USA West Coast Trip – Day 6

After a really lovely night at one of the best hotels of the trip so far, we had a fantastic breakfast at the hotel café which was affordable and satisfying. We then set off for the Grand Canyon as it was a 4 hour drive away.

Leaving Las Vegas to Grand Canyon

Taking highway 93, we wanted to check out Joshua Trees but we were short on time so we decided to skip this sight.

Joshua trees: Unique to the Mojave desert, these are giant yucca plants and not really trees. If you just want to see Joshua Trees, you can see forests of them off Nevada hwy 93. Turn on Pierce Ferry Road and drive out a few miles. The best grove is at the intersection of Diamond Bar Road.

You could then return to 93 and continue to the Grand Canyon.

For our next stop, we are going to the infamous, engineering marvel: The Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam Driving Directions and Parking Information

Hoover Dam is located approximately 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, on the Nevada-Arizona border. The Dam does not have a street address, so directions are provided below.

Also, visitors with GPS navigators can use the coordinates: N 36.016222, W -114.737245 to locate the site. However we basically followed a long snaking line of cars when we were nearer to the dam and didn’t get lost.

The Hoover Dam was fantastic and very worth the visit. I was glad we got the chance to visit this engineering marvel.

Grand Canyon

We finally arrived at Grand Canyon at 7pm, we thought we would be earlier but I forgot about the 1 hour time difference between Las Vegas and Arizona. Rookie mistake! At the Grand Canyon, we are staying at the Bright Angel Lodge. It was completely dark so we had dinner at the lodge which was warm and satisfying.