This one will be a long one…im bored at Denver Airport on route to NYC.

Well I did it, somehow. Drove out to Grand Canyon South Rim and also saw the Hoover Dam. Started the day at 4:30am, drove a total of ~580 miles (~950km) in the day and then returned at 7pm.

I went over to Avis at the airport to pick up my car at 8pm the night before. When I booked it online I opted for the cheapest little car which would have turned out to be a Kio Rio. The woman at the desk suggested a bigger car (which is obviously more expensive). She made a good argument though, it gets VERY hot driving out there and having the bigger car with bigger engine means better air con and being able to smash it along the interstates at 90mph at the same time. So I ended up with a very nice Chevy Impala. I also got GPS for the day just in case, and lucky I did because the simple drive I thought it was gonna be, totally wasnt.

Drove out of the Luxor carpark at 4:30am and headed straight for the South Rim, saving Hoover Dam for the way back. I got there pretty quick, possibly may or may not could have maybe broken a few speed limits, but im a foreigner so I dont even know what the speed limits are anyway, right? Bought my $25(!!) park pass and entered the park. Got to the first lookout and BOOM this place is wicked. Thats one deep canyon.

Drove around to a few more lookouts, snappin pics along the way, amazed the entire time of the sheer size of the place. Stumbled upon a few people that arent scared of using an SLR so I got a few photos of myself with that camera finally which was good. There wasnt a cloud in the sky the entire day, with the temps at about 90 degrees farenheit, and topping out at 102 later in the day. That kinda heat just saps all the energy out of you. There was so many cool looking trail walks that go down into the canyon but I just didnt have the energy, or time either.

Spent a total of about 3 hours there, then headed back on the long drive to the Hoover Dam. The road going over the dam is only 1 lane each way so it gets pretty badly backed up. Parked in one of the carparks and walked down to the tours desk. Fluked the timing and managed to just get on the very last tour of the day. Got through that, took a few snaps from the observation deck and head back to my car. Drove back to Avis with 1 hour to spare on my rental time, perfect.

Woke up this morning for my flight to NYC via Chicago. Got to the airport and was told that it was too late to check-in because the flight had been rescheduled and I wasnt informed. A very lovely lady at the desk sorted me out, new flights via Denver, arriving NYC earlier AND in premium economy. Sweet as.

Overall Vegas was pretty cool and im glad I went. Although being in Vegas on your own is obviously quite a bit different than being with some mates. Ir would be pretty hektik party time. If it werent for the UFC and Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam im not quite sure what I would have done for 3 full days, as the gambling side of things isnt of huge interest to me. Prob just chill out at the hotel pools which were pretty nice.