Grand Canyon trip recap. It’s long grab a beer

Afternoon everyone…..

Today as promised, I will be writing my complete recap post from our trip out to Las Vegas/Grand Canyon. We packed quite a lot into this trip, several things never made it to posts. This is going to be a pretty long post, so you might want to go make a cocktail, pour a glass of wine or grab a beer or two…..

Quick explanation of the trip. My girlfriend Jennifer’s son graduated middle school this year. His grandparents (my girlfriend’s mom and stepdad) asked him where he wanted to go anywhere in the United States. He chose the Grand Canyon. Jennifer’s mom booked this entire vacation in March, flights, rented an SUV for the week, rented an Airbnb in Henderson, Nevada, booked a plane/helicopter/boat tour of the Grand Canyon, also bought tickets to see David Copperfield at the MGM Grand. Didn’t ask me for a dime for it. So I booked a few things myself without her knowledge to show my appreciation. I did pass these ideas through my girlfriend Jennifer before booking them though, to ensure it didn’t conflict with anything.

We landed late Monday night around 7:20pm Vegas time, which was after 10pm to our EST bodies. Got our rental vehicle and headed to our Airbnb. It was a very nice three bedroom house with a swimming pool and a pool table in a great room. Henderson is roughly 25-30 minutes outside of Las Vegas. Once we got there Jennifer and her mom went to a local Walmart to get food and things for our stay. While the rest of us handled the luggage and getting settled.

The first day in the morning they decide to hit Ethal M chocolates factory. It was founded by Forrest Mars Sr. in 1981, and is named after his mother, Ethel Mars. The company produces preservative-free chocolates using her recipes. It has been owned by Mars Inc. since 1988. Yes of the famous M&M Mars.

It’s not a huge place, and everything is made at this one facility. There is only one other place you can buy this chocolate in person and that’s one candy retailer in Colorado. Other than that it’s the Las Vegas area or ordering on line. The chocolate is extremely rich, not overly sweet and has tremendous chocolate flavor. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it in my opinion. I brought back some for my mom and my daughter, both loved it.

They also have a cactus garden on the property. With nearly one hundred different species of cactus. It was pretty interesting to walk through.

We headed back to our house to drop off the chocolates, then we headed to the Hoover Dam. We did the tour of the dam, that included walking inside the inner workings of the dam. The generator room, the flow pipes, and the overflow pipelines. To me it was completely amazing how this was done in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, and was completed two years already of schedule. It cost 45 million dollars to build. There were 3,500 workers, they worked seven days a week in two twelve hour shifts. The only two days they got off were Christmas and the Fourth of July. At the base of the dam the concrete walls are 660 feet thick. Yes you heard me correctly 660 feet. That is enough concrete to pave a road from California to New Jersey two lanes.

The above photos are of the engine room and the Colorado River side of the dam.

The above pictures are of the Lake Mead side of the dam. If you look at the rocks, you will see the white rock line. At one time the water had been that high. During our tour, they told us that the water has been to within a foot of spilling over twice since it was built. One time in the 1980’s and the other was in the early 2000’s. Both were due to extreme circumstances of snow melting and heavy rains.

Now for one of my planned surprises….

I booked us a reservation at an Italian local restaurant named Azzura Cucina Italiana. It is a highly regarded restaurant, completely overlooked by all the lights and glitter of Las Vegas. It’s a small family owned place that is difficult to get a reservation at. The locals snatch them up quickly. Is a matter of fact I was only able to get a patio outdoor table for the five of us. I smoozed the owner on the phone.

You know it’s a real Italian place when they have an outdoor bocce pit on the premise.

And yes that’s astroturf. There is no grass allowed due to water restrictions.

I will list our meals, at least the ones that didn’t dive in before I could get a photo at least.

Jennifer and I split a Caesar salad as an appetizer. It was beautiful and delicious.

Her mom and stepdad ordered the homemade fresh bruschetta. Jennifer and I split one as well. This was the freshest, most flavorful bruschetta I’ve ever had from anywhere. On top of the crostini they spread roasted garlic and drizzled imported extra virgin olive oil which had minced fresh basil in it. The tomatoes were so fresh and had tremendous flavor seasoned perfectly. They were served over a bed of fresh arugula which was hit with some aged balsamic and extra virgin olive oil.

Now for the entrees I was able to photograph….

