Co-Pilots for Julafton - Dec 24, 2014

Co-Pilots for Julafton - Dec 24, 2014

For the first time on the trip we woke up not fully sure of what the day had in store for us. We had gone to bed late, especially with Las Vegas being another hour earlier being Pacific time, so it was probably 2am when we fell asleep the night before. After wishing each other God Jul, and some stumbling around the hotel room, we phoned a couple of different helicopter tour companies, and after some initial dismay that they weren’t doing any tours of the Grand Canyon the next day, we managed to get the last two spots on a tour leaving from Las Vegas in just two hours! So we cleaned up quick, packed up, and checked out within about 20 minutes. On the way to the airport which was only a couple of blocks away, we took a small detour to the iconic welcome to Las Vegas sign. Even on Christmas eve it was busy, and there was a queue to take photos, even with someone working there for tips keeping things relatively organised. 

Filip looking fabulous in Sin City

Once at the airport we parked, grabbed our camera gear and checked in for our flight! The woman working there referred to Filip as my son which was pretty funny. We were a bit early so spent the time waiting watching videos of helicopter footage of all the beautiful sites along the canyon, including Glen Canyon, Canyonlands national park and Arches where we’d been just two days prior. As the previous groups arrived back, there was a family of Norwegians and the teenage boys in the family were chatting about what hashtag they should use for the photos they’d taken and posting to Instagram. I thought that was quite funny, obviously the whole point of doing this tour was to get photos for instagram, right? ;) But at last it was our turn! Filip and I were joined by a young Indian couple and one of their parents, along with our pilot Troy for the ride. Filip and I got to sit in the front which was exciting, with Filip as co-pilot right front and centre! We put on our noise cancelling headphones with microphone so we’d be able to talk during the flight despite the noise from the rotor. The takeoff was quite unreal, one moment we were on the tarmac and then suddenly we were hovering just inches off the ground. We made some manoeuvres apparently to show the tower that the copter was fully functional, and all of a sudden we were hundreds of feet up in the air and climbing, and flying at about 100miles per hour over Las Vegas. There were three other choppers leaving at the same time as us and we flew in a caravan of sorts due east, slowly approaching Lake Mead, then around Hoover dam before entering the Grand Canyon. It was amazing! Not just the cliffs and the scale of everything, but also how it appeared out of nowhere from a very flat landscape, and of course the colours and shapes too, just incredible. We saw the famous skywalk hovering over the edge of the canyon which is actually not in the national park but in the western section owned by the Hualapai tribe. My favourite part was zooming over the upper parts of the canyon with close proximity, it felt like being in a video game! We flew around the canyon for about 15 minutes before having to turn back, seeing other sights like an old airfield where the air force would practice taking off from aircraft carriers, plenty of boat marinas, a copper mine, the canal by Frenchmans gulley that helps alleviate flooding during rain events, and a retirement community about an hour away from any services like gas stations, hospitals or grocery stores. As we approached the airport we swooped around the las vegas strip again and saw all the famous hotels up close again from above, including the pyramid where we’d stayed! Filip had set his GoPro to film along the bottom window of the helicopter the whole time so we got some great footage of the trip. Overall, the helicopter ride was totally worth it. It was a great way to see the canyon, but also we saw so many other things and it was just fun to experience riding in a helicopter for the firs time. We had our photo made in front of the helicopter and being hungry now found the closest In-N-Out for a double-double each and chocolate shakes! 

Our identical neighbour helicopter taking off

Co-Pilots!

Filip with the best seat in the house

Approaching the amazing Grand Canyon

Our home from the night before guarded by a big cat

Fueled up, we got back on the road and veered off the highway to see Hoover Dam. Pappa / Morfar would be proud! It was quite cool to see, especially having been around plenty of hydropower plants in the past, and having seen it already from the sky. The spillway was immense, but bone dry as the water level was very low and overall the reservoir only at about 40% of capacity. The history of the dam is quite cool, and there were lots of reminders of this there like the plaques from each state that had been part of the project. Back on the road the highway through northern Arizona was straight as an arrow, and it wasn’t long before we reached Williams, AZ. The last few miles were quite hilly though and we’d gone through some wooded areas as we had reached Kalibab national forest. Williams was a very cute little town with an old centre of two one-way parallel streets. Everything was closed but the displays in the shops were nice, most referring to being on historic route 66. Our motel was one of the few places still open and the woman at the office was very friendly helping us get our key for our room. Despite less hiking we were quite exhausted so we spent the evening reading and watching some tv before heading to bed.

Double-Double with Cheese please, hold the onion

Massive spillway at Hoover dam, not quite as big as Bakun though

Selfie time with the powerhouse photobombing us