Day 17: Grand Canyon

We left Vegas and headed east. During preliminary trip research, I realized Vegas to Grand Canyon goes right by the Hoover Dam. In fact, until very recently, Route 93 went right over the dam. Obviously that sucked for traffic flow, so they made a ginormous bypass bridge. You can still drive over the dam from the Nevada side, but not for through traffic... you have to double back and then go over the giant bridge.

Practically it doesn't make much sense to me - it's free to drive over the dam and/or walk on it, but tours are expensive. You also possibly pay to park in a convenient garage on the Nevada side, with free parking after you've crossed. Why not open it to through traffic but slap a toll on there, or an entrance fee with your vehicle? And/or roll into the National Park Service?

Anyway, I did the research before the trip but assumed it would be something that interested me and not Kiddo, so I kind of wrote it off. However, on the drive I explained it to her, and she said she wanted to see the big dam. So we drove through security (surprise, a white dude with his white kid didn't have his car searched) and drove over Hoover Dam. I parked and took a picture. Kiddo elected to stay in the car. And then we were off.

I explained I'd probably be a little scared going over the big bridge (I get a bit nervous but do remain completely functional while driving on tall bridges) and Kiddo said we should hold hands. It was really cute. She's been really awesome about wanting to hold my hand at high places.

So we drove to the Grand Canyon. We were going to camp for the night in the National Forest outside the National Park, and we figured it would be best to set up the tent then head into the park, but the road we planned on appears to be currently unmarked - so I missed it and we got to the park gates. So we came to the rim of the canyon (ok let's get it over with, every one of these parks keeps talking about the rim and the rim trail, and I am with my 5 year old so I can't make stupid childish jokes about rim trails BUT NOW I AM ACKNOWLEDGING IT so brain can you please leave me alone now?) and checked it out.

The Grand Canyon is just too damn big, I think. It's so wide and deep and just... big that you can barely even process all you're seeing (at least when you have a kid you're keeping your eye on). Then you realize the thing is miles and miles long... kinda boggles the mind. 

I didn't really know what to do here. The trails down would be too long (and too stressful re: heights). Anyway, tonight it didn't really matter, we had to get going and find our campsite before it got dark. But of course we did pick up a Junior Ranger book (and I love how she loves to do them right next to the scenic vistas).

Fortunately the National Forest station was right by the road, and so we stopped for a map. Fortunately I knew what I was looking for. So we found the road, and a quarter mile from the highway we passed the sign "camping permitted beyond this point". I picked a spot near a pine tree and set up. It was a gorgeous place.