Day 20. Vegas to Grand Canyon

Day 20. 24^{th June}

I woke at 4.30am to a man crawling onto the bed beside me. I was somewhat alarmed, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It was Sock Slide Ben & he wasn’t joining me for monkish cuddles. He & Oksana & Nate had decided to join us on our trip to the Grand Canyon & had driven all night to get here. They were exhausted.

Needless to say, I offered another prayer of thanks for my extra large bed.

We woke again around 10, thanked the Carriage House staff & headed back to the strip to corrupt our fresh Vegas arrivals with the prospect of a chance at a free spin to win easy money.

They signed their lives away without question. I wondered if maybe the offer of free money had something going for it.

Incredibly, we won nothing. None of us. Well, I guess aside from the Casino. They got all our personal information free. All we got was disappointment. It felt a little like a bum deal. So we tried to raise our spirits the only way Vegas seems to offer. At the free slot machine challenge.

Oksana was fading from lack of food & I had a new found understanding, therefore compassion & went with her for a smoothie. And scored one in the process.

While we were gone, Sock slide Ben won on the slot machines! He won…another piece of paper which allowed him to play another slot machine.

He obediently walked all over the casino again, put that money in, wasn’t able to cash in until the machine gave him a winning, but after a monkly blessing,

he did manage to work it in his favour & walk away with $42.

We all went to a well earned lunch. Oksana paid for Paul & my incredible buffet. What a queen.

We wandered vaguely around Vegas

and eventually tried to leave & make our way to The Grand Canyon via satellite navigation, with full bellies & happy faces. But after the GPS kept bringing us back to the casinos - all kinds of conspiracy theories came to the fore that aren't worth mentioning. I'm sure you have your own - we reverted to using human navigation & made it out at least still with full bellies.

Hoover Dam was on the way.
Sock Slide Ben kindly offered the drought stricken dam some outside water, but his generosity was denied.

Nate thought it was funny.

Driving to the Grand Canyon we watched a striking sunset, then admired the luminous desert night sky.

Arriving at the canyon after 9pm, we discovered were allowed to enter free & told to enjoy our stay. Camping at the top of the rim is free too, so it wasn’t too long before our smiling selves had tents set up & we were ready to sleep off the heat.