We awoke in Flagstaff, AZ and made the not too bad drive up to the famous GRAND CANYON!
Hubby
and I had been once before, but I have had a hard time officially
"counting" it... Once upon a time, before the littles and while at a
conference in Las Vegas, we took a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon
(which I would highly recommend, actually). It was pretty fabulous...
We flew from Las Vegas, over the Hoover Dam, and landed in the bottom of
the canyon for lunch and champagne! Until now, that was my only trip
to Arizona, and possibly Hubby's, too, but I'm not sure on that... Like
I mentioned before, "plopping down" in the canyon was very neat (and a
bit surreal), but driving to and through the whole park today, it just
can't be beat in my book.
Because
we were ultimately traveling west (and I didn't want to backtrack), we
went a little backwards (if that is even possible) beginning at the East
Entrance at the South Rim, but it worked because we spent most of our
time in the least crowded area. Now, having read that areas like the
skywalk were more gimmicky than anything else, we limited
our exploration to within the Grand Canyon National Park.
We love our nation's national parks and have found that they rarely, if ever, let us down.
The East Entrance is known as Desert View. Our first stop was the overlook by the Desert View Watchtower...
So beautiful!
We then looked around inside...
and climbed up to the top...
We took the Desert View Drive, making a few more stops as we traveled toward the main entrance of the South Rim...
Tusayan Ruin and Museum
Grandview Point
We
grabbed lunch at the main entrance, and wanting to make it over the
Hoover Dam before dark, we skipped the free shuttle ride with various
stops along the South Rim, and continued our journey west.
***If
we visit again someday, and I hope that we do, we will definitely make
the opportunities at this (more popular) entrance a priority...
The
drive from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas is full of beautiful scenery,
but there aren't a lot of towns along the way. We veered off the
interstate once more for a fun ice cream stop at Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In along Route 66 in Seligman, AZ, a definite bright spot in the middle of the desert!
Rumor
has it that Seligman, AZ was yet another inspiration for the movie,
CARS. It definitely had a Radiator Springs "feel" to it!
Unfortunately,
we hit the Hoover Dam just a hair too late. We (meaning I) drove over
the bridge (thank goodness I wasn't completely sure that I was driving
over it at the time that I was because I would've flipped out just a bit
~ it's high up!) and got a little turned around trying to figure out
how to get to the pedestrian area. We eventually made it, but they stop
allowing pedestrians to walk across after dusk.
So to clarify, we drove across the big bridge from Arizona into Nevada...
then, went through the security into the pedestrian area, driving across the pedestrian area (and back into Arizona to park)...
Though,
we enjoyed walking around the area that we were still allowed in (as
pedestrians), I just wish we would've been just a bit earlier...
{see
those lights to the left of B's head? yep, that's the scary
high bridge that I drove across first ~ yikes! the lights to the right
of his ear illuminate the pedestrian-friendly bridge that we'd hoped to
be able to walk across ~ we had to settle with driving that one, too,
this time...}
When we come back one day, Hubby will be driving that bridge...
Until next time, Hoover Dam...
From there, we continued on in to Las Vegas...
Now,
I've driven into Las Vegas before (if you count DRIVING from the
airport, that is pretty much RIGHT NEXT TO the strip)... Who am I
kidding? That doesn't count...
I will say, that it is
kind of like flying in, though. It's like you've been seeing a whole
lot of nothing (either from the car or from the plane, or even from the
helicopter once upon a time), beautiful desert nothing, but nothing, and
all of the sudden you just see lights, so. many. lights... Despite the
stigma that Las Vegas has, I wanted the kids to see it, both at night
and during the day. It actually has quite a few kid-friendly sights and
activities...
Love this shot of B experiencing the lights with the Stratosphere in the background...
We
are pretty low maintenance travelers. I don't require fancy hotels
(another way we keep our trips pretty economical) and we still pile
everyone into one room, as when we road trip, we aren't in them for all
that long anyway. Hubby found a good deal at the Stratosphere, and we
took it. It is old school Las Vegas and at the end of the strip, but
our $29 room (yes, you read that right) includes unlimited trips to the
top of the tower (normally about $20 per person), so that will pay for
itself right there a gazillion times over. They upgraded us to a suite,
as well, and it is actually pretty nice.
Good night Las Vegas. You might never sleep, but we do!
More {Road Trip} 2015 Fun
