It's grand and canyony

We woke up at about 6 to head out to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon and we're on the road by about 6:30. We had a few hiccups getting on the right highway but once we found the freeway it was a pretty (long) straight road. 

Hoover Dam is about 45 minutes to an hour away. We arrived there by about 7:30/8:00 which turned out to be a great time to get there.  No traffic and the paying booths weren't yet open so we got in for free. It was bigger and more spectacular than i thought it sounds be... To be honest i wasn't real interested in this at all, this visit was about Hugh geeking out at the dam. We found an observation deck and pulled over for some photos. Reilly made it quite clear he didn't care about the dam and  wanted to stay in the nice warm car. It was freezing and we only stayed for a few minutes but it was pretty impressive.

After this we were back in the car and on to the grand canyon.  We stopped at a place called Kingman on route 66 that had the most adorable, quintessential 1950s diner. We had breaky there and took lots of photos.  Oprah had been there when she and her friend Gayle did their trip around America. 

The landscape was pretty boring after a while.  Lots of big rocks and cactus. But I'm glad we drove..it was a kind of scenery we've never seen before and probably never will again.

Anyway we reached the canyon at about 2 which turned out to be a great time to arrive as the weather had been poor and the canyon was full of cloud. We went to the first look out point and it was amazing. It's really clichéd but I have no words to describe it.  It is something you need to see for yourself.  It's so ridiculously deep/high hugh's vertigo was in overdrive.

The kids were running around and climbing like crazy we were so stressed about them falling in!  The next few look outs were amazing too. We probably spent an hour or two at the canyon which was no where near enough time. In hindsight I'd have stayed a night or 2 out there. So many lookouts and hiking trails to explore.  But at least we've seen it and it's something that we'll never forget. We got back to our hotel by 9pm so just a 14 hour day! The boys were perfectly behaved!