Hoover Dam & Grand Canyon

We left Las Vegas behind this morning...glad we came...glad we saw...but glad to leave. It was a lot of fun, but both of us said we would not be sad if we never got to go back. We started off toward the Grand Canyon and passed through the town of Henderson, where we saw at least ten motorcycle police officers along the highway writing tickets. We haven't seen that many cops on this entire trip, so to see so many in such a concentrated area was bizarre. After about an hour we came to the Hoover Dam. Amazing doesn't quite cover it...it's truly an unbelievable engineering feat. The road goes over the dam and along a winding, cliffside road. Poor Rick! Another curvy road along a cliff...but this one wasn't so bad because there were good guard rails. There is a huge construction project going on that looks to be building a road that will bypass the cliff and go directly over the dam. We even had to go through a security checkpoint, but it didn't slow things down much.
We were now in Arizona...our 17th state...5,887 miles under our belts! The road along this stretch is still in the desert, but we were starting to see more vegetation. Still scrubby brush, but more pines...short ones, but pines all the same. The landscape is beginning to appear more and more like what we imagined the Southwest to look like. Rick loves this road! Flat, straight, and easy driving. It was a gorgeous day...bright blue sky with white puffy clouds overhead - so pretty!


Eventually, we started looking for a place to pull in for a pit stop and somewhere to have a picnic lunch. We got off the highway in Ash Fork, AZ, thinking it might work. Turns out it's part of the old Route 66, and who knew? According to their sign, it's the "flagstone capital of the US"! We followed signs directing us to a visitor center and museum, but it was closed. There were some crazy, old motels, cafes and such, so we pulled into a truck stop/pizza shop/gift shop. Used the restroom, bought a cold drink & Route 66 coffee mug, took this picture of the Route 66 sign, and back on Interstate 40! We weren't too far from the Grand Canyon, so we decided we would eat lunch there instead. But it was very cool to be on a piece of the "Mother Road"!


Next up was the Grand Canyon. Oh, my! It really is incredible. Layer upon layer of amazing colors and so many levels of sheer beauty. The colors and light are wonderful! Poor Rick wasn't very comfortable because it really is a long way down...but there is a paved pathway along the rim that is a nice walk. He would have been happier had there been fencing along that walkway, but he did admit that it was quite a sight. The park itself, however, is a mess! There is construction everywhere, parking is a disaster, and it just makes it difficult to enjoy the park.

Of all the National Parks we've been to I think it's probably the one we found the least enjoyable. The others we've visited had a stronger ranger presence, and seemed to be much better managed. I'm still glad we went, though, and it really was an incredible experience. After we left the park it was on to Flagstaff for the night. We had dinner at a local restaurant, Buster's, that I highly recommend to anyone who visits Flagstaff. Great food, great service and great atmosphere. What more could we ask? We'll rest up tonight, and tomorrow morning we'll hit the road for Albuquerque, New Mexico. More eastward progress!