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 - 3

Day Five - Kingman to Kingman - Tues

Tried again to get to the Grand Canyon - via Phoenix, then Flagstaff but no luck and a horrendous, terrifying drive. Snow and ice on the roads, trucks and SUVs whizzing past far too fast with their invincibility cloaks on.

Day Six - Route 66, Oatman, London Bridge - Weds

Grand Circle Tour of the Canyons - 2

Day Three - Zion National Park, Utah - Sun

After my nightmare journey to get to Zion, with locking the keys in the car I made it to the park, paid the $25 entrance fee,and as it’s out of season people can drive through the park rather than take the normal shuttle buses. So I drove the short scenic route to the riverside walk, which was an easy stroll at the bottom of the canyon. It was very pretty, with icicles - this is the desert, it shouldn’t be so cold.

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…

San Francisco

With the cold still in full effect, I decided an open top bus tour was the only was I going to see San Francisco in two days, plus visit Alcatraz. Luckily I got a discount on my joint ticket, so it didn’t break the bank hugely.

The Bird Man of Alcatraz had no birds on Alcatraz, there, myth gone. It’s a weird island, very eerie and evocative. The audio tour is by both ex convicts and guards, so it gives both sides of the story, it seems neither liked it there. But then again I don’t suppose prisoners are meant to like jail, sort of against the point.