We left the hotel at the Grand Canyon to start our tour of the Grand Canyon along the Desert Drive view.  Driving and stopping at specific view points.  We could fill this blog with photos of this vast formation as every view takes your breath away.

You can see from the coats that it was bright and sunny but just 5°.

Then it was back on the road and a 260 mile trek to the Hoover Dam.

We could see, flowing way below through the Canyon, the Colorado River. It was this river that residents of Arizona and Nevada hoped to tame and create irrigation and prevent flooding. Problem was the land rights to the water and, cutting a very long story short, it was Edgar Hoover who got it sorted!  Dam construction began in 1930, giving much needed work to local people.

It provides hydroelectric power, half of which goes to LA. It also provides domestic water supplies for millions and  flood and silt control.

Basically it’s huge!  They also constructed a beautiful bridge.    Lake Mead is the artificial reservoir created.

Then the last 30 miles into Las Vegas. Sheila had this honour – the conclusion reached was that American drivers aren’t over considerate!  Possibly we needed a sign in the back of the car – Old Ladies On Board Who Don’t Know Where They’re Going!!!     Eventually we found the Cosmopolitan and parked and  then began the long walk through this massive hotel, over 2000 rooms. They must have felt sorry for us as we were upgraded to three beautiful rooms.  They can’t allocate rooms until you arrive so we are often split up. This time Sue is on the 58th floor whilst Janice and I are on 36/37. We all have large balconies and the views are great.   They have what they call a Japanese bath that you sit in and look out of the window. (We’ve told Sue to pull the blind as the man in the MGM hotel opposite is thrilled!)

The whole of the downstairs is casino so maybe we’ll start spending our children’s inheritance soon. 

In the 8 hours on the road the temp has gone from 5° to 75° and expecting that to continue in the next couple of days as we explore this bright, vibrant, never sleeps city.