Anna S. E. Lundberg

Coach, Speaker, Writer

West Coast USA Road Trip: Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon

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From Death Valley, we drove on through the desert past Las Vegas – my worst nightmare, we steered well clear of this neon monstrosity. We did add one extra stop, however, on the way to what I knew would be the highlight of our trip: suddenly Hoover Dam appeared on the map on the way to the Grand Canyon so of course we had to take a peek.

Hoover Dam
My aunt had already visited the Dam before so she very kindly drove back and forth along the Dam (rather than pay the parking fee) as I made my way across taking selfies!

The Grand Canyon has always been high on my list – again because of Thelma and Louise?! You can spend your whole holiday only here in the National Park, taking an 8-day rafting trip, or why not a helicopter tour, or hiking or taking a mule down into the bottom of the Canyon. We didn’t have that kind of time, though, and wanted to make the most of the two days we did have. During my research, I had found a blog that recommended the full-day activity tour as the best way to experience the Grand Canyon and it was this that we booked onto.

Flying over the Grand Canyon happened to be on my bucket list so what better way to start our day than with a little flight? We set our alarms for 4am and headed off to the airport, just a couple of minutes down the road from our hotel in Tusayan.

Grand Canyon planes
We got a little breakfast box to eat as we waited for the rest of the group to assemble, and then boarded the planes parked outside.
Grand Canyon plane
I think we were very lucky that the tour wasn’t completely full as we each got a window seat and a row to ourselves, perfect for gazing in awe at the wonders below and for taking lots of photos.
Grand Canyon from the plane
The flight was an hour of WOW!
Horseshoe Bend
Horseshoe Bend is one of the most photographed areas on the Colorado River and we would later pass around it on our raft.
Antelope Canyon Tours
Following the flight, we were loaded onto four-wheel drive trucks that took us onto Navajo land to see the Antelope Canyon, recognisable from Mac wallpapers the world over.
Antelope Canyon
The Navajo name for the Upper Antelope Canyon means something like “the place where water runs through rocks” and it was formed mainly by flash flooding. (I didn’t have a tripod with me so it was a bit difficult taking photos in there!)
Glen Canyon Dam
The rest of the day would be spent on the river and we were handed a packed lunch and loaded onto buses that would take us on to the Glen Canyon Dam. Here we drove through an incredibly long tunnel, right along the canyon, until we arrived at the Dam and donned hard hats to make our way down to the boats. I’ve never seen so many dams in one day!
Grand Canyon from below
I’m so glad we chose to do this full-day tour of the Grand Canyon – it was a completely different experience to get a close-up view of the canyon walls from the river…
Grand Canyon smooth water rafting
On the bus back to town, we were shown a video about all the people who had died white water rafting down through the Grand Canyon – so I was pretty happy with our smooth water rafting trip!

Unfortunately this was all a bit too much for me as that night I lay shivering in bed and the following morning, after very little sleep, I woke up with a fever and a throbbing headache. Sun or heat exhaustion after being exposed all day – but it was worth it, I tell you! My poor aunt, though, had to then drive the whole way back to Los Angeles airport where we handed back our beautiful Beetle, SNIFF, and the whole trip ended on a bit of a quiet note as I went to bed early on the final night.

So here’s the overview of our road trip: more than 2,000 miles across 3 states over 10 days!

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The practical bit:

The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon, Tusayan: This hotel was perfectly located for our early morning flight from the nearby little airport. We had dinner both nights at the restaurant at the hotel and it was here that I discovered my new favourite bourbon, Woodford Reserve. Yes, I now have a favourite bourbon. That’s the kind of gal I am…

Grand Canyon adventure: We did the Scenic Canyon River Adventure, which includes the early morning flight over the Grand Canyon, a visit to Antelope Canyon, and a 15.5 mile smooth rafting trip down the Colorado River; I strongly recommend that you bring a hat to protect you from a whole day in the sun! If you want to do one of the bigger tours or take one of the famous mules down into the Canyon, you may need to book this as much as a year in advance.