Adventure to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon 2017

                                              My fabulous 2017 trip!!

   On June 5 to June 8, 2017, my family went on a trip to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. We drove a Jeep Patriot that we rented from an AVIS department. My mom's older sister was here for an eleven day visit, she came from Taiwan! We took this adventure because my mom's sister was here. We loaded the luggage into the car there was little space for us. The trunk was small, the car floor was high, but the car wasn't high and the spare tire took half of the space of the trunk. Our car, a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, can carry way much more loads than this Jeep we rented.

DAY 1:
   We started our adventure at circa 11:00 AM. We first went on the Interstate 10 freeway, switched to the Interstate 605 freeway, then the Interstate 210 freeway, then at last the Interstate 15 freeway. We stopped half way, to an Outlet in the city of Barstow. Barstow was dry and hot, compared to the temperature of Los Angeles. We went in the visitor center, and some outlet shops. Then we went back to the Jeep and we drove the Interstate 15, and about two hours, we saw the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System and ten minutes or so, we saw something called SPEED VEGAS. We knew we were getting close to our hotel, which was Circus Circus Hotel & Casino. Then at last we saw the hotel and casino Mandalay Bay, which is one of the most remarkable hotel marks the southern area of Las Vegas. We drove near our hotel, but first we went to Costco to get some fuel for our muscular Jeep Patriot. We drove for another five minutes, and we finally drove into the Circus Circus main parking lot. There we unloaded our luggage and we went to check in. The check-in service lady told us that our room was not in the main hotel and that it was in the Circus Circus manor building B. We went to Building B, and went to our room which was 2137. We dropped our luggage in, and we settled down. At the window of the room, you can see a Circus Circus Water slide, and the Stratosphere Hotel. A few hours later, we went to Circus Circus main hotel, and we went in the lobby; the casino, where my mom and her older sister went to play the Slot machines; the AdventureDome, a large area with lots of rides and entertainments, like the El Loco, Canyon Blaster, Disk-O, Chaos, and 21 attractions more! It was getting late so we went to our room and went to sleep.

The Jeep Patriot that we rented.

Barstow City

The hotel we rented: Circus Circus.

DAY 2:
  The next day, June 6, we woke up extremely early-at 3:30 AM! The sun wasn't even up, and the Las Vegas air was still warm and dry. We packed into the car and we started to drive to our destination, which was Grand Canyon. We stopped at Starbucks in Boulder City, Las Vegas to buy coffee. I am not a coffee fan so only my dad, mom, and my mom's older sister drank coffee/tea. Then we continued the trip towards Grand Canyon, the Interstate 515. When we got on the Interstate 515, we saw  After an hour we passed Hoover Dam, and went cross the Arizona border, and about thirty minutes, we stopped at a scenic area, where we got off the car and took pictures. The scenic area was surrounded by mountains, beautiful color banded mountains; a lonely lake, probably the Colorado River flows through it to the Hoover Dam; and small patches of desert life, that spreads across the whole valley. We didn't have a lot of time so we went on the Interstate 515. It was bright now, but it feels like it's still dark especially that we were almost like the only car on the freeway. For a long time of drive there were only some stop-shops, with gas station and some shops. The scenic seems like it was the same, except some of the rock walls would go by and you would see the not-so-green valley.  Soon we were getting really close to Grand Canyon, when we saw moose. We waited and the moose gave us the way. We then kept on driving.

The scenic area, notice the lonely lake (it's a to near the right).

The Moose(s) we saw. 

   After a few more hours we arrived at Grand Canyon West! It was only 7'o clock, but the sun is already high in the sky, and it was already getting hot. We checked in and the ticket checker said that we are early, besides those that got here by plane. We went on a bus to go to checkpoint 1 (there are three checkpoints), and we were taking one whole bus. After five boring minutes we arrived at checkpoint one. There was a sign saying Hualapai Ranch. We went passed that sign and we saw a place that looks like a very old mall. There were a lot of shops, a jail, and restroom. Some activities were bull riding, horse riding, and gun shows. I tried the gun show. First the instructor, said to pull out the gun; press the cock hammer, make sure the hand isn't on the trigger; aim and press the trigger. I did what he said except I had to pull the trigger three times, and during the second time my hand was on the trigger. When on my third try, the hammer was stuck to the correct area. I aimed at the special built window designed for this show and "BAM!! Bam! Bam.". The gun shot was loud, and the echo of it, I thought I was going deaf. Then I went to a gift shop there, and I bought 2 key chains and 1 pin. After this we went to the bus station where we waited for the bus to go to checkpoint 2. After five boring minutes of doing nothing, the bus finally arrived
and we went on the air conditioned bus. We went on the bus, and this time a longer drive, we passed through the area where we checked in, and we passed a sign that has one side going left Guano POINT and going to the right was EAGLE POINT. The bus turned right, going to Eagle Point, which was checkpoint 2.

