Basic Questions answered about the Canyon

How Old?

The rocks exposed within Grand Canyon range from the fairly young to old. Kaibab limestone, the cap-rock on the rims formed 270 million years ago. The oldest rocks within the Inner Gorge at the bottom of GC date to 1,840 million years ago. For comparison, geologists currently set the age of Earth at 4,550 million years.

How New?

While the rocks are ancient, the canyon is young. Geologists generally agree that canyon carving occurred over the last 5-6 million years - a geologic blink of the eye!

The photograph is the river level view of the canyon.

Bright Angel Rim trail and beyond

The 2 coach bus arrives and we kinda hurry to get in line to get into the first coach. It is pretty interesting since the bus is Natural Fuel Powered and this reminds me of the way this country has adopted natural alternatives especially in these National Parks.

The bus ride will take us all the way up to the Hermits Rest। The different stops en route are Powell Point, the Hopi Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss, The Pima Point and final the Hermits Rest. Along the several points goes the Rim trail that is a narrow walkway along the rim for hikers and hobby photographers to shoot the Canyon at its majestic best. The buses provide transportation between the Village route transfer point and the Hermits Rest (7 miles) with these different eight canyon overlooks.

New morning at the Canyon and meeting the Bikers from New Jersey

Thursday morning began with me getting up at 7:30am. It was a good night's sleep since I had survived on just 2 hrs sleep the day before and had driven almost 5 hrs thru the boring yet spectacular highway 93 in Arizona touching on regular basis 100mph. We arrived at 9:30pm yesterday at our destination in Grand Canyon National Park South Rim, a motel style rest called Yavapai Lodges. It is about 4 - 5 miles inside the National park and is among a group of small hotels catering to the visitors.

The morning took us to the breakfast joint at the Bright Angle restaurant that is pretty interesting for a place which I thought is going to be just another tourist interest meal joint. I ordered for a nice oatmeal with banana splits to go with my 3 egg omelet with ham, sausage and cheese. The baked potatoes smeared in olive oil was really interesting too and I thought whether if this was among the best breakfasts I have ever had. Maybe the spectacular canyon was already casting its spell on me. The South rim which is among the most pictured and photographed allows visitors to take the free shuttle buses to the top.

The breakfast complete, we were on our way to the free shuttle bus stop. I can already see a long queue to get on these 2 coach buses which run every 15 minutes. Before we get to the bus stop, I get to photograph with our New Jersey Bikers Tim and Janus who are with 4 other biker couples exploring the Canyon. I am fascinated to see their big cruisers and as always they are very nice and offer me to take snaps with them.

I am now off to the bus and let's see what is in store for the rest of the day.

Getting out of Vegas and moving to the Grand Canyon Arizona

The most interesting bit about the journey from Vegas to Grand Canyon is that you move from one desert state to another. Nevada to Arizona. The demarcation happens right at the middle of the Hoover dam, a great man made super structure build between 1913 ad 1915. The desert country of Arizona is really a story on its own. Going from Vegas to Grand Canyon takes you thru' the famed American Historical Route 66.

I think the 5 hr drive to the Canyon is probably the most scenic drive in the world. I have never seen a more straight freeway. It is basically about 150 miles of one straight road dissecting the desert. So the typical route is to take interstate 95/515 out of Las Vegas that takes you to Hoover about 25 miles out, and then converge to I-93 going south and then take I40 (In Arizona, the historic route 66 is now I-40) and finally get onto I64 that takes you to the Grand Canyon National Park.

The Scholarship - Grand Canyon Arizona

After the sins of Vegas, the human inside me wanted to get the final scholarship for the trip. And this was in terms of a nature pilgrimage to one of the 10 natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon Arizona. I knew this trip will take me not only closer to the wonder called the Canyon, but also take me past history of Hoover Dam, Route 66 and $2.75/gallon gas refills.

In the next few posts, I redeem myself from the sins of Vegas by driving down 5 hrs to the South Rim of the Canyon. I will love to earn my scholarship in public view and hence few experiences to share with you the reader.

Coyote Ugly, Vegas Style!

The phrase "coyote ugly" comes from an urban slang term for a situation that results in waking up next to an ugly bedmate after a night of drinking; in such a situation one might prefer to chew off one's own arm, like a coyote with its paw in a trap, rather than wake up the bedmate. The follow on to the phrase "coyote ugly" is "double coyote ugly". After you've chewed your arm off to escape the ugly bedmate, you chew the other arm off so it will never happen again.

Well, we sinners would rather not have our arms chewed upon since unlike the NFL stars, they, do not carry multi-million dollar insurances, and unlike popular belief, we do, type with our fingers perched on the end of our arms to earn a living.

Three sinners descend upon this top five night clubs in Vegas and the experience is mind-boggling. The first thing that is evident is that there is no fashion policing. You can actually get in wearing jeans and tees (with white gym shoes). BTW, the barmaid who had one of us sinners spill their $8 drink is in the picture at the back with a multi-color upper-wear.

So the Coyote bar details are for you to experience, and I will not share too much least I spoil the fun for you. All I can say is that the next time you are in Vegas, you have to check this spot.

Can't sneak past in sneakers Alas!

So here is the deal gentlemen sinners; It pays to pay attention to fashion tv. Well especially if you have ambitions of pouring sweet nothings into damsels in the chic nightclubs of Vegas.

Well, if you are like us techies wearing blue jeans, a Sun tee and white gym shoes, chances are you will be spending your evenings in the "retro" (pun intended) bars of Ballys, since no nightclub will let you in. No sneaking in sneakers is the rule.

No sooner did we realize that 90 % of our sinners were not adhering to the fashion rules, than we headed out from Palms Casino to the Rio. It after all had the reputation of having Latin belles rivaling the clubs of Sao Paulo. And we were not disappointed. The servers around the bar were A++ category and I rubbed my eyes anticipating a long eye-workout.

Suddenly all sinners were holding their breath just trying to tuck in their beer bellies and hoping the perfect ten bods would give a second glance. But as always, the only workout that we were anticipating this night was of the retina and gut (in terms of gallons of alcohol).

Rio has a Vodoo nightclub on the top and that too has strict dress code. Some of us got lucky and made friends with damsels with passes to the Vodoo lounge (can't name the lucky ones - WHIVSIV rule applys). Suffice to state that I along with three other sinners took solace in a 25 dollar stretch-hummer ride to our next destination, the Cyote Ugly club in New York New York. More about this club in the next few posts.