Today is the last real day of the vacation.  Tomorrow we drive back to the Vegas airport and surrender the Queen Mary Express.  It will be a long, tiring day.  We get back to Indy around midnight.

We left the Best Western in Page, AZ this morning after breakfast.  Last night we ate at the Dam Bar in the Dam Plaza so today we had to see the Dam.  This is better known as the Glen Canyon Dam and holds back the mighty Colorado River.  I included a picture of the concrete monster below.  I also included a picture of a job that would scare the crap out of me.  It made me nervous just zooming the lens to take their picture.

There were no more scenery pictures today.  The area we drove in has been covered 3 times already in the last week.  If you’re not convince that this is a magnificent part of the country by now, there’s nothing more I could include.

The QME made it to the hotel in Mesquite, NV early in the afternoon.  We were lucky in that the hotel staff let us check in well before their posted check-in time.  I like Holiday Inn Express facilities.  I like knowing what we are getting into before we get there.  The visitor information guy at Winslow told us the story of the Harvey Houses which were really the first “chain” motels in the US.  They were based on the same principal as Holiday Inn – “the best surprise is no surprise”.  I need to research the Harvey House hotel line.

I took one final picture of the QME with all of the cargo doors open, ready for loading our luggage and all the additional junk —- I mean collectables that we acquired during this trip.  I took a guess at how many hat pins I had purchased.  I said 8 or 9.  I was half right (typical).  There are a total of 17 pins in the bag.  We were here a total of 9 days.  We moved around but I never really felt rushed.  It was one of the best vacations we’ve shared.  Problem is that now I have the same old last day blues that I’ve tried to describe before.  I don’t want to go home but am anxious to get there.  I’m more addicted now than I ever was before to the great western part of the US.  The return visit is already in the planning stages so for now I will have to be satisfied knowing that it won’t be long until we’re out here again.

Thanks for sharing another chapter in the adventure.  Henry is once again done rambling for now.

The Glen Canyon Dam is a popular stop when in Page, AZ.

See the discolored area on the rock wall just to the right of the dam? (Center of picture)

A zoomed in view of the discolored area in the previous picture. I thought my job was tough.

The Queen Mary Express with all of the cargo doors open, ready for the final loading.

It really is an addiction. No way these will all fit on the map at home.