19th Sept 13 Come Fly With(out) Me

19 September Come Fly With(out) Me

(C) My late mother’s birthday 94 years ago. J’s battery of alarms started ringing at 7.30, ensuring that she was downstairs with all the necessaries to be picked up at 8.20. We were 2 minutes early and found the Maverick Airways shuttle waiting. Hmmm will Iceman be flying?

I took off for a walk around a couple of the blocks behind the Strip. Something like an hour later I made it back, having circumnavigated one huge block and seen nothing at all. Certainly no shops. Oooh well.

Noticed the tv ads – lots promoting those rip-off funeral insurance schemes. We get them too “no medical tests required”. They all feature middle aged daughters chatting to their ageing mums about how good it is to have insurance, and they end up with big hugs going “Hey lets make the call now”. Eeeew gross. The message seems to be “Its ok to tell the old bag she must pay for her own funeral”. Also, implicitly, “dudes don’t talk about such stuff”.

The other TV ads which amuse are for different medicines. They go through the whole range of side effects from the minor ones of rash, drowsiness to stroke and death. By the time they have finished listing all of them, you have to wonder if the drug is any good for you at all.

Also noticed ads in the LA subway – its easy to become a father but really tough to be a good one. Only saw them with photos of young black or Hispanic men and the message was in English and Spanish.

Janine’s day: The shuttle bus called at 2 hotels collecting other guests and we drove 20 minutes to the airport where we were checked in and weighed. The 10am flight departed at about 10.20 with the 14 of us aboard. The flight was 40 minutes and I was on the wrong side of the plane as we flew over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. We crossed the Colorado River several times and the colours & patterns of the mountains & valleys was interesting. I got glimpses of the good stuff through the window on the opposite side of the plane. It got bumpy as we descended and we landed safely. Onto the bus and off we went into the park at 11.30am.

We were dropped at Mather Point and the views were breathtaking. As I wandered along the rim path I opened a muesli bar and was immediately confronted by a cute squirrel. The day was beautiful and the views spectacular. After 1 hour and 20 minutes (which went surprisingly quickly) we met back at the bus who then backtracked a bit to show us some elk which has appeared alongside the huge, very full carpark.

Cute huh!

Selfie just to prove I am there.

He was beautiful

We then drove the short distance to Bright Angel Viewpoint. I sat on a wall in the shade with the Canyon view spread before me and opened my lunch box. Only to be confronted straight away by a squirrel who scrambled up onto the wall. So I stood up and ate my lunch while the tourists took photos of my new friend. We all tried to warn the Japanese tourist who put his finger out to the squirrel, he didn't listen and he was bitten on the finger. Hmmmm rabies. I could see people walking on the trail way down below my vantage point. I walked along the pathway in both directions and walked a small part of the actual trail before time was once again up and we headed back to the bus. Back to the airport and onto the plane. This time I was on the right side of the plane and got to see the canyon and all the other ‘points of interest’ from the air.

My lunch time picnic spot overlooking the trail