From Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon

We pulled into Trailer Village at South Rim, Grand Canyon around 4:30.  It was snowing!  This campground is full, so lots of people besides us are willing to deal with snow in order to visit the Grand Canyon. 

We had to get hooked up, eat dinner, etc., so by the time we made it to one of the Rim viewing areas, it was too dark to see much.  After that we went to the Canyon Cafe because we heard they have wifi, but the wifi was much too slow to be of any use to us.  Now I am using my cell phone to connect to the internet, using a process called tethering.  Usually Dave and I share his phone when we are on tethering, but this time we turned my phone on for tethering while we are at the Grand Canyon.  I want to be able to update my blog, you know!

Last night, since we stayed an extra night in Las Vegas because of the wind storm at the Grand Canyon, we decided to bite the bullet and go see a show.  We went to the 1/2 price ticket desk at Tahiti Village and got tickets to see Cirque du Soleil's Mystere at Treasure Island at 7 pm.  The tickets cost $135 for the two us and our seats were in the second row, side of stage left, very close to all the action.  After buying the tickets, we drove to Treasure Island to turn the ticket vouchers into real tickets, and also to locate the theater and where to park.  That all went smoothly, so we had no trouble finding a parking spot when it was time for the show.

I don't know exactly what to say about Mystere.  Was it entertaining?  Yes.  Did we enjoy it?  Yes.  Would we go to it again?  Probably not.  Was it worth the price of the tickets?  I don't really think so, but all the shows in Las Vegas cost a lot of money, so it wasn't out of line with other shows.  It was an extravagance that we enjoyed, but we wouldn't do it very often, and next time we would see a different show, just for variety.

This morning the wind was still there but had gone down considerably, so we were able to leave Las Vegas and head to the Grand Canyon.  After about 10 miles, we saw Lake Mead, which is low on water right now.

Lake Mead near Las Vegas

Lake Mead was formed when Hoover Dam was built and dammed up the Colorado River.  They are building a new highway that will go above and past the dam.  But right now, you can still drive right across the top of the dam.  First we had to stop at an inspection station where they checked some of our basement compartments to make sure we didn't have any explosives with us.  Nope, just golf clubs and soda pop.  An inspector also came inside the RV and did a cursory inspection.  Very soon, we were on our way again.  For about 30 miles, it was slow going because of the construction of the new highway.

First, we saw part of the massive power grid of electricity produced by Hoover Dam.

Then we saw the dam itself:

Here's a picture of part of the bridge of the new highway:

And an even closer look at the bridge:

                          Then we got to drive over the dam:

As we crossed over Hoover Dam, we entered Arizona.  From there on, the trip was uneventful, except when it started snowing!

Entering Grand Canyon National Park:

Snow falling on our motorhome which is parked in site F31 at Trailer Village, Grand Canyon: