On Vegas, the Grand Canyon and the vast desert in between

I woke up bright and early for my 4 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. Thanks to my beautiful rental car, I had a skip in my step that is rarely there at 6am. I had my coffee; I had my music. The views as I drove were exquisite...

It's cool to do this drive alone because you can just focus on the sites and take it all in. The perks of having someone with you though... they would be able to take the pictures while you drive. Instead I kept wanting to stop every five minutes... which if I ever wanted to get to the Grand Canyon, I clearly could not do.

After a bit, it began to rain, which didn't dampen my spirits one bit - nothing could get me down - I was Grand Canyon bound! (For some reason unbeknownst to me... the fact that the view at the Gand Canyon could be affected never crossed my mind).

As I was passing through the gate into Grand Canyon National Park, there was a sign that said "No refunds for limited visibility." That was the first time that it crossed my mind that I might not be able to see some of the canyon because of the clouds - I was still not too worried though.

As I walked over to the ledge, a lady walking away said, "Oh you made it just in time - the clouds are breaking!" This is the sight that I came upon:

I couldn't see much, but I wasn't worried because that nice lady had said that the clouds were breaking! And then this happened...

The fog completely engulfed the canyon and you could only see a few feet in front of you. If I hadn't had to pay $35 at a gate that said "Grand Canyon National Park," I wouldn't have even known that I was there. At a loss of what to do since I didn't have a canyon to take pictures of, I took about 50 pictures of this squirrel...

Somehow, my spirits were still high - I think the only reason for that was because I was in utter shock and had not reached the stage of acceptance yet.

I began to listen in on other tourists' feelings on the inclement weather that was affecting their visit as well...

Ungrateful child: "What are you doing, Sarah?! Why are you even taking pictures? You're literally taking pictures of clouds."

Sarah: "I still want to look back and remember our time here!"

Ungrateful child: "DAD!!! Let's GO."

And with that they left... Thankfully though, the majority of the other conversations sounded more like this...

3 year-old kid: "Wow, daddy, we're on top of the world!"

Older brother: "No, we're not."

3 year-old kid: "Well, we're on top of the clouds!"

Older brother: "Not exactly..."

3 year-old kid: "Well... we're in HEAVEN!!"

Most people I passed were still happy, discussing and explaining to their kids how cool it was that the canyon was engulfed with fog, because apparently it very rarely happens.

A dad: "Most people get to see the Grand Canyon on a regular day, but YOU get to see it when it's covered in clouds!"

After wandering for over an hour from lookout to lookout without seeing anything, I decided to go to my car, grab my book and lay on a bench and read. I figured I might as well make the most of my day and relax before my four hour drive.

As soon as I came back, the clouds were breaking again - thinking that I only had five minutes before the clouds took over again, I quickly had a dude take a picture of me, thinking it was going to be my only picture with the Grand Canyon.

Can you imagine me coming back with this as my only picture with the Grand Canyon and trying to convince people that I actually was there?!

And then as the rain poured down, people just became happier and happier, because for some reason, the visibility was getting better and better each moment. Then this happened:

I've never been so unbelievably grateful for the rain. I couldn't believe my eyes, and the excitement of everyone at the lookout was beyond contagious.

Then, I found people that wanted to climb out to a ledge. This involved rocky, slippery terrain where one misstep would be quite bad - but with a super nice dad offering to give me a hand, I shakily followed him down the cliff...

I started shaking a little when I would look down and seeing nothing to keep me from plummeting... but I soldiered on, and boy am I sooo glad that I did!

I snapped as many pictures as I could - I ended up with over 500 pictures of the Grand Canyon - it took me sooo long to go through those pictures!

I reluctantly left and made a quick stop for pictures at the Hoover dam - one of the many sites on the beautiful drive through Arizona and Nevada.

Hoover Dam

I quickly stopped in Downtown Las Vegas while I still had my car, and after losing my car (Vegas is a horrible place to forget where you parked), I made it back to the rental car place in the nick of time.

I then grabbed a beer, walked the strip, and planted myself in front in the Monte Carlo and worked on some social media marketing for a client - which I hate doing - but if I gotta work on it, I think the Las Vegas strip is as good a spot as any.

Vegas, baby!

I have now been in Vegas for 24 hours and my head is spinning with all of the information that I am dying to pour on this page. From how much I hate Spirit for canceling my flight, to all the weird conversations that I have had and overheard to all the dos and don'ts that I am now dying to share with you. Now, I want this blog to help you - I want it to inspire you to feel like Vegas should be your very next vacation spot, whether you are riding solo - like me - or if you have an entire entourage that you want to bring. My purpose is to not only to clear my head so that it has room for all of the crazy things that are going to happen tomorrow, but to share with you my failures of the day - as well as the triumphs (yes there were some of those too!).

Now if you have read any of my other posts, you know one thing about me for sure. I am spontaneous. Now whether that is a virtue or a vice, well you can determine that for yourself. I embrace it as a virtue. And I run with it. To whole new levels. That being said, it shouldn't entirely come as a surprise to you that I ended up in Las Vegas, Nevada. I made the decision to come here ABOUT a week ago - maybe less.

