Grand Canyon Day

Wednesday July 11, 2012

After a somewhat restless night sleeping in the tents (at least from my perspective), we arise to a beautiful morning with clear skies and moderate temperatures. A quick breakfast of raisin bread and hot chocolate, and we're ready to begin the mundane task of breaking down the campsite. That's two tents and bedding along with all the associated camping accoutrement that have to be processed. I can tell that the two junior campers aren't that enamored with the task.

Today our plan is to spend the majority of the day touring the canyon. We can use the free trolley buses to visit the more popular rim viewing spots. Nobody is really interested in any strenuous hiking today. Jill has a cold and has been coughing off and on the entire trip and this morning my throat is starting to feel a little scratchy. I've succumbed to her cold bug. Yuck.

We head over to the main visitor's center to park and get information on the trolley buses. It's really very easy to navigate the rim of the canyon using this service. You just get on and off whenever it's to your liking. The best part, it's free with your admission to the park. My season pass, that I bought this spring, has paid for itself and then some with all my traveling this year.

If one is not going to do any hiking or rafting, the Grand Canyon can be sufficiently visited in one day. There are several perspectives from which to view the canyon along the rim, but after a while it starts to become repetitive. That's not to say that I wouldn't want to spend several days just lounging around and enjoying the view, but there is a time limit for our vacation.

Mather Point

Mather Point

The Grand Canyon is indeed grand, but everyone was OK with leaving for the Hoover Dam with some daylight left. That's good because the landscape from Williams, AZ, to Boulder City, NV, is very interesting and picturesque.

S-435 to Vegas

As the sun was setting, we saw a huge dust storm on the horizon and were a little concerned. As it turned out, it wasn't that big a deal.

Dust Clouds are a Forming

As we were getting closer to Boulder City, I whipped out the old smart phone to look up some hotel information. I discovered that the cheapest place was also the closest. The Hacienda Hotel and Casino was just off the highway and turned out to be a great value. The room was only $40, and they had a restaurant with a prime-rib dinner for only $9.95. The prime rib was pretty good and the room was clean and quiet. Who could ask for more?

After dinner, we all get our baths and turned in for the evening. It's not hard to fall asleep after a long day of traveling and sight seeing.

Photos