Grand Circle Tour of the Canyons - 4

Day Eight: Hoover Dam - Fri

As I was staying in a hotel 5 minutes drive from Hoover Dam, I decided to do the dam, properly. This meant a $30 tour, including the power plant and within the dam itself. All a bit geeky really. After driving through the security checkpoint to get onto the dam, I avoided the expensive car parks and walked across the dam to the visitor centre. After another security check to get into the centre there’s a 10 minute film about the building of the dam. It’s very American and patriotic, which made me chuckle. After the film, we were squeezed into an elevator, shoulder to shoulder and facing the front, down to the old nuclear fallout shelter and the huge water pipes, which are big enough to drive a car through.

Grand Circle Tour of the Canyons

Day One - Las Vegas - Fri

I stayed at the Stratosphere Tower Hotel and Casino and had a nice room with a bath, so took advantage of the bath, then walked an hour down the strip, managed to only get so far as the Bellagio then headed back as I had to be up early to collect the car the next day. The strip was full of cowboys because Vegas is hosting some rodeo championships, so lots of cowboy hats on display.
 

Day Two - Valley of Fire, Nevada - Sat

I picked up the car, with the added disadvantage of not having a credit card they would accept and the warning that if I was heading up into the mountains I should get an upgrade from the basic compact model. In fact I was automatically upgraded as they didn’t have any compact cars and anyway I wasn’t heading into the mountains, I was going to the canyons…