The storm that they promised didn't amount to much other than wet, sleety snow all night and cold winds which made it miserable so we packed our bags and headed back towards Vegas intending to stop on the way because of the Nascar race that is on over the weekend. We stopped off at a place called Williams for some lunch as we didn’t 
set off very early. Claire was back to wearing two coats again and I had long trousers and my jacket on. The further we travelled the better the weather became but there was still some snow in Williams. It’s an old fashioned looking town on Route 66 where we found a little place to have lunch. They had half Chinese food and half American so I tried the Chinese which was good and fresh cooked. Again, Claire didn’t really enjoy her burger, but I did warn her.
The rim of the Canyon is about a mile high and that’s why the weather is colder than at sea level. Also the air is a lot thinner there and I could notice it, especially when walking up stairs or slopes. I woke up both nights with my mouth completely dry as I must have been breathing through it to get more air in without liking my lips or swallowing. By the time we were only ½ mile high the snow had gone and the weather got better all the way. The Hoover Dam was much easier going coming back and we only had to stop once. 
Claire had noticed a Hotel on the Vegas side of the dam on the way there so we stopped to check the prices out. It’s called the Hotel Hacienda and Casino and they must adjust their prices to get people to stop here rather than driving the 30 miles to Vegas. We are paying $25 a night for 2 Queen Beds which is the cheapest that we have found on out whole trip. You have to pay extra for the Internet but meals are also cheap so we have booked in for one night if not two.
They even give you 2x $5 vouchers to play Black Jack so I may even get a proper game. They have one table, which seems full all the time for $2 minimum. I don’t know why they don’t let people play what limit they want because there was nobody playing the $5 or $10 tables. We had a drink at the bar and they are only charging $3.25 for a beer so it’s cheaper all around. We have a very large 
room with some views over the lake. If we stay and extra night we might try the helicopter ride over the dam and lake at $29 as Claire has never been in one before. At least it’s warm here again so I can get back into my shorts and short sleeved shirts and Claire can take one of her coats off.
Hopefully we will get a few more photos tomorrow and have a little more to say; it’s always difficult on a travelling day. If it had been better weather we would have driven around the Canyon to the North side where all the other main natural attractions are but its no fun in the weather that we had there when we left. We were very lucky this time to have clear skies for our photos yesterday as they would hav
e been rubbish today. In retrospect, maybe we should travelled the other way around the world and came her in November and then gone to Bali on the way back so we would have had warmer weather here and had a suntan for our return home. We are both getting a little home sick now and have been talking about returning a little earlier but we will see how things pan out over the next couple of days. If anyone has any suggestions we would be grateful.
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