It turns out that if you find yourself in Las Vegas, Nevada with someone with a motorcycle license, you also just might find yourself on the back of a Harley Davidson, cruising the Mojave Desert. At least, if you're the luckiest girl in the entire world.
After a short stop at EagleRider and a few minor directional challenges, we were on our way to the Nevada/Arizona border, home of the Colorado River and the Hoover Dam.
Naturally, there were pitstops first for some shots of the desert. We took a stroll on a former railbed that's been turned into a walking trail. That's Lake Mead you can see over there in the background.
Then it was on to the dam itself... (Insert your dam jokes here)
...and yeah, we drove over that bridge a bit later!
Another brief pitstop, this time on the Arizona side:
Our intended mission was to make it to the skywalk at Grand Canyon West. Our caveat to the mission became to make it there before sunset. We were unsuccessful. We learned, however, that the desert is just as cold at night as people say it is. Also, that there is absolutely nothing for about an hour's drive before you actually come to the skywalk area. When you do finally arrive, it's all fenced off and you cannot get anywhere near any part of the canyon without paying cold hard cash. Fortunately, they do have cabins available onsite, but you do need to book a canyon tour in order to be able to spend a night. We were freezing and hungry, so we paid the necessary fee and took long, hot showers in what turned out to be the last available cabin. Our hosts provided dinner and breakfast in the morning, and in between, there was a campfire, complete with marshmallows and hot chocolate. It turned out to be a completely different adventure than we were expecting, but sometimes that's not a bad thing at all.
So this is what we got to see of the actual Grand Canyon.
Still beautiful.
The next day was much more rewarding. We saw a road runner! An actual, true-story, road runner! Snow-capped mountains, random cacti, and the border of Joshua Tree National Park.
A bathroom break back near Lake Mead introduced me to this strikingly large and frightening guy, who followed me along on the rest of the trip, I swear.
STOP THE BIKE moment!
Then... the Valley of Fire. Hello again, Nevada!
This is one of my favourites. It sums up just about everything you need to know about the Nevada desert.
Shout out again to the wheels. <3
The calm and quiet of the desert was perfect after four days in Las Vegas. It was an absolutely amazing sidetrip: exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries and get ready for another go in the big city.
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