The holiday got off to a bad start when our flight to Atlanta was 30 minutes late arriving, which led to the flight being over an hour late when we took off. The flight arrived at Atlanta 20 minutes overdue the scheduled arrival time. By the time the majority of us had cleared American immigration and customs, travelled the whole length of the airport, we arrived at the departure gate to find that our flight to Denver had already left. In fact only one member of our group managed to catch the Denver flight, and that was because he had a seat in Premium Economy towards the front of the aircraft.
Wendy our Tour Manager, arranged for eight of us to catch the following flight to Denver two hours later. The rest of the group had an overnight stop in Atlanta then flew to Minneapolis and managed to finally get a flight to Rapid City. Those of us who did the flight to Denver, searched all the bags coming off the flight for any bags which belonged to other members of our group, we found six extra cases, one of which belonged to Mike who managed to catch the earlier flight. In Denver we met up with our coach driver Tim, who took us to our hotel and got us all booked in. At the hotel we met up with two extra members of our group who had made their way independently to Denver.
In the morning the eleven of us boarded the coach and Tim our driver, then took us to Rapid City by way of a stop in Cheyenne and a visit to Fort Laramie. In the evening Tim went to the airport to collect the remaining members of our group, we were finally all together again.
The following day we visited the Bad Lands National Park, had a stopover for lunch at the Wall Drug Store, where I sampled a Buffalo burger, viewed the paintings on the wall of the café that were amazing and bought myself a Stetson Hat. In the afternoon we visited Mount Rushmore, which I found personally rather disappointing, and the unfinished Crazy Horse memorial which I thought was superb.
For the next few days we followed the itinerary and saw the Little Big Horn, visited Deadwood and then Yellowstone Park, finally arriving in Salt Lake City. Then the American government decided to have an argument with itself and closed all the National Parks! I will admit that I was very disappointed not to be able to visit the designated national parks, but Wendy our Tour Manager, out did herself in arranging alternate venues for us to see. Instead of visiting the Arches National Park, we went to Dead Horse Point state park, which had superb views and an excellent one hour walk along the canyon rim.
The following day, instead of visiting the Mesa Verde national park, we had a trip along the San Juan Skyway, which is a road that takes you up into the mountains, by way of Telluride, Ridgeway, Ouray, Silverton and Durango. The highlights were the True Grit café in Ridgeway, where I would have liked to stay longer, having lunch in Silverton in a restaurant where a piano player was playing western music and the views from the coach.
The following day we visited Four Corners and Monument Valley as per the itinerary. However because the Grand Canyon national park was closed we had to divert via Flagstaff to get to Tusayan, which added over 100 miles to our journey.
Day 13 of the tour, those of us who had booked them had the helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. Because the Lake Powell national park was closed, Wendy had arranged an optional excursion into the North Antelope Slot canyon, which could be reached via a 3 mile drive up a very sandy wash. We had a very good local guide, who could even show us the best places to take our photographs.
On day 14, had a flight over Lake Powell, which was maybe better than the helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. We then travelled to Las Vegas for two nights, arriving late afternoon. After an early dinner we set out to do the Las Vegas by night tour, which I enjoyed immensely.
On day 15 we visited the West Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is owned by a Native American Indian tribe, the Hualapai, home of the infamous Skywalk. Unfortunately they have not yet completed the road into the site, so we had to cover 9 miles of dirt track in our coach both coming and going. The site is split into three areas reached by shuttle bus, Hualapai Ranch, which is a western town set, with horse riding excursions and roping and fast draw lessons. Eagle Point home of the Skywalk, which is an unsupported glass walk over the Grand Canyon, with vertical views of 2000 feet directly below, I did not sample this attraction, although some of our group did, brave people. Finally Guano Point with some fabulous views over the Grand Canyon and Colorado River, far below. That evening went up to the top of the Stratosphere tower to watch the ‘daredevils’ try out the rides, look at the views over Las Vegas, and regret the fact that a very interesting and enjoyable holiday was coming to an end.
The following day had an uneventful journey back to the UK.
My very especial thanks to Wendy the Tour Manager for sorting the problems and coming up with alternate venues, Tim the Coach Driver who went beyond the call of duty to look after us, and the other members of the tour group who helped make this a most memorable journey.
