail was rather decent despite of the narrow pathways in which certain parts could only fit one person to go through. It wasn't a strenuous one-mile walk, with little stairs climbing here and there. I found myself in continuous amazement at every turn; you could stand at one spot with multiples perspectives, surrounded by the canyon walls. The same wall could have different impressions/interpretations from different angle. Our guide was very knowledgeable as he shared the history of canyon and showed us the sites that were used as wallpapers for TVs/mobile devices. Though right now, I wasn't sure which photo in my phone gallery is used for which wallpaper right now as there were all as pretty good pictures as the others. At one point he asked me how to pronounce seahorse in Malay (I told him I am from Malaysia) and subsequently he showed a formation that looked like one. For about an hour or so, we finally came to the exit of canyon. I thought we were supposed to tip the guide but ending up I didn't get to give any. I reunited with my tour group and we were off for next stop.

My first (of many) photo.

My tour guide helped me to take this photo,

and this...

and this. This is my current top photo of all time now.

Lady in the Wind. Can you see it?

Kuda laut. Seahorse. "Hai Ma". Weird coincidence that I'm working in the city with seahorse as its mascot.

Last selfie. As you can see, the tour groups were just keep coming and it would be very hard to take a lone photo inside the canyon. So, quick tip, be quick when there was no one around and of course, be considerate.

Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

We passed by the junction while we were on our way to the hotel the night before getting back from Grand Canyon. Walking through Arizona desert and could see crowd of tourists were already at the scenic view point of Horsehoe Bend. I bumped into some familiar faces that I saw back in Antelope Canyon, expected so since distance between the two was rather close. As the day went on, it started to rain albeit mildly but enough to soak myself wet. We were at the bend for about an hour before heading off to Big John's Texas BBQ for lunch break. We did one last stop to have overview of Lake Powell but the sky was totally overcast. We have one last group photo before heading our way back to Las Vegas, 4 hours journey ahead of us. At some point we crossed the state border and for a brief moment, we were in the state of Utah, before getting back to Arizona.

Walking towards the bend. Look at how the sky transitioned from left to right.

Leaving my footprint at this beauty.

Even the rain couldn't stop me from taking this selfie.

Me and Arizona's desert in winter.

Hearty lunch with this pork rib and a bottle of beer.

One photo with the tour group before going separate ways at the end of the day.

Quick stop in the state of Utah. So technically, I visited six states in this trip instead of five.

Scenic view of Route 15 as we were on our way back to the sin city.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Me and my newly-made friend requested to be dropped off right in front of Linq Promenade for dinner. We walked along The Strip, completely illuminated this time, towards Resort World to catch David Blaine show. I never knew David Blaine was still doing show and just happened he was having one when I was in Vegas. My friend only decided to join me when I told him on our way back to Vegas. The show started with David Blaine climbing up one of the scaffolding, around 80 feet high, before jumping off and landed onto pile of boxes. He needed medical emergency in which I thought was part of the gimmick when he mentioned that he dislocated his right shoulder until it started to get a little too long. He began asking for assistance from the audience in which there were doctors at least, if not specialist came to his aid. Some of the audience seem to lose their patience and decided to leave the hall. Despite so, the show went on as he managed to pop his shoulder back in, though still in slight discomfort. David told us we could just film/record the show if we wanted to, against the usual regulations that forbade us to do so.

He continued on with his acts, for some might be a bit too hard to stomach which involved sewing his mouth or piercing needles into his skin with volunteers from the audience came on stage to be his assistants. When I thought he submerged under water, holding his breath for 9 minutes would be the highlight but it was the final act that actually blown me away. Initially he asked a little boy to join him on stage and passed him deck of cards. Some of the audience, myself included have similar decks at our seats and was given instructions to shuffle the card as how we wanted to, randomly. What is the odd that when he asked to draw out the last card, everyone was showing four of hearts in their hands, including the boy's. Totally mind "eff-ed" for a while. The whole show lasted for about 2 hours. It was beyond my initial plan that I could catch David Blaine show, which was a nice conclusion of my last weekend in the States. Retrieved our bagpack, we bade farewell to each other and returned to respective stays.