day 14 and 15: washington, las vegas, williams.

On Monday, David and the big kids made one more trip into Zion, and I was torn. I loved the park and wanted to explore it a little more, but I knew that Gabe and Noah did not. So I volunteered to spend the morning at the pool with them, and ended up being perfectly happy stretched out with my book.

David said that he and Judah and Amie got on the shuttle, exchanged looks, and realized that they had zero energy for hiking. And for David to say he has zero energy for hiking, you know it’s desperate! So they found a couple of short trails then joined back us at home.

We spent the rest of our day and a half in Washington playing a family pinball tournament, reading, hanging out at the pool, going to St. George for Peruvian food, and getting one of the van tires patched for our return trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Las Vegas

Neither David or I have had a huge desire to see Las Vegas, but we were so close that we figured, Why not?

So we said good-bye to our condo and to Utah late Tuesday morning, and drove to Vegas, which was only an hour out of our way en route to the Grand Canyon. It was the furthest point west of our whole trip, and when we officially crossed over into Pacific Time.

 

 

We arrived at lunch time, and it was pretty much exactly what you’d expect.

I will say that it’s an impressive view, driving up on that city glittering in the desert. But strange with almost no traffic in the middle of the day.

 

 

 

We found green smoothies and donuts for lunch, and since the donut shop was about to close for the day, they offered us as many as we wanted for 10 bucks. No, we did not eat all of these. But we sure tried!

 

 

Judah’s favorite was the butterbeer donut. Gabe’s was a birthday cake donut with an entire Oreo inside!

 

 

We took a walk through the downtown plaza, and the kids were wide-eyed with flashing neon lights and people ziplining over our heads. Thankfully things were pretty tame during the day. I didn’t expect to see so many homeless people. Gabe was disappointed that he wasn’t allowed in any of the “arcades” we saw.

The best part of our Vegas stop was a very skilled illusionist who treated the kids to several tricks. Amie can now say that she’s levitated!

 

 

 

Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam was on our way out of Vegas, so we stopped there too. Sapphire-blue Lake Mead is incredibly beautiful.

We drove up the winding road past the memorial bridge to the parking garage, and the boys and I hung out on the sidewalk in the shade while David and Amie walked to the look-out point to take a couple of photos.

 

 

 

 

Williams, Arizona

We pulled up in Williams in time to behold a glorious desert sunset. It’s 60 miles from the Grand Canyon, and the home of the Grand Canyon Railway depot, from which we would depart in the morning. We checked into our hotel, then drove around the corner into the little downtown area for dinner.

This was our grand victory; we made it! We celebrated with cheeseburgers at a sit-down restaurant.