Grand Canyon was on our must see list, so we hired a car from Avis car rentals and went halves in the cost with the fellow couch surfing guys Michael and Julie.
It was an early start as we wanted to get to the canyon before the sun set, so as soon as all of the paperwork was sorted out we headed towards Arizona.
All set to go
At the border of Las Vegas and Arizona is the Hoover Dam, one of America’s big engineering feats. The Hoover Dam powers a lot of Las Vegas energy and was good to see.
We had a look around, took some happy snaps, stretched our legs and then set off again as we still had a few hours of driving left.
Standing in two places at once 😉
Arrived at the canyon about an hour before sunset; we were all very unprepared for the cold weather, wearing shorts and singlets as it was so hot when we left Vegas.
The sheer size and beauty of the canyon was amazing and we all watched the sunset and took some photos before we drove back towards the nearest motel where we would stay tonight.
Julie worked her magic and got a bargain price for the night at the ‘Grand Canyon Motel’, we all shared a room that had 2 double beds and a bathroom. Ordering pasta from the motel restaurant and buying a few beers/wine we had a reasonably early night as it was going to be a long day tomorrow.
Getting up early we got ready, packed up the car, checked out, and grabbed a McDonald’s breakfast which happened to be right next to the Grand Canyon!
When we arrived at the entrance of the Grand Canyon we couldn’t believe how long the lineup was. Cars were queuing from miles back. Luckily we had bought a pass last night to enter the park, which meant we could drive in the express lane, this made the waiting time not too bad.
We made it 🙂
Looking at the park map, we decided on a route that was away from the touristy areas and let us see as many lookouts as we could get to.
Spending a good 5 hours at the canyon, we decided it was time to head back if we wanted to make it back to Vegas tonight.
On the way back we stopped in an awesome diner where you sit in car booths, the toilets were decorated with car parts and there were car shells embedded into the walls.
The toilet door
Here we shared a rack of ribs and a chicken.
We arrived back in Vegas at 10PM, took a sneaky picture at the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign and then headed back to where we were staying.
We did this trip in a super whirlwind as we were short on time. There are lots of hikes that you can do here, camping spots and helicopter rides, for those staying a few days.
We were happy with what we did, the Grand Canyon is definitely a must see if you are ever nearby.
