ON THE BEAT: Reporter sees Another Side of Las Vegas on helicopter tour
It’s not every day a girl has the chance to eat brunch on a cliff at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. But there I was, encircled by the soaring walls of the ravine, the muddy waters of the Colorado River just 300 feet below and a relative fleet of helicopters to my left.
I have to confess, at moments like that, I still can’t believe I did this stuff for a story.
My group had breached the canyon’s western rim after a 45-minute chopper ride, my first. While the required headphones used for noise and communication purposes made my ears itch, the ride was both smooth and dazzling.
We landed as the other five choppers were preparing for take off.
You haven’t lived until a helicopter whizzes by your head at hundreds of miles per hour in the confines of a national park. It was quite possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
I gestured to Kenny Lippman, my guide for the day’s events, enthusiastically compelling him to check out the view.
Lippman owns the Southern Highlands-based company, Another Side of Las Vegas Tours, and this was all his doing. His company specializes in giving Las Vegans unique and memorable entertainment options, one of them being this very tour.
We’d only been on the ground for a full five minutes, but as I oh-so-carefully attempted to maneuver the cliff’s rocky surface in two-inch heels (granted, my decision-making paradigm for outdoor footwear may have been lacking that day), I began to take mental notes of the wildlife that emerged seemingly
for my sole enjoyment.
After half an hour, I lost count. I did get a rather good look at a particularly mischievous chipmunk and a large raven that decided the group I was with required further inspection. The bird perched itself on the cliff’s edge, about five feet from where I was standing, looked us over and ascended into parts unknown.
After a continental brunch and diet soda in the shade of an umbrella-clad picnic table, it was back to the chopper for the return flight, and I found myself thinking about what my answer would be when friends asked how I’d spent my afternoon.
“I ate lunch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon,” I’d say. “How was the food in the cafeteria?”
