We started our final day with an extra half hour to sleep in or enjoy the hotel breakfast before packing up the bus one final time and heading to our first destination of the day. After a quick drive through the City of Flagstaff we arrived at a water treatment plant. We followed a 20-year veteran of the water treatment industry around as he showed us the facility and explained how the water is cleaned. Many of us found ourselves surprisingly intrigued by the world of water purification and maybe even considering careers in this industry. After thanking our guide at the water treatment plant and furiously rubbing on hand sanitizer, we made our way behind the plant where an AmeriCorps volunteer showed us around Picture Canyon. While Picture Canyon is not as vast or spectacular as some of the other places we visited, it had excellent opportunities to view petroglyphs, and our guide gave us fascinating insights into the flora and fauna of the area as well as the native peoples that once lived there. After this, we made one final stop in Flagstaff to eat lunch before loading on the bus for a four-hour drive to Vegas.
After hours of seeing barren landscapes out the windows of the bus, bright and glittering Las Vegas came into view and our excitement of being back in this magical city was mixed with sadness as we knew it would be the final stop of our trip. We disembarked and entered Caesar’s Palace where we were transported to ancient Rome (kind of) and many of us held onto each other’s hands as we made our way through crowds of people until reaching our destination: Planet Hollywood. We drank Shirley Temples and ate pasta and burgers while watching movie clips and music videos on the TVs all around the restaurant. We finished the meal with decadent brownies before visiting a gift shop and leaving Caesar’s Palace to make one final stop at the Bellagio. Our hopes of seeing the famous water show were sadly not fulfilled, so we walked back to the bus and drove to the airport. Here, we said our grateful and heartfelt goodbyes to our fun-loving tour guide Ryan as well as our beloved bus driver Leo. We were surprised to learn that our assigned seats for the plane would all be near each other, and we were happy to know that we would at least have the comfort of a friend’s shoulder to sleep on for our red-eye flight home.
This trip has been an amazing experience that we will remember for years to come. While all of the places we visited were spectacular on their own, they were enriched by the knowledge of our tour guide Ryan and the guidance and flexibility of Ms. Godley and Ms. Lopez, so I am sure that I am not alone in thanking the adults on our trip for giving us this incredible opportunity and for leading us through it. It truly would not have been the same without you!