Day 2: Leaving Las Vegas

We got a fairly early start in our exit from Las Vegas but first we had to photograph Mr Ripley at least one LV iconic spot. Stay tuned...
The drive from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon was much prettier and more interesting than I expected. I visualized that it would be all flat and desert-y but that wasn't the case at all. There were some beautiful mountains along the way. We drove over the Hoover Dam which was cool and evidently won't be something people will be doing much longer because they're building a new road and bridge (which looks very impressive).
We detoured off the highway several times to get a look at some of the old towns along Route 66. The most colorful and interesting was Seligman AZ which had several very kitchy shops and businesses celebrating the Route 66 history. Of the tourists we saw there, it appeared we were the only Americans. It seems the Italians are quite fascinated by the Route 66 culture, or at least the ones we saw today were.
We spent the afternoon at the Grand Canyon. It is always so amazing to see a place you've studied and heard about for most of your life. When we arrived it was about 58 degrees and sunny but rather windy. We decided to walk part of the rim trail. When we were almost at the end, it started to get overcast and even more windy. Dwyne suggested we turn around because he feared it might start raining. About 2 minutes later it started precipitating but it was more snow than rain. Luckily, it wasn't too hard and we weren't soaked. Also I was wearing my slicker jacket because I forgot to pack my windbreaker.
We are staying just outside the park. None of the places inside the park allow dogs, so I booked us at a place called the Red Feather Lodge. The name sounds much more interesting than the actual place, but it's clean and not very expensive. Once we got to our room I looked out and saw the car was covered with snow!! Then just a little later the snow had stopped and most of it had already melted.
The pickings are slim in the little area as far as restaurants are concerned. We had dinner at the Yipee-ei-o Steakhouse. It was not bad and I had some steak left over for Mr Ripley's breakfast.
Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe. We're actually staying there 2 nights so we'll practically be residents!
If the weather is nice early in the morning we may drive to the canyon and see the sunrise.