Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Grand Canyon




I promise I won't be as long winded as Garth! LOL.  We took a chopper out to the Grand Canyon and landed down in between the walls of the canyon and had a few minutes to look around. Here are a few pics of the grand Canyon, the Colorado River and some plant life in the desert.

On the way back we flew over the "Strip".


The new bridge over the Colorado River was built to help the flow of traffic. The Hoover Dam is built on the Black Canyon. Upstream is Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon is upstream of the lake in the state of Arizona. 


I believe this is the Joshua Tree. There are only a few places it will grow in the world, The Grand Canyon and Israel are 2 of them. If you try to transplant a Joshua tree it will die unless you plant it facing the exact direction that you found it, due to the magnetic field of the earth and the angle of the sun.
We met Carlos and Virginia from El Paso. We had a late lunch together in Vegas and traded e-mail addresses. They were very friendly and easy to talk to. Carlos is a Customs Officer. Virginia is a Loans Officer at a bank.

4 comments:

The Stannix's said...

Awesome pictures! I didn't know that about the Joshua tree either.

The Hudkins Family said...

nice pics Brent, looks like you had great weather. I agree with Addie, about the Joshua tree,that is very interesting.

Oh, don't worry about being long winded like Garth, I still have 3 more stops of pictures from our cruise. Ha...

Garth

The Hudkins Family said...

Really good pictures, Brent with lots of information. I like learning about all the areas. How long is the bridge? Looks pretty way up there. Very interesting about the Joshua tree. Did you find out how it got its name?

Garth - we're looking forward to more and more pictures.

Love,
Mom/Gramma

Jon and Alyson said...

Very cool, this is a total vacation spot that we Bird's want to visit someday and see the Grand Canyon and things. Very cool!! -Alyson