Checkpoint one: Hualapai Ranch

  Finally we reached Eagle Point. Eagle Point was famous for its glass SKYWALK. The Skywalk extends out  of the canyon, and the scary part is that the floor it made of glass! I was told that the glass there can hold a truck without breaking. Only my mom's sister went on the SKYWALK, and while she was there, we were in the Skywalk building gift shop. After a few minutes my mom's sister was back. We exited the gift shop and walking straight we saw models of the Native American houses. After visiting the awesome Native houses, we walk toward the shady area, where we waited for the bus. The arrived just on time, and we went on the bus and we went to the checkpoint 3, Guano Point. After a few minutes of drive we arrived at Guano Point. There was a restaurant. We walked to a slight slope and about ten minutes of walk we arrived at this old mining building, which was abandoned. We went in and five minutes later, a big wind came, and a lot of sand were blown up. We saw a the long path of the Colorado River. We actually saw the tops of some tourist helicopter. After ten minutes we went back to the restaurant, and we waited for the bus, and we had to run to it, since people were already loading onto the bus.

Checkpoint 2: SkyWalk

     

Checkpoint 3: From the Old mining building, you can see helicopters' top side 

  After a five minute drive, we arrived at the place where we parked our car and we got off and went into the gift shop, only buying three things at the end. We bought six things from Grand Canyon. We then loaded onto our car, and we were going back to Fabulous LAS VEGAS. After a hour drive, my dad stopped and bought COKE, also getting fuel for the car. Then another two hours we had reached Hoover Dam. It was extremely windy, dry, and hot, but a little cooler than Grand Canyon. We walked on the bridge next to the freeway. We quickly took photos and we soon went back to the car. As we were about to go on the freeway, we went to this scenic area, it was beautiful. You can see the Colorado River, the lake, caused by the Hoover Dam, and you can see small islands and a small boat pier. After we went back to the car, and went back to the freeway, and at another hour, we had reached our hotel. We were exhausted, when we got back to our hotel, we laid on the beds and watched television. After a few minutes, we went into the main building of Circus Circus. We explored the hotel and by the time we went to the AdventureDome, it was closed. We went up to our room, and we went to sleep.

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam, Scenic area

DAY 3:
  The very next day, which was June 7, we woke up, and we went to the streets of Las Vegas. We went to the Encore hotel, where we parked our car, and we went to the Encore hotel, where the Wynn hotel is connected. Encore hotel had a lot of beautiful things, including the pool outside. Soon we reached at the Encore/Wynn intersection. There were two doors, one says, "Encore Theater" the second, "Wynn Theater". In front of these two doors, there was a shiny bear, holding a big shiny cigarette. We then continued on, to Wynn hotel. Wynn hotel is like Encore, until the entrance. There was a fake forest, with fake river, and a fake lake, it was very sight touching. We then went to the Palazzo Hotel which was linked to the Venetian Hotel. Palazzo hotel was amazing, the structure of the building and the inside, pretty well built. We then went to the Venetian Hotel, where we saw the place where they had canals, matching the fake sky. There we saw a chocolate shop, a show, a replica of Optimus Prime, four large words spelling LOVE. Then we went out and went to the Encore parking lot and drove our car. We then went back to Circus Circus because to see the circus performance.

LOVE sign

   When we got there the clown (it was his performance) he chose two random people, but did not choose me. After five minutes the show began. It was magnificent. He did a lot of tricks and shows. Finally he called the two chosen people to come up. The clown told the first person to hold his index finger like pointing a one. He then spin a ball and carefully and with precision placed the spinning ball on his hands. After circa 7 seconds he dropped the ball, but at the fifth second of having the ball spinning on the person's finger, the second person clapped for him. The ball dropped and the clown got the ball and did the same to the second person's finger. The second person had the ball spinning on his finger for circa 6 seconds. The first person didn't clapped for the second person (maybe he was hypnotized), but he had a face of appreciation. Finally the second person dropped the ball, and the clown picked the ball and they bowed, one to the people in the front, and one for the people watching from the back. The clown walked down the stage, with the two chosen ones. The clown gave both of them six tickets for two rides for the price of one at first play. Then they went back to their seats. Then another performer came. He had a round metal ring, and roll with it. After doing that for about twenty times, he got a tall ladder, and climb it up and to the other side down, while the ladder was balancing on one leg. He then did some more fabulous tricks on his ladder, and soon the show ended. We went to our room, and we kept on  We then went to the nearest ROSS, and bought what we needed for the water slide. After that we went to our room, and got dressed. We then got to the water slide. We took a thin blue board, and went on the stairs. We hit a dead end, not literally. It was a line. Finally waiting after five minutes I was on the four player slide. The officer, (life guard) told us the rules. Then he said, "Three, Two, One, Go!" We pushed off. There were one lump. When I got to the lump, it wasn't scary. The scary part was when I was going of the lump, where I see another slide is on top, and for a second it looked so deep that I might crash into it! Then the speedy part, my heart flew away from me, and boom, I hit the water. It was fun, scary, terrifying. I didn't want to go again. Soon we went back to the room, and we took a bath. A really refreshing bath that is. After that we kind of prepared to pack up, as so we were leaving the next day. We then watched some TV, and at ten, we went to sleep.

DAY 4:
   The next day, I woke up at eight 'o clock. We quickly packed up, and at 10:50 AM, we left Circus Circus. We went on the freeway, and after five hours we got home, which was about 2:00 PM. I was happy to be back from the fun adventure.

Ross in Las Vegas

This was a really great adventure. A great way to go to Las Vegas is by driving by yourself, since you can have unlimited time to do what you want to do, also you can do what go anywhere that you plan at last-minutes. Hope you enjoy!!