Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon

I wish I could have spent more time in Vegas (by that I mean sleeping in a comfortable bed) but I had to get to the Hoover Dam before the crowds and heat. You have to stop your car before you go over and also pass your stuff through a security checkpoint before they let you in. I took the basic dam tour and basically we watched a video and then went down and looked at the diversion tunnels, waited in line for an elevator, looked at the turbine room, waited in line for another elevator and then were released to go take pictures of the dam. The guide was fun though. I was most amazed at how blue the water was. I thought the Colorado was a muddy trickle but apparently it cleans up around the Dam. It got pretty hot so I decided to head out of the dam place and get to the Grand Canyon. I got there around 5pm and got all checked in and set up. The difference in being on Pacific time is that the sun is down before 8pm which was kind of weird. I went to bed right at 8:00 because I wanted to get at least some rest before Jess came. She came roaring in the site with Evan pumping out his dual exhaust at midnight. I ended up talking half the night because it was so nice to have another person around. We finally got to sleep but of course Jess shot up at the crack of dawn, eager to see the Grand Canyon. The way the park is built, there’s so many roads and it’s all in a forest so you don’t see anything until you walk up to the actual rim so I hadn’t seen anything driving in. We drove to the first spot we could find and it was amazing.
It wasn’t really what I expected. It was amazing but I was surprised at the massive amounts of canyons within the Grand Canyon. I thought it would be one big slice out of the earth. Jess asked a guy to take a picture of us and he did and then he said “Beautiful. And I don’t mean the canyon”. Oh yeah, it was on before 8am. We walked over to the visitor center and book store and stalked around until they opened up so Jess could buy them out of all the souvenirs. We took the time to read the warning signs saying “hydrate or die” and other such niceties. We made it back to the shuttle bus and hopped on to see the Hermit’s rest road. We ended up stopping at the first overlook and hiking the rim trail to the next few overlooks. We of course walked right up to the crumbly edge where there was a warning sign and started doing cartwheels and jumping around. I got a perfect picture of Jess on the first shot of her jumping but it took her six takes and she still didn’t get one of me. I just look like I’m about to pounce on something. It was then that we started waxing poetic and realizing (not for the first time) how freakin’ badass amazing we are. If we say we’re doing something then damn it, it gets done. I can’t believe the places I’ve gotten to see out West and it’s not because I have a lot of time or money but just the idea in my head to do it. We also had the good fortune of spotting a condor, a bird that was once found only in zoos and has started being introduced into the wild. On the bus Jess ended up talking to a guy about various things and he asked me about the Hoover Dam and if it was worth stopping and I basically gave him the entire tour based on my memorization. I can’t remember wildflowers, trees or constellations but I have quite a head for facts. We stopped at the Bright Angel trailhead and while I was out taking pictures Jess was buying more stuff at another gift shop and decided to get me a ranger hat meant for little kids. I put it on of course and was stared and laughed at all the way down the trail. We hiked in flip flops with Jess’s massive purse but I can say I hiked the Bright Angel trail. A mule train passed us by and Jess flirted with the 60 year old wrangler who had a handlebar mustache. It was siesta time after all that, as it had started to rain. Then it was time for my favorite part, shish kabobs. Jess brought me a feast fit for a family of five and it was amazingly delicious. I’d never had shish kabobs before and I really liked them. She also made an amazing tortellini salad. It was nice to eat good healthy food. We’ve finally managed to change our menu from steak, potatoes, and cobbler, now we just need to change the portion size.
After another wardrobe change by me we headed out to Desert View to watch the sunset, pulling out at a few stops along the way. We got some ice cream and settled in. It was cloudy so the sun didn’t cast very striking shadows but it was still very cool. We also filmed some videos with several takes because I was convinced we were at Devil’s Garden. Everything out west is named for the Devil I assume. I can’t believe I finally got to see the Grand Canyon. It’s one of those destinations that everyone in the world strives to see and it is so worth it. The vastness is really incomprehensible and to think that people actually hike down in there is terrifying and yet exhilarating. This trip is not over yet though…