The Grand Canyon

 After a week in Las Vegas, we hit the open road to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and Sedona. With our rental car, we were able to hit a few other places along the way as well. The Hoover Dam and Lake Mead were right along the road so that was a natural stop.
The Grand Canyon

 It's a big hole in the ground, how spectacular could it really be? Well, it's not called the Grand Canyon for nothing. After a week on The Strip in Las Vegas, the wide-open expanse of the Grand Canyon was certainly something to behold. As it would have been had we been anywhere else. It costs $25 to enter, but the pass is good for seven days.



Moose deer welcomed us at the visitor center

 We got to the South Rim the first night just in time to walk for an hour to watch sunset at 7,000 feet from Yavapai Point. With a full day the next day, we took the desert route the opposite way east, stopping at various points along the 25-mile road. As the road wound around, perspective and views changed, with each one seemingly better than the rest.

Other Destinations



 After the day at the canyon we headed to Williams for some rest and to get ready to see the red rocks in Sedona. It took an hour to get there, driving down a mountain and through canyons. Once you make it to the bottom of the road, you get your first best look at the mountains. But the more you drive, the more it opens up and the more it reveals. It was definitely worth the drive.



 



 

Melanie was doing her research and found there was a huge meteor crater about another 40 miles east, so off we went. Not quite Clark Griswold yet, but getting there. After driving through the desert, the crater, which we would learn is the best preserved meteor crater in the world was another six miles off the highway. Apollo 11 astronauts trained there to get a feel for the terrain and how to get rocks out of a crater and there is an American Astronaut Wall of Fame.

Not just a crater, there is also a museum and a 10-minute movie as well as a Subway for the staff who live on-site.

 With some daylight left, we hopped into the family truckster and went another 25 miles to Winslow, as in made famous by the Eagles. In fact, that was the town's big pitch to get people to stop through. So we did the tourist thing and posed with a statue on a corner as the girl in the flatbed Ford slowed down to check us out.    

 After the Grand Canyon and before we checked into our next hotel, we made a stop an exit up the road from Williams and went through Bearizona. A wildlife park that had only been open for four months, it provided us the opportunity to drive through seeing various animals including black bears, burros, and white bison among others.

Accomodations

 There are a few hotels located inside Grand Canyon National Park, but the Holiday Inn Express we stayed in was not, despite what we thought. It was actually located in Tusayan, about four miles from the entrance to the park. It was spacious but was one of the dirtiest hotels we've stayed in despite paying about the same price for a hotel on the Vegas strip.

 We had planned to split the difference between the Grand Canyon and Sedona by staying in Williams for two nights.We had no clue going in it was a tourist destination stop as it was part of the famed Route 66. The Holiday Inn there was reasonably priced and was a nice room with a big flat screen tv. The town was a mix of modern (Safeway) and old rustic like a number of diners that dot the town. 

 Our last day was once again spent in Las Vegas, about a 10-15 walk off the strip. Our room at the Stratosphere was very inexpensive and the room was as nice or better than our room at Ballys. It is a few blocks away from the Las Vegas Convention Center and a number of wedding chapels, like the Little Chapel of the Flowers where Melanie and I were married.