Here’s a nice shot of part of the Luxor pool complex:
I went for a splash yesterday, and quickly found the lack of shade to be murderous 🙂
Today we left Vegas for part two of our 3-state trip. We rented a car at the hotel, but the first one they gave us (an Elantra) had a tire warning light on the dash. A quick call got us a free upgrade to the only car they had left, a mustang:
And so we hit the road on a five hour drive east. At first the landscape (east of Vegas near the Hoover dam) was rocky and mountainous (and almost without plants!) but as we entered Arizona it became a flat featureless desert with scrubby plants and the occasional cactus for miles and miles.
The drive went quickly, with only a single brief stop in the first three hours. And then we needed food badly, and when we finally spied some Golden Arches from a mile or so away it was like the Star of David over the desert!
Less than an hour later we reached our destination: the Grand Hotel in Tusayan, just five miles south of the Grand Canyon! This town is tiny and obviously 100% tourist oriented. We’re here at peak season as well, which means this is the most I’ve ever paid for a hotel room! And here it is:
After checking in we headed up the road to the canyon visitors center, slowing briefly to pass some mule deer…
…but very shortly after we arrived a very powerful storm blew in and sent us (and the zillion other tourists) scurrying. Getting back to our car got us very wet 🙂
Turns out it rains in the afternoon every day here (more or less), so we’re having an early night and will head to the canyon in the early morning. I’m looking forward to this quite a bit!
It’s significantly cooler here than Vegas, with temperatures in the low 60s right now. Tusayan is at an elevation of 6500 feet and is the last stop (for lodging and food) before the canyon.
The thunder and lighting before the rains came was impressive, especially for Bernard since he almost never sees rain at home. He’s certainly seen enough today to last a while…
Don’t worry, we ate better than McDonald’s for dinner. We splurged on Wendy’s 🙂