A new bridge is being built just downstream of the Hoover dam – pretty impressive stuff!

Yet not as impressive as the Hoover dam itself. Over 70 years old – quite something!

We took a tour of the power plant – about 2,000 Megawatts in total!

Then we had a good walk along the dam walls.

Next stop was Williams – a town not too far from the Grand Canyon. About 4 hours from the dam though, so we had plenty of driving to do along historic route 66. We stopped half way at a tiny little store for refreshments.

Night had fallen by the time we got to Williams. Having driven there pretty much at the speed limit, I failed to slow down enough on the way into town and got busted by a policeman hiding in the trees – 40 in a 25. Apparently – I reckon he was in the 25 but I wasn’t when he gunned me. A nice $138 fine I’ve no idea how to pay, or indeed what the penalties are if I don’t pay it. Really terse too – followed me around with his hand on his gun and torch in my face while I got my paperwork out of the boot. Welcome to America.

Anyhow, we met up with Dave & Jen who had arrived the previous night and had a meal to celebrate my busting.

The next day we rose early and headed to the station to catch a train to the Canyon.

Sadly ours was a diesel train, but still I was pleased not to be driving on the roads for fear of more police brutality. Williams is 6,800 ft above sea level. IT WAS COLD THERE!

We had three and a bit hours to explore the canyon. I’d love to have days there to hike around it, but the first view is amazing, and something that no camera can really capture quite as the eye really sees it. The far side in the photo below is nearly 10 miles away!

Adding a fat human still doesn’t give it any sense of scale:

So we tried a more normal human:

In the Grand Canyon store, I found a hilarious type of deep-heat:

We had lunch, took a few more photos, and waved goodbye to the Canyon. It certainly matches up to my trip to the Taj Mahal.

The next morning we were up at a painful 6:30am. The road to LA was long, but we had to get Robin married.