I had a special, which was a ten ounce filet mignon wrapped in applewood smoked bacon. It was in a port wine and shiitake mushroom pan sauce over a Parmigiano Reggiano risotto. It looks and tasted fantastic.

Jennifer’s mom also ordered a special. Which was freshly made crab and shrimp ravioli with pan seared fresh shrimp in a Fra’ Diavolo sauce (which is a spicy tomato sauce). She loved it, got full and saved me one ravioli and a whole shrimp to try. It was excellent.

For the last dish that I was able to take a picture of. This was yet another special, which was ordered by her stepdad. It’s a double thick veal chop hand hammered down into a cutlet which is still on the bone. It was breaded and fried. The sauce on top was a sun dried tomato/pesto/garlic wine reduction with fresh mozzarella on top. Served with freshly made bucatini pasta. Pops did give his wife and me a taste of the veal. It was supper tender and the flavors were u real.

Nobody had room for dessert which was a shame. Because they had a homemade pistachio gelato, from scratch tiramisu, and a cannoli cake that looked amazing. No pictures didn’t have it so no need to torture myself.

The following day was our booked tour of the Grand Canyon.

We had to be at the small airport about twenty miles away by 8:00am. We boarded a small 16 person plane and flew for about 40 minutes. We happened to fly over the Hoover Dam in route.

After landing at a smaller airport we boarded a six person helicopter. The pilot drove directly over and inside the Grand Canyon. It was awesome, Jennifer got a great video since she was up front with nothing but window to film from.

The views were breathtaking to say the least. I’m not a good flyer, but the helicopter ride was smooth as could be.

We landed on a pad down by the Colorado River where we boarded a boat. We took a two mile boat ride up the river in between the Grand Canyon. It was quite intimidating looking 800 feet up to the top. I felt like an ant surrounded by such structures. The guide took us to places of the canyon that aren’t able to be seen any other way but boat. It was incredible.

After we returned. We boarded another helicopter which took us through more of the Grand Canyon as well. More places not accessible by any other method. He landed at Eagle Point, which is where the 70’ glass overlook point is. Yes, it is 5” thick glass that hangs over a 770’ drop in the Grand Canyon. It is extremely unnerving. Even though you are completely safe with guardrails it does a mind fuck to you walking it. But what great views.

From there we took a tour bus to Guano Point. It’s the most scenic part of the Grand Canyon which is accessible.

We got back on the bus which took us back to the smaller airport. We boarded our plane and landed back at the original airport.

It was a very long day, a lot to take in. It was also 122 degrees out that day, dry heat or not it was really hot. We all jumped in the pool once we got back.

Thursday we drove to Red Rock Canyon National Park. Another breathtaking spot. It’s a thirteen mile one way road through the canyon. The rock formations and colors are crazy. They said that we could see wild horses and burros running around. No such luck for us, but the views were amazing.

That night we had tickets to see David Copperfield at the MGM Grand.

It was a good show, but he is older now nearly 70, and does more talking then actual illusions. Still good but lots of fill.

Afterwards we walked the hike over to the Bellagio to see the fountain show.

Friday was our last full day there. We were all dragging a bit from all the site seeing and the very late night we had. Jennifer’s son wanted to see the lions. So we went to the lion habitat ranch. It’s in Henderson about ten minutes from where we were.

This was not originally open to the public. It was where they took care of the lions for the MGM Grand. A few years back MGM decided to stop the lion program, so it’s now open to the public. I’ve never been that close up to lions before. It was really cool.

Now for my second surprise….

I had booked Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse for dinner. Out silvergoldstacker meet up ate here for our night out dinner a few years back. It was amazing. It’s without a doubt n my top three steakhouses I’ve ever been to. And that’s saying something….

I was paying for dinner. Which came out to just under $1,000 for the five us with tip.

Here’s the food I could picture….

Because I booked it as a special occasion for CJ’s graduation. They brought out a chocolate cake for dessert. It had a solid chocolate cow on top and that cake is roughly 10” high. It was super chocolaty, dense and delicious.

That cake was not on our bill either. Very nice touch.

Smith & Wollensky’s is inside the Venetian Casino. It’s one of the most well done casinos in Vegas. The owner loves Venice so much that the inside is an exact in scale depiction of Venice. There are gondola rides and all.

We did a little gambling before heading home. I got a little lucky and hit for $220 before we left.

The next day was hell getting home. But I already posted that horror.

I hope you enjoyed this recap. It’s long, but the trip was fantastic.