Day 7 - the Hoover Dam, and into Arizona

Thursday, June 5th: We picked up our rental car about 10am, and set off for the Hoover Dam, about 30 miles away. The southern part of Nevada was arid and barren - a few dusty shrubs, miles of flat desert, and bare mountain ranges.

These pylons showed us we were nearing the Hoover Dam.

It seemed a long walk in the heat down from the parking lot to the top of the dam, which was an amazing sight. Built in the 1930s, it is over 700 feet high and 1,244 feet wide.

Lake Mead, the reservoir created by the dam, is the largest man made reservoir in the USA - but look at the white line which shows how the water level has dropped during the drought of the last 14 years. There are now 4 trillion gallons less water than there were in 2000.

Originally Route 93 used to cross the dam itself, but a new bridge was opened in 2010 to take traffic across the Colorado River from Nevada into Arizona. It stands 240 feet above the river, and is the world's highest concrete arch bridge.

From the Hoover Dam, we crossed the bridge and then travelled south down Route 93 to Kingman, where we stopped from lunch
- and relaxed in these rocking chairs for a short time after lunch.

It was then a long drive eastwards along Route 89 to Williams, again through an arid landscape and past bare mountains.

From Williams, we drove north for about 60 miles to Tusayan, the small town just outside the Grand Canyon National Park, which caters mainly for visitors coming to the Park. Our overnight stop was at the Red Feather Lodge.

We found a Mexican restaurant nearby, which looked pretty - but we were less impressed by the food (I even forgot to take a photo of my beef and chicken tacos).

But I did remember to take a photo of this, because it's the first time I've had a beer served in a jam jar!