On To the Grand Canyon

I am not certain if I am going to be able to upload this post tonight or not. From where we sit tonight in the small town of Tusayan, Arizona there is very little Internet Access available anywhere. I always rely upon my laptop’s broadband card to get me access to the Internet from just about anywhere. Unfortunately, you need to have a cellular signal to get that access. From what I have seen so far there is very little cell phone capacity available here. So I am left as a fish out of water – no Internet access and cell phone coverage. Regardless I will write and I will post when I am able. We have had an exceedingly busy day that has left us both exhausted. The day started very early for me as I had to get up and get some things done for work. I got out of bed around 6:30AM and addressed those issues. Before Zack woke up I was already busy packing up our luggage and getting ready to depart Las Vegas. Once the Z-man was awake we got up and got dressed, got some breakfast from the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, took a few more pictures around the Venetian, finished packing and checked out. Though it took a little longer than I had planned we were out of the hotel and on the road to Hoover Dam by 10:30AM. When we reached the Hoover Dam the complete tour was already sold out until 2:30PM – which would have meant that if we did that, we would not have left the dam until 4:30PM at the earliest. We decided that we were going to do the Power Plant only tour. This tour is much shorter, but it at least allows you to get into the bowels of the dam itself.

(Overlooking Lake Meade - I am using the tripod and timer to get some better pictures on this leg of the trip.)

We looked through everything that we could see at the dam and we had a good bit of fun. Even closing over the top of the dam was fun – as we got to look down the steep sides. Zack kept on trying to figure out how far down it was and whether or not you would survive if you fell.

(At the main dam overlook point - I asked another guy to take our picture. I am very good at getting people to take our pictures!) All told we spent about 2.5 hours at the dam and the surrounding environs. We saw everything that we could and explored everything that we could. Lunch was needed by both of us so we got hot dogs, French fries and cokes at the dam gift shop. That is one of the downsides to a vacation of visiting tourist spots – you really have to work to try and eat well. This trip has afford us some opportunity to do that while we were in Las Vegas, but when we are out at spots like this, we really don’t have much of a chance to find good stuff to eat.

(Zack in front of the statues at the Hoover Dam.)

After leaving the dam we headed south on Route 93 to Kingman Arizona. The landscape along the route is dessert and just brutal. I think it would a nasty and difficult place to live. One of the most remarkable aspects of this terrain is the fact that they are building and entirely new road from Kingman to the Hoover Dam – including a huge new bridge over the river. This will prevent people from having to drive over the dam any more. We took a brief stop in Kingman for us to get a snack and for me to get some caffeine as I was very sleepy. After Kingman we started on the longest part of the day’s journey – 100+ miles along I-40 until we reached the small town of Williams, Arizona. From Williams it is only another 60 miles to the north until you reach Tusayan and the South Rim of the Canyon. Tusayan is a very small town with a handful of motels and restaurants to serve the people going to the Canyon. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express – which we quickly found given the exceedingly small size of the town. We decided not to journey into the Canyon today given that we didn’t arrive at our hotel until 5:45PM. Instead we made use of the hotel swimming pool and hot tub for a very long time. For dinner we did not have too many choices. There are about 7 restaurants in the entire town. We walked across the street from the hotel and went to the restaurant in the “Grand Lodge”. It is now 11:15PM PDT and Z is now sound asleep. I need to get into bed myself as I have to be up early for a conference call for work. Even though I am on vacation I must continue to make sure that my projects continue to move and execute to plan. These last three days alone with Zack have been marvelous. Don’t get me wrong he and I bicker like there is no tomorrow. But in the end run we do so very well together. I think he is going to walk away from this week with lots of memories that he will never forget. Til tomorrow – Thanks and peace to all!