Grand Canyon National Park

Having left Colorado, we arrived at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona after dark. We had chosen to stay two nights inside the park for easy access to sunrise and sunset photos in the park, plus the ability to just park our car and leave it while using the bus service within the park.

We had not been to this park since 2006, when I took Jim there for his birthday. Our daughter had never been. It is certainly a national treasure and one that all Americans should strive to see. There is nothing else like it, though I suppose Canyonlands comes closest.

We got up early the next morning for the sunrise before grabbing some breakfast. We spent the day on the park shuttles, getting off at each stop for photos. In the evening we went back out for sunset pictures.

Grand Canyon National Park

The next morning we took off to our final stop before heading home. We drove to the Hoover Dam, and took the Guided Dam Tour. This tour takes you on the original elevator down to historic tunnels along with a guided powerplant tour. It was very interesting to learn about why the dam was built and how it operates.

Hoover Dam

 Las Vegas is a short drive from the Hoover Dam, and we spent our last night together at Harrah's on the Vegas strip. It is not one of my favorite places, but it is certainly entertaining to walk there at night. Jim says it is like the bar scene from Star Wars, and that is pretty on point. 

Las Vegas

In summary, we put over 2,000 miles on the rental car, traveled through four states, and visited seven national parks and two national monuments in addition to a few other things. We recognized the vast diversity of landscape in this country, and found ourselves wondering why we travel so often out of the country when the United States has so much to offer. It was wonderful to spend this time with our daughter, and I'm confident more national park trips are in our future.