Grand Canyon to Las Vegas via Hoover Dam

On our last day, we left Grand Canyon NP and made our way to Hoover Dam for a tour and then a walk across the bridge. From there we spent a couple of hours having dinner and walking Freemont Street. Wow- that is an experience!! Girls in pasties, grown men in diapers and g-strings....etc.

We passed a great rock shop with metal sculptures as well along Historic route 66.

More sights along Rt. 66

 We toured the town of Chloride!

Sights from Las Vegas!!

We are off to the airport-

Day # 2 Grand Canyon, Hiking the Rim Trail

Today we spent the day hiking the Rim Trail. We took the shuttle to the end at Hermit's Rest and walked our way back. Most of the time the Canyon was in view. It was great to see it from so many angles! We also took a short hike down Bright Angel Trail but just to the tunnel and back. That is the trail that goes all the way to the bottom. You can walk down in about 5 hours and need to allow 8 to climb back up. It is recommended that it be done in two days- so we did the Rim Trail instead! Another time......maybe.

 Check out the condor!

 These are trails leading to the floor of the canyon.

Bryce Canyon NP to Grand Canyon NP via back roads!

We left our cozy cabin in 20 degree weather just after seeing the sun come up. It was a beautiful sight to see. Now that we are on four wheels instead of two we can take the road less traveled and we found one that went through the western side of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It passed Grosvenors Arch and many small canyons- we only walked a short distance into one.

This is where we stayed at Bryce Canyon NP

Last view of Bryce at sunrise

It was so cold as we headed out, the sprinklers were freezing!

Bryce Canyon NP

Today we spent a very cold day touring Bryce Canyon. Temperatures were in the 20's so were were not prepared to hike. We drove the length of the park (it is small) and checked out the look-out points. The sights were just beautiful- it it were just 10-15 degrees warmer we might have hiked a bit.
First, are pictures of the trip from Zion to Bryce. We had snow showers for most of the day. The tunnel is the longest in the National Park system. It has windows cut into the side where you can look out, but are not allowed to stop.

 Below is Checkerboard Mesa- can you see why??

Next are pictures taken inside Bryce Canyon NP. The tall structures are called hoodoos and they are everywhere in the park. I could have posted 20-30 more but that might have been a bit much!

Tomorrow we will head for Grand canyon NP!! We will spend two nights there and head for home late Saturday night.