A Day Trip Adventure: Early Morning to Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon West

Kick-Start Your Day: The Early Morning Adventure

There's nothing quite like an early morning start to make the most of your day trip! We caught our bus at 7am form a hotel on the strip so left our hotel at 6.30am. The early morning saw Vegas a bit quieter than the night before but not much cooler as it was 84 degrees already.

A Windy Welcome at the Hoover Dam

Upon arriving at the Hoover Dam, prepare for a gorgeously windy welcome! The dam was amazing to walking cross using the bridge although the wind made sure we kept hold of our phones when taking photos and left our hats on the bus. We saw the hat graveyard where the swept away hats finished up, definitely no climbing down to collect them back.

Discovering the Grand Canyon West: Guano Point Awaits

Next stop is the West Rim of the Grand Canyon, we decided against the viewing skywalk platform and although would have been nice the queues and rules about no phones or cameras on the platform made us a bit glad we had more time to look around. The scenery was fantastic. There wasn't a crazy number of people there so at times it was just us and the eerie silence of the canyon. Although this was soon broken as the next tour helicopter came over the ridge. It was a good day out although the unique part of our trip was the professional comedian as a guide....unfortunately, we didn't get many jokes. When I asked about this the guide mentioned one joke he had told, oh dear! You can see all our detailed reviews of places we stay/things we do un der Tripadvisor user name "Sheffield_cat".

La Vida Las Vegas: An Evening to Remember

Yesterday we weren't too sure about Vegas and I would have happily moved on to San Francisco, I felt Las Vegas was Blackpool times a thousand. A second night and I have been entranced. (Just to add, Matts written this blog. LV was my idea as always wanted to come. We did a flip - he ended up liking it and I ended up not).

As we walked to tea, things were already building up. The Mexicans were celebrating Canelo's victory and the weekend of their Independence Day. Flags from cars going up and down the strip with horns blasting. The paths are full but after our tea everything has gone up a notch. All our senses are hit by the Las Vegas experience. Not sure what is first, maybe the closeness of everyone and you can't help but bump people into people but it's all met with a smile and gesture of apology. The there is the smell of the food places and constant aroma of cannabis. The noise is constant not only the celebrating fans but every 5 yards people playing music trying to get tips. As we are walking up the strip we get to an even more crowded spot at Bellagio's in time for the next fountain display with accompanying music definitely worth stopping for. There is also constant sights a pyramid, King Arthur's castle the Eiffel Tower and closer to us barely dressed models offering photograph opportunities.

Then just as we make our way through the noise, colours and smells and things seem quieter we are reminded of the constant helicopter tours circling the city.

Wow what an experience Vegas has been and what a great mix the day has been.