Introduction
The third day was when the real touring started. We set off early morning to Hoover Dam which was a one hour drive away followed by an onward journey to the nearest point of the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.
Hoover Dam.
Roughly an hour's easy drive from Las Vegas the Hoover Dam is a mega construction. It is difficult to believe the dam was constructed so long ago. The dam is the main source for water and power for the western US. The exhibits and tours make a great visit and the tours to it's internal power plant are quite interesting our guide was particularly interesting. We did not take the longer Dam tour as it was full and the next available slot was hours away. Most people do the power plant tour anyway. Its a great 40 mins snapshot of the history of the place.
Once you've done the tour the visitors centre has a sweltering view point from where you can observe the dam and then you can walk or drive along the rim of the dam.
They are pretty strict on the entrance so leave all sharp objects in the car. The car park is pretty straight forward. The directions we used are below.
Our pictures from the Hoover Dam are below
Grand Canyon West Rim
The Grand Canyon West Rim is the part of the Grand Canyon closest to Las Vegas. It is a further two hour drive from Las Vegas. The last hours is through mostly small dry barren towns. Sign post are only at major turns and you wont have mobile reception for most part of the this journey. Our route is shown below.
The reserve is run as a commercial organisation with the main selling point as the curved bridge over the canyon with a glass see through bottom. The ticket prices for entering the reserve are extortionate (USD 50) and additional to use the bridge. After the drive of 2 plus hours there is not point except paying up. So my view is that if you're going to another part of the Grand Canyon you should skip this.
We were committed after the two hour drive. So we grudgingly bought the park tickets and went into the park, at the price point my feeling is that you are being screwed for every dollar in your pocket. The expression-less lady at the counter fueled my annoyance further. There are two points that are worth seeing - Eagle point for obvious reasons below and Guanamo point. Our picture from both places are below.
The colours of the Canyon are absolutely amazing and the depth is staggering. Peering over the cliff edge you can see down to the Colorado River. We got an absolutely scorching day but if you go in winter it can get cold. There is a fake cowboy town on site and other activities but frankly they are not worth doing for adults. For kids there are horse rides, cowboys willing to teach them rope tricks and other things to keep them going.
In the end my feeling was that it was worth it but I felt that after driving two hours I was committed and no choice. Helicopter rides as also available at the site and it was well geared for floods of visitors. There were not any flood of visitor when we were there.
Cactus
As an aside the drive through some cactus field was quite interesting. Different shape and size plants are scattered along the route but prominent at one particular junction of the journey. This is what you can expect to see.
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