This was one of the days I was most looking forward to of the whole trip. It was a long day trip to the Grand Canyon with a few exciting stops along the way. I knew it was going to be a long day, but I had a relatively early night the night before to prepare and I actually slept really well. I woke up bright and ready for the day, making my way down to wear I went yesterday for pickup and Vegas was so different and quiet walking through the streets. It's definitely a night city and not a morning one, but it was very peaceful.
Driving out of Las Vegas we started on the journey and the scenery was beautiful. I actually loved the rocky landscape of the industrialised desert and it was quite impressive to watch.
Out first stop was Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam is a huge concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There are half and full day tours you can do of the actual dam and the workings of it, but I was quite happy to be able to see it from the outside, as I don't think I would have appreciated the history as much.
It actually wasn't quite what I expect and there was quite of bit of history on the way to the bridge itself. You can either walk up stairs or ramps. The stairs are more tiring but quicker, whereas the ramp is longer. There's lots of little areas to stop off at near the bottom and top, with uniquely positioned and designed displays.
We then drove past the Colorado River. It was a very brief view whilst driving past, but everyone seemed very impressed and excited.
Next stop was the Joshua Tree Forest of Arizona and I was so excited to see these impressive, unique trees. We didn't have a huge amount of time there, but it was a good chunk of time to walk around the entire pathed area. You couldn't walk around all of it which I was a little surprised at. They had information boards throughout which I found quite interesting, as well as other plants and nature around too. Whilst the trees were beautiful in their own right, they also backed onto and stood in front of the most amazing mountains and view.
The next stop was the main stop, the Grand Canyon! I'm going to share a full review here of the experience and future recommendations/advice too.
From there, we started to make our way back to Las Vegas. The views continued with rocky outcrops and more Joshua Trees along the roadsides.
The final stop before returning to the drop off point was Hemenway Park. We were told on route it was a hit and miss stop as sometimes the state's national animal was there, and other times they would be up the mountains. We apparently got lucky as there were loads at the park. The grassy park area backed onto mountains and then the view looked onto the Las Vegas city as well.
We got back to the drop off point just around tea time and I was absolutely shattered. I wasn't particularly hungry but felt I should get something to eat later and picked up a slice of pizza and some coke and snacks for the rest of my time in the US. There was another solo traveller girl who I spoke to on the trip. She was from Mexico and did invite me out for drinks, but I was done for the day and ready for an early night in bed.
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