Less of a rude awakening and more of an early one this morning, as we headed off to the Canyon.
Our tour bus guy was great (Ray) and it took 20 mins to get to the airstrip.
On arrival, my poor stomach was doing somersaults as I don't like small planes at all. Lisa however, was like a 6 year old on Xmas eve.
The flight to the south rim took about 40 minutes. It was smooth, sunny, and the pilots were really nice (read as...really, very nice)
We made one stop at bright angel to take photos, then Lisa went off for her heli flight (cue Xmas eve face) I went on to two more lookouts and was late back to the coach twice as I took so many photos, and was cactus hunting for ma lol.
The canyon you see in guide books is nothing compared to standing right on the edge of it (and I do mean the edge!)
It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We had a beautiful day, perfect for photographs, blue sky and a few fluffy clouds.
On our way back to the plane, the heavens opened and it rained really hard for about ten minutes, then stopped. It's the first sign of any bad weather so far.
The temp at the canyon is about ten degrees less than Vegas as its approx 7k ft higher. It was still 30 odd degrees.
Landing back at Vegas was like walking back into the oven we had temporarily left.

We are coping well with the heat. No sunburn, yet we've walked all day in the heat, so we're doing something right :)

We treated ourselves in Pandora tonight. Lisa got a lovely bracelet for her birthday, and now she has some charms. I bought a bracelet, and Lisa bought me a beautiful camera pendant for it. Happy days :)

We had a buffet dinner tonight, so I'm laid on my hotel bed before going out to see Frankie Moreno tonight (Very rude drag act apparently!)

Signing off for now!