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Gambling history of united states
Against the popular belief, gambling did not originate in the US. Most of the popular gambling games played in the American casinos have their origin in various foreign locales. Heritage of gambling is somehow related to the Chinese culture....

Planning a Family Vacation in the Bahamas
Although the Bahamas may be most well known for its casinos and night life, it also offers many options for families. The beautiful islands really do offer something for everyone and for all ages. For the younger children in the family, the beach is...

The Advantages of Bahamas Packages
For many people, the Bahamas is a dream vacation site, inviting travelers from all over with its white sandy beaches and crystal waters. To make the vacation even more of a dream come true, many visitors opt to purchase a Bahamas vacation package,...

The Rise of Poker: Railbirds and Raisers
If you are not playing poker, you may soon be in the minority. The game has come a long way from the dangerous days of the road gamblers and prohibited backroom games. It is true that those two things still exist in some places, but the game itself...

Visit Palm Springs California
The playground of Palm Springs, California is less than a two hour drive from most cities in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties and less than an an hours drive from the cities of Riverside and San Bernardino. It is approximetly 130 miles...

 
Vegas and the Ride of a Lifetime




Most people envision Las Vegas as one big casino. Admittedly I was one of them, until I undertook the ride of a lifetime. Imagine soaring hundreds of feet above canyons of red and orange, walking over rocks that been sculpted by mother nature herself and floating down a river of dreams. These are the images that I will carry with me forever when I think of Las Vegas, Nevada.


After taking a break from about twelve hours of straight gambling, my father and I looked at each other and thought there must be more to Vegas than jangling slot machines and endless booze. So we asked our friendly concierge, at the Mandalay Bay Resort, for some suggestions and he arranged for the champagne lunch helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon.


Wonderful we thought, it looked good in the movies, might as well give it a shot. Neither of us was prepared for the adventure that we were about to take.


The helicopter company sent a limo to pick us up at the hotel. The ride lasted about five minutes then we were dropped off at the helicopter launch. Fellow passengers from all over the world chatted and waited for our journey to begin.


Moments later we took off for one of the waiting helicopters, with our pilot leading the way. Attractive and intelligent, in a boy next door kind of way, he quickly showed us how father and I ended up in a helicopter of our own because several of the other passengers decided to just fly over the canyon. The tour we chose actually had us landing on the


bottom.


We soared for about a half an hour over a canvas which included every color imaginable painted by dessert, mountains and the Colorado river. Within thirty minutes of smooth flying we were over the canyon and able to see the landing pad, set in the middle of tumbleweed, mountains and cacti. As we disembarked the pilot helped us climb down the stone and dirt pathway to a little boat dock, where we met a family from Britain that would be our companions on our champagne lunch down the Colorado river.


The boat captain was a tiny oriental man with sparkling eyes and a rich sense of humor. He handed out our picnic baskets and regaled us with stories of how the Grand Canyon was created. He also had the sense to stop periodically and help us get the most amazing shots of the canyon. He seemed to know every rock and ridge and was able to point out eagles and faces carved into the rock by millions of years of erosion.


At the end of our Las Vegas helicopter tour we flew back to the original launch and took our limo back to the hotel, content, awestruck and absolutely certain that we would return to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and our Las Vegas helicopter tour.






Caterina Christakos is an international travel writer. For more free articles on Las Vegas go to http://www.lasvegashotelandcasinoreview.com

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