Travelogue 1

I know I'm a month behind but I am finally feeling caught up. I've balanced the checkbook, done all the mail, cleaned the house, read a few of the magazines, gotten all the photos organized and prints ordered, and settled back into the pace of seventh grade. It's taken a while. So now I get to blog. I'll do it in pieces, like Angela is (she stole my idea!) and hopefully I'll get it all out in the next few days. Here goes:

Fourteen days, 2200 plus miles, the stomach flu, a birthday, my parents, our friend from Howell Susie, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and more Vegas. It was amazing. Exhausting, relaxing, wonderful. I am so fortunate to have been able to travel so much since I moved down here. I really am.

Angela and I headed to Vegas on Friday, October 5th. We'd had three days of parent-teacher conferences at school and were so ready to be done. We hadn't made it out of Yuma when I told Angela I had to go to sleep. I had a headache that wouldn't quit and I knew it was due to lack of sleep. Even though I'd started packing Monday night, I had been busy every night until after 11 and up by 5 most mornings. I was running out of steam.

Sleep I did, instantly and for several hours before a semi almost forced us off the road and we swerved and I woke up. Ang was awesome to keep driving even though we were both a bit shaky (and bruised from our seat belts). Five and a half hours after we'd hit the road we arrived at the Golden Nugget downtown Vegas. It was a beautiful 62 degree night and though Mom was fast asleep (it was after midnight their time) Dad took us to dinner in the hotel and we played some nickel slots. The hotel is lovely even though we didn't get to spend much time there. I'd love to go back when it's warmer as the pool looked really cool, you can take a slide down through a shark tank!

Saturday morning we enjoyed our first of what would be many buffets on this vacation, at the hotel and then headed to the Grand Canyon via a sightseeing drive down the Strip and across the Hoover Dam. About six hours later headed into the Grand Canyon National Park which is a beautiful place, even before we reached the Canyon. It was 48 degrees that evening and while it was a beautiful sight, it was chilly and we walked a bit but headed back to town to eat and catch the IMAX movie which was different. It contained amazing footage of places we'd never be able to see within the Canyon but also interwove stories about people who've called the Canyon home over the years.

Sunday we spent all day in the park. It was 35 degrees outside when we headed in but warmed considerably as the day went on. We attended a Ranger Program about the geology of the Canyon and learned a lot. Do you know how the Canyon was formed? DUDE! Which stands for deposition, uplift, downcutting, and erosion:-) We had lunch at the gorgeous El Tovar Lodge. It's a toss up as to which was more striking, the view or what we ate. Excellent food and a pumpkin creme brulee I'm sure no one will ever top. Then we drove the 28 mile Desert View Drive and saw sunset at the edge of the Canyon. Spectacular.

Monday we headed back to the Canyon to say goodbye. It's really a spiritual experience, hard to describe. It's just so unreal and yet it's right there. It was windy (and as a result, incredibly cold) so we headed out. We stopped at the Hoover Dam this time through and toured in the lovely 87 degree sun before heading on to Vegas.