Day7/8

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we headed to the Hoover Dam. It was pretty cool. Lila was super excited because she recognized it from Transformers. It was huge! We got to see some Rams grazing below the dam which was an unexpected surprise. I tried to get some pics, but i am not sure how good they are, as it was a long way to the bottom.

We spent the last 2 nights in Las Vegas and we had a blast. It isn't necessarily the most family oriented place around, but we made it work. We all had a blast. We stayed at Excalibur and Lila loved staying in a castle. It was a very nice resort. When we first walked in and through the casino, Lila was like, " Wow, I see lots of games to play!" she was disappointed when she found out they were adult games. Luckily, there was a huge arcade downstairs so she did get to play some games.

We drove into Vegas in the dark and you could see the strip from miles away. You came around the mountain and then all of a sudden there were lights for as far as you could see and in the middle was the strip. I could not believe how bright all the lights were. The traffic was crazy, of course and when I first walked into the casino of the hotel, the lights and activity left me feeling lightly overstimulated and disoriented.

We fit as much as possible into our day and a half, including so much food that I barely fit into my pants. Someone should have warned me about all you can eat all day buffets! WHOA! It was delicious, though. After breakfast yesterday, we went to see the Bodies Exhibit, Lila has been wanting to see for a while, now. It was very interesting and didn't even faze that kid of mine. After that, we spent some time exploring the Strip. I was honestly glad I was traveling with a girl and a baby boy as opposed to the other way around. We'll just say that prostitution is alive and well in Vegas. The escort services were passing out "business cards" complete with pictures of naked women with stars over their girlie parts. Luckily, Lila didn't seem overly interested other than, "gosh mom, more naked women, really?" I have a feeling a little boy might have paid more attention. We did make sure to see the fountains at Bellagio which were stunning. Both of the kids loved them.

Now, we're back on the road headed to San Francisco. We're over half way to our destination. We will probably spend two nights and then up 101 to the Redwood Forest and Oregon Coast.

To all of our family and friends we miss and love you.

Day 6/7

It's the morning of Day 7 and we're headed to Vegas. Yesterday, we went to the Grand Canyon and I was awestruck!!! It was possibly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was overwhelming. We walked a portion of the canyon rim and around every turn was another beautiful view. I think I was most surprised by how huge it was. I expected it to be big, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be that huge. It was miles and miles of beauty. There was snow all over the place. The kids had fun playing in the snow that was all around the park. Heck, who am I kidding? I had a blast playing in it, too. The weather was beautiful. We were comfortable in just sweatshirts all day until the sun started setting and then the temperature dropped fast. It was 17 degrees when we woke up this morning, but was back up to 45 by 9 am.

Day 5

It's officially near the end of Day 5 of our travel. There wasn't much to report yesterday except for a very long drive across western Texas and a fantastic dinner at State Line BBQ in El Paso. It was phenomenal. We continued to drive for several more hours after dinner all the way through New Mexico and ending up in Willcox, AZ. It was a very long drive with the highlight being going through a border control checkpoint where we got asked if we were American citizens and were all related. I guess they decided we weren't smuggling any illegal aliens as they didn't make us open up the haul trailer.

Last night, we realized that we were only about an hour from Tombstone so we decided to put off driving and make a quick stop which ended up being an almost all day stop. I am so glad we decided to make the detour as it ended up being a blast for both us and the kids. We got to see a gunfight, take a stage coach ride and learn more about the way brothels and ladies of the night operated than I ever needed to know. Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was a tour of the Bird Cage Theater. It is one of e few buildings to survive both of the major Tombstone fires and is completely original. When it was closed down, they literally just boarded it up with everything still inside, so when they reopened it as a museum, everything is still original, including bullet holes from shootouts. The last show posters are still on the wall. It was like walking back 130 years in time. They haven't done any restorations so it is pretty much like it was left, right down to the whiskey barrels in the basement. It was a combination theater, casino and brothel. Talk about a multi-purpose facility. We even got to see Wyatt Earp's house, but not Virgil's since some hoodlum kids burned it down while playing with matches on the lot in 1998. I can't even begin to describe how excited I was about going to Tombstone. I was like a kid in a candy store. The people that live and work there even dress up in old western garb. It was well worth the lost time on our trip.

Now, we are on our way to Phoenix for the night. Our original goal was to make it to Flagstaff, but we've decided to make it an early night and then on to the Grand Canyon in the morning. We are thinking about staying at a lodge in the park overlooking the canyon, but haven't completely made up our mind.

To our family and friends, we love and miss you guys.

Random thoughts

As we drive across the country with our kids in the back seat and a small trailer of our most important possessions being pulled behind us, I can't help but think how few people have really had an opportunity to see this great country of ours through the window of a car and on foot. So many times, we hop on a plane to hit the big tourist destinations and miss the best parts of the country, those small places in between that you don't see on the travel channel. What an experience it is for us to be able to do this as a family. Not only to we get to explore our country from Georgia to Washington, but we get to do it as family, spending over two weeks together. I know for some people two weeks in a car with two little ones would seem like a special kind of torture, but what an adventure of a lifetime. It's such a great thing to have nowhere in particular to go and to pick the next destination and route as we go. Like this morning, we knew we wanted to eventually make our way to the Grand Canyon, but didn't decide until we hit the road to stay on a southern route through El Paso or head up toward Albuquerque. We chose El Paso and the drive down the interstate is beautiful. Right now, we are surrounded by beautiful rocky hills and scrub brush and beautiful cloudless sky for as far as the eye can see. There isn't an exit or building in sight, nothing to disturb the natural beauty of this place. Every once in a while, we come up a hill and it looks like the world is going to drop off when we reach the top, but when you get there the view opens up to even more beauty.

I only hope that our lives continue to give us the opportunity to share this country with our children. I can't imagine raising children in a city of concrete and metal and them never experiencing all the natural wonders of this country. For now, I get to thank God and the U.S. Army for this fantastic opportunity for our family. I pray that I can instill a sense of adventure and a desire to explore the world around them in my children. There is so much out there that can't be found in a video game or behind a computer screen, if you are willing to go out and find it.