Here is one of the great things about Las Vegas - it is affordable. I mean unless you have a serious gambling problem... probably wouldn't be quite so cheap. Thankfully I do not. Roundtrip tickets to Las Vegas can be found for $200 - at least from Philadelphia! That actually brings me to the main reason that I decided to come to Vegas - the price. I literally googled cheapest places to fly to and Vegas was second to Miami, and well, I was ready to go somewhere new! I am staying at the Monte Carlo (on the strip), and I think it was something like $50 a night, and I am so close to everything!

Be careful about booking through Spirit because something like this could happen to you: I was working in my basement, trying to get as much done as possible before I flew out that evening. I had received an email from Spirit earlier saying that my flight was delayed, which was fine. I can deal with that. So we had to leave for the airport at 6:15. At 5pm I get an email from Spirit saying that my flight is CANCELLED. My heart dropped. I raced up the stairs and just looked at my sister-in-law Melissa and said something to the effect of, "help." Without going into too much detail, I ended up having to switch to a completely different airline, but finally arrived at the Monte Carlo where I was greeted by my wonderful king-sized bed.

On my way to the airport, I realized that I really had no plan for what to do while I was there, so I quickly asked my sister some questions and arrived in Vegas with this as my plan:

I awoke bright and early (the time change helped me get an early start every morning.) I pulled back my curtains and I realized something that I hadn't seen the night before: I have a perfect view of the gorgeous mountains surrounding the city. The next step was finding a Starbucks, but before I could even put it into my GPS, I realized there was one right in my casino. JACKPOT.

The Monte Carlo.

Starbucks in hand, I did a little bit of exploring, grabbed some mimosa ingredients and headed back to my hotel to work.

And that is another reason why I can travel so much... I am a graphic designer, so at times, I can work from ANYWHERE. After a bit, I took a pool break where I brought my book, Ender's Game. This sparked conversation with a few African American girls on the elevator, who somehow, in our quick elevator ride transitioned from Ender's Game to Fifty Shade of Grey.

"Have you seen Fifty Shades of Grey yet?!"
Me: "Nope."
"Oh you just gotta see it. My grandma even went to see it! Granted, she thought that we were going to see Selma..."

Just one example of one of many hilarious conversations I had with people in my casino. Another great thing about staying at a casino is all of the food options that you have right at your disposal. I ended up having Subway for most meals. Super cheap.

It was finally time for me to really explore the city. I grabbed my camera and rushed out into the beautiful chaos of Las Vegas Blvd. I talked to SO MANY people in the couple hours that I was walking in and out of casinos. From guys wanting me to take a picture of them (with my camera) to guys wanting to take a picture with me (I couldn't get away from them because I was waiting to cross the street) to guys inviting me to rooftop parties - it was all just so entertaining. And I declined the rooftop party offer, of course. I didn't get my brothers to be OK with me traipsing around the world alone by taking up offers from overly friendly gentlemen. The perk of talking to all of these people is all of the tips I received. For example, Solomon told me the exact time the fountains and lights came on at the Bellagio so that I was sure not to miss it.

Boy, am I glad I saw this.

I also made friends with so many of my photographers who were all so obliging.

Then, one of the nightmares of a spontaneous traveler occurred. My phone died. When I travel in Europe, I plan ahead because I know that I can't use my phone. Not so much when I'm in the States. Because of my lack of planning, I ended up having to take a taxi to the rental car agency. I HATE TAXIS. I mean, this guy seemed nice enough at first. He asked me for a piece of gum right when I got in - which was weird, but whatever - rather him ask than have horrible breath. He let me charge my phone for a couple of minutes, but then let's just say it turned into the taxi ride from hell. He got lost. I was going to the rental car agency at the AIRPORT and he got LOST. He ended up pulling over to the side of the road in the middle of NOWHERE for at least five minutes. I thought it might be the end. Straight out of a horror movie... except not. Because I lived to tell about it. He then had the audacity to make me pay for all of the time that he was lost. So ridiculous.

Unfortunately for the car rental guy, I appeared at his desk a little worse for the wear. My control on my frustration broke down completely when I was informed that I would not be receiving the convertible that I had reserved. He then tried to charge me the same price for an economy car (which should be half the price.) He picked the wrong day to tell me that. I was 100% OK with being in an awkward situation and (long story short) argued and held very long silences until he dropped the price considerably. 

I was still set on getting a nice car, and knowing the guys in the back really hold all of the power, I chatted a little, laughed, pointed and BOOM - I got an AWESOME car.

Not too shabby, eh?

I then made the mistake of thinking that my car charger was going to work and headed into old Las Vegas. Turned out the car charger didn't work and I got lost for a good while - saw lots of cool things though. More importantly - by way of signs, I found my way to my wonderful casino. I must've looked like a mad person when I was laughing uncontrollably because I had actually found my way back to the strip.

But I made it back to my bed. I blasted Elvis and began this post that I am now finishing two weeks later. And THAT was just day 1.