aku

Hi all,

We have one day in late November to make the drive from Grand Canyon's South Rim back to Vegas to catch our flight home from a week-long tour of southern Utah and Grand Canyon. We want to make the most of the day, which could include a few stops along the way (have to be to the airport by about 5pm). Mapquest tells us this drive should take approx. 4.5 hours, leaving 4-5 short hours to fill with last memories of the trip.

What do you recommend? Is Williams, AZ worth a stop? Or should we consider staying in Williams our last night to get an hour's jumpstart on our drive in the morning? Are there interesting ghost towns to stop and explore/photograph? Detour off 40 onto 66? Is Hoover Dam worth a stop, and if so, how long would it realistically take from start to finish? Can we see highlights of the dam without taking the official tour? Anything else in that immediate area (Black Canyon/Lake Mead) that could be done in a couple of hours?

Side note--we will be making this trip the weekend *before* Thanksgiving, so fighting holiday crowds on the roads should hopefully not be a huge factor.

Any advice you can provide is much appreciated!

spirobulldog

Have you seen Hoover Dam before?
Maybe, consider Sunset Crater.

ElendilPickle

We enjoyed the Hoover Dam tour, which took about an hour.

Lee Ann

aku

No, we've never seen Hoover or any of this area before. Is Sunset Crater right on the same path? How long would you suggest we spend there? I'll do a little research and see what I can find out about that one, as well.

What about ghost towns? Anything you've seen that is worth checking out along the route? We both enjoy photography so wouldn't mind short photo breaks in interesting-if-remote spots.

Thanks for the advice so far...

spirobulldog

Me experience on ghost towns are that, well there is virtually nothing there to really see. Maybe, its just me, but it seemed like a waste the time or two we did it. I don't really think the crater is that spectacular, but if you have the extra 4 hours- Kill an hour at the Crater and then a couple of hours at Hoover. The tour to the bottom on the elevator is the way to go. I hope they still do that anyway.

LindainOhio

As I recall that whole drive was a bit desolate---tumbleweeds etc. I think we ended up at a Denny's for lunch. You do gain an hour though. The other thing is the speed limit--I think it was 90(?)
We stopped at Hoover Dam--didn't do the tour. It's pretty impressive.