Grand Canyon 🏜️

Our day began in Boulder City, where we heard the story of the famous “Dam Dog” 🐕. He was a stray that the Hoover Dam workers adopted and looked after. Sadly, one day a worker accidentally ran him over. The workers were so fond of him that they erected a statue in his honour. Sad, but true.

We also spotted plenty of bighorn sheep roaming the area. Apparently, the males with the biggest horns rank highest in the sheep community… a bit like our Grindr community, really. 😉😂

The Hoover Dam is a remarkable feat of engineering and helps provide water and power throughout the region. Lake Mead, the reservoir behind the dam, has been affected by decades of drought and currently sits at around 35% capacity. It certainly makes you appreciate just how precious water is out here in the desert.

We crossed the Pat Tillman and Mike O’Callaghan Memorial Bridge, the second-highest bridge in the United States. The views back across Hoover Dam were simply jaw-dropping.

The desert heat was extreme. 🥵 It felt like you could cook an egg 🍳 on our heads. Every time I stepped out of the air-conditioned coach, it was like opening the door of a fan-forced oven.

As we journeyed through the Arizona desert, I cranked up some Def Leppard on my headphones. The perfect soundtrack for the endless rocky landscapes, burning sunshine and cactus-studded wilderness. 🌵🎸☀️

Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for…

Grand Canyon🏜️

An awe-inspiring, unfathomable geological masterpiece. Immense, breathtaking and almost impossible to comprehend. Its staggering mile-deep, 277-mile expanse reveals layer upon layer of colourful rock that constantly changes in texture, colour and shadow as the sun moves across the landscape. (Yes, I Googled part of that description because it was so breathtaking that I genuinely ran out of words!)

Carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, it is easy to see why it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

We visited Grand Canyon West, which is owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe. For lunch I had their flatbread tacos (only managed finishing half) at the restaurant overlooking the canyon. Bloody awesome! What I didn’t expect was to be seated right on the edge with huge picture windows looking directly into the canyon. Even better, it wasn’t crawling with people. Such an unexpected and welcome surprise.

Eagle Point 🦅 was breathtaking, and no photograph could ever capture its true grandeur.

But then we reached Guano Point…

And somehow it was even better.

The views were simply extraordinary. A full 360-degree panorama of the canyon stretching endlessly in every direction, with the Colorado River winding its way through the depths below. I still can’t believe you can basically walk right up to the edge. No barriers. No restrictions. Just pure adrenaline-fuelled views from every angle.

One fellow visitor was determined to find the remains of the car that famously plunged off the canyon rim during the filming of Thelma & Louise. He found it too… or at least what was left of it — a rusty pile of metal far below.

Standing near the edge of such an incredible natural wonder is a feeling I will never forget. It’s impossible to properly describe. The scale, the silence, the beauty and the sheer power of nature all combine into something truly special.

These are the moments that money simply can’t buy.Read more