Our phone rings at 5 am (OUCH!) and it is the bus company to wake us up for our trip to the Grand Canyon. In a way it is not so bad because it is 8 am New York time. They want us outside by 6 am so the bus picking us up can leave by 6:15 am. We shower and get dressed and head downstairs in a fog and light jackets figuring it will be nice and warm over the course of the day (per the weatherman) so we should be fine.
We get outside where it is still dark and it is extremely chilly. I should have realized then that was the weather for the day. 6:15 came and went and no bus. We got talking to a great couple that was also waiting in the dawn with us who were from Manchester, England. They were on vacation in America for only their 2nd time. It was their first time alone though as they had FIVE children. We were all quite cold and were beginning to think we might be in the wrong place when our bus finally showed up around 7 am. So glad we got up early! LOL
The bus took us about 10 minutes away to a bus center where we got off and waited in line for our tickets for the day. This is where my husband and our new friends convinced me there was no better way to see the Grand Canyon than by helicopter. Up until that point I had said absolutely positively no way in he**, the sky could fall he wouldn't get me in that thing. So I agreed when we got there I would consider riding in one and off we went back onto another bus.
We were a party of about 82 on two big double decker coach buses. We rode for about an hour and they stopped so that we could walk up a hill and look down from the newly built bridge to Hoover Dam. We were there about 20 minutes for picture taking and then back on to the buses where we rode for about another 2 1/2 hours to a place where we had to change to another bus. This was an extremely old rickety bus that than took us onto a dirt road for about 10 miles or so which brought us almost to the edge of the Grand Canyon. Talk about bumping around in a seat! I could have churned butter just by holding it on my lap. The dust that it brought up riding on that road was incredible. At some points it was very hard to breathe.
Once we got there we had to get weighed (oy vey!!) to find out where each person would sit in the helicopters. That was enough for me to say I didn't want to go! LOL Each helicopter held 6 people plus the pilot. Once you got weighed you had to sit and watch a 5 minute video about the helicopter, then you just waited for your party's name to be called to go to the helicopter area. At one point in the video it says "If your door should fly open-just notify the pilot." hahhahahehehehehohohoho Cute, that gave me just oodles of confidence! By now it was already 12:30. Definitely a good thing there had been no food intake yet!
The day had never really warmed up and most people were pretty cold so the jackets this place had for sale were flying off the shelves. They say that when you go to the bottom of the Grand Canyon it is immediately 30 degrees warmer so I was counting on that because I was pretty cold myself. There was a very strong wind which was making it even colder. They finally called our name and as my knees knocked together we headed out to the helipad.
They assign you numbers according to your seat and then they hold their fingers up with your number so you enter the helicopter one by one. I was in the back by the door, not in the middle like I had hoped. It was better than being in the front though! The other two people with us were from Hong Kong and they looked like babies they were so young.
Well I can't say too much about the flight, when we took off my eyes were open but once we went over the edge I think there was hair in my eyes because I didn't see a thing! Funny thing about helicopters they don't fly straight, they fly straight down! (face first) I think my biggest problem was there was nothing to hang on to. There were no harnesses, just small extremely loose lap belts. There were no hand holds anywhere. We had to brace the flat of our hands on the ceiling which was pretty scary. At least if there was a hand hold or a bar to hold on to I would have felt 100% more secure. Even a harness would have made a huge difference. So going down and coming up--nadda! No opinions of the view, no pictures etc...My husband was too busy admiring to take any and everyone else was trying to figure out where to hold on. Some screaming going on there too but thank goodness it wasn't me!
Once we landed on the bottom (6000 looooooooooooong feet down) we walked down a hill to the Colorado River. We got into a pontoon boat where they floated us for about 10 minutes and then we walked back up the hill to the helicopter to be flown right back up to the top. The difference in temperature was definitely amazing. It felt like a hot summer day versus up top where everyone was so cold. They served us lunch then it was time to return to the bus.
Now the bad news. The buses were missing 3 people. And this was bad news for a multitude of reasons. People had planes to catch, show tickets and we had over a 3 hour ride and no one could find these 3 "missing people." So they told us we all had to stay on the bus while they tried to find them-the time was 3:15 pm at that point.
At 4:15 we are all still on the bus and no one can figure out where these people are. ALL THE OTHER BUSES have left. We are the only ones left at the "Grand Canyon." The bus driver's boss won't let him leave. So now the "angry" "late" people start literally screaming at the poor bus driver but he is not allowed to leave. Finally at like 5 something we leave and head back without the missing people. We get off the dirt road and change buses back to the coach buses and still no people. We never did find out what happened to them. We were supposed to be back by 6 pm or so. We didn't get back til almost 9 pm. I felt really bad not knowing what happened to those people. I am better off not knowing though if they just went off with someone else and didn't notify the bus company. That would be extremely inconsiderate!
All in all though it was a great day! If you ever have the chance to go-take it!!
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