Photo taken at Bellagio Conservatory in Las Vegas. A carnation filled baby bear.

A bus picked us up at the back of Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas at around 6:00am then proceeded to their deployment station. We were segregated from West Rim tour and paid our tour package. After that, we had a light breakfast. A photo stop at Hoover Dam. Comfort stop in Kingsman Arizona. Then proceeded National Geographic Visitor Center to watch the Grand Canyon IMAX movie before proceeding to the South Rim.

A bus tour takes 14 hours (of which you'll spend 2 - 3 hours at your destination). We arrived back in Las Vegas at around 9:00pm.

The breathtaking beauty of the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, is like nothing else you will ever experience.





How the Canyon Came to be the Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is probably the world’s most spectacular example of the power of erosion. Scientists estimate Grand Canyon began forming 6 million years ago with the downward cutting (erosion) of the Colorado River, which flows through the Canyon. The work is by no means finished. The powerful forces of the river, rain, snow, heat, frost and wind are still sculpting the fantastic shapes of precipitous bluffs and towering buttes.

A National Historic Landmark, Hoover Dam is the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere, standing at more than 725 feet above the Colorado River. When completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure.

The dam is named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who played a large role in bringing the nearby states into agreement about water allocations, settling a 25-year controversy. The dam has been called Boulder Canyon Dam as well as Boulder Dam, but Hoover Dam was reinstated as the official name by Congress in 1947.

The view from the dam also offers a breathtaking look at Lake Mead, the country's largest man-made reservoir. Although water levels have been low recently, Lake Mead can store up to 9.2 trillion gallons of water, equal to two years of the river's annual flow.

Valley of Fire State Park is located in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Seeing some great sandstone formations, we felt that we're on another planet.

Known as the "Entertainment Capital of the World".

The Las Vegas Strip is where all the hotels and casinos are found. Leisurely strolling the strip was well worth the effort with its amazing sights. At the Venetian, we experienced a little bit of Italy with a ride through the Grand Canal in an authentic venetian gondola. The gondolier were serenading making the experience more romantic. Inside the Bellagio Hotel, at the Gallery of Fine Arts, we stopped by to see the current exhibits. Outside there is a light and sound show, coupled with the fountain display. Just across the hotel, the view of the Eiffel Tower replica is amazing. Took a shot with one Elvis impersonator. Click here to view our photos.

Our trip back to LA. The famous Hollywood Boulevard and its Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Kodak Theatre, known as the first permanent home of the Academy Awards.

It is in Beverly Hills, not Hollywood, where many stars actually live, dine and shop. It was in Rodeo Drive that we took more photos. The famed shopping street is known throughout the world as the epicenter of luxury fashion.

Rodeo Drive is probably the wealthiest and most famous shopping district in the world. It is here that the rich & famous do their shopping, and where tourists window-shop while trying to spot movie stars on the fabled street.









Fact: Rodeo Drive is home to the single most expensive store in the world: Bijan (at 420 Rodeo Drive). You must make an appointment in advance just to shop at Bijan (which was named after its Iranian owner).

From seeing-stars.com: Did you ever wonder what store Julia Roberts was snubbed in, in "Pretty Woman"? Well, it was a woman's clothing store named Boulmiche, located just a few steps west of Rodeo, at 9501 Santa Monica Blvd.