"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did." 

Following on from my last post, Activities Part 1 - Here
This is part 2 of the activities I got up to whilst away with Trek America.

Austin 

Things to do in Austin, we spent 2 nights here and on our first night we experienced Rainey Street and 6th Street, we had a great time in both these areas of Austin. We also visited South Congress Bridge one evening to see the Bats but we were waiting ages and didn't see anything so we decided to head off back to 6th Street for the evening. Now probably the majority of people who go on trek and visit Austin will spend their time at Barton Springs which is an outdoor swimming pool for everyone to visit and sunbathe. Most of my group decided to go their on our second free day but what did I want to do? Skydive!!! Now prior to going away with trek I had seen a girl on Instagram which had chosen to do the Southern Sun trek and for her free time she did a skydive in Austin. I messaged her and asked which company she did it with and what the experience was. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do it myself. The company was Texas Skydiving now looking back I should maybe have done a little research into this as it was just over an hour away from where we were staying. Luckily Hayley, Crystal, Dean and Isaac wanted to come with me for support and to watch so we all booked an Uber. Ok so the skydiving place was literally in the middle of no where haha! I got given my harness and talked through all the health and safety about what to do whilst we were in the air and how to hold my body. Everyone sat down and it was time to get into the plane! The package I chose was the skydive with photo and video. I think I paid around $360 as their was a percentage off offer on at the time. This meant another trained skydiver also came up in the air with you to photograph and film the whole experience. It was such an amazing experience to get the chance to do this and the only time I was nervous was when I was sat at the edge of the plane. You get such a rush of adrenaline through the air. The only downside to this day was trying to get back to Austin! Haha, we were stuck in Lexington with no transport back as Ubers kept cancelling due to the fact of us being so far away. Texas Skydiving looked after us and let us sit inside until we found a way back, they gave us some local taxi numbers (although they didn't expect to take us back) they even offered to go out and get lunch for us which was very kind! But in the end probably about 2 hours after I had finished my skydive we finally got an uber and made it back into Austin.




Amarillo

Before we left Amarillo we stopped off at Cadillac Ranch which is a free public art installation and sculpture of yes you named it, Cadillac cars which are half buried into the ground covered in spray paint. We had previously bought some spray paint at Walmart ready for when we arrived here. The area where the cars were was full of mud so a few of us didn't want to get too close and get covered but we managed to spray paint the cars and write our names on them.


Santa Fe

A few of us decided to go to Meow Wolf which was an optional activity to pay for. So Meow Wolf is a very weird place. It is an arts and entertainment group which is based in New Mexico.

"Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is an explorable, immersive art installation filled with technology and fantastic environments to inspire visitors of all ages. The wildly imaginative art space is a collaboration of over 100 local artists and is a unique combination of children's museum, art gallery, jungle gym and fantasy novel."

I won't say much more, I'll let you experience Meow Wolf for yourselves, unless you want to read about it here.


Monument Valley 

Whilst in Monument Valley our optional paid activity was the 4x4 jeep tour. The company we did this with was the Simpsons Trailhandler Tours. We got our own jeep as a group and our own guide. The jeep tour allows you access to the restricted areas of Monument Valley whilst giving you the chance to see amazing views and the guide gives you all the history about Monument Valley and about their culture. Our guide was really friendly, told us so much information about the rocks and the meanings behind everything, he was also asking us if we had any questions throughout. The jeep tour was a couple of hours long. A part of this tour was for our guide to take us to a traditional Navajo Hogan where there were demonstrations of rug weaving and talks about their arts and crafts. We also got the chance to enjoy dinner the Navajos, try out their Navajo Tacos and even join in dancing with them after our meal when our guide dressed up in their traditional dress wear and sang/performed for us. On our drive back to camp we got to witness the beautiful sunset. What more could you ask for!



Grand Canyon 

For the Grand Canyon, Me, Courtney, Jemma, Hayley, Crystal and Rach decided our activity of the day was going to be a helicopter ride over the canyon. Prior to going away with trek this was activity I was looking forward to doing the most! I have never been on a helicopter ride before so I knew I wanted to experience it this way. The company we did it with was Maverick Helicopter Tour and I think cost just under $300, yes it is expensive but worth it in my eyes, It's such an amazing way to see the Grand Canyon and I would recommend anyone to do it if they have the chance. As their were 6 of us we got split into 2 groups of 3. I was quite nervous for the ride as I thought I'd feel quite sick due to the motion of the helicopter, as I do suffer from travel sickness but I didn't at all! We all got assigned to our seats, me, Courtney and Jemma were placed to sit at the front of the helicopter which I was glad about it was such an amazing view from the front especially when it came to the moment from flying over the forest and straight out over the canyon. The flight lasted about 45 minutes and did a loop of the Grand Canyon. This has to be one of my favourite memories from the trip.



Las Vegas

Veeegaaasssssss!!!! We had made it everyone was super excited for these 2 nights we got to spend here. During our stay in Las Vegas we had a party bus, now this was one of the activities that was already included within the trek and price we paid. This took place on our first night here. Due to the age limit of being 21 for drinking in the USA we had all been pre drinking prior to the bus picking us up to allow the few under 21s to enjoy the night. The party bus picked us up from our hotel The Golden Nugget around 9:30pm. We were allowed to drink on the bus and we were all singing along to the playlist we were allowed to put on and the bus also came with a pole, as a few of the group members were drunk there was a lot of dancing around that pole. It stopped off at the Little White Chapel, Welcome to Vegas sign and the last stop of the night the Bellagio Fountains to allow us to see the fountain display. It really enjoyed it but personally I thought there may have been a few more stops on the list or at least had a bit longer time at each stop, it was literally just off the bus, take a quick photo, then back on again. On our second day in Vegas me and Rach went to go do the Slotzilla Zip Line which is based on Fremont Street where we were staying. We chose to do the Zoomline option, this meant we would be flying "Super Hero" style instead of the seated version. This was around $49. The Zoomline option was 11 stories high and 5 blocks long, where as the seated version is shorter and not as high. This was so much fun! We both were pretty nervous to start with , we had to lay down on a mattress which then lifted you in the air to all you to be attached the harness and zip wire, you have all your body fastened in an once you are ready the mattress then lowers leaving you hanging in the air, the metal shutters then open and you are released head first down Fremont Street. We both loved it!




Upcoming//
Trek America - Activities Part 3