Catching Up...

I have had poor cell/Internet service the last couple of days, so blogging has not worked.  I will try to catch up today.

We left Amarillo early on Tuesday morning for one more long drive to the Grand Canyon.  On our way out of town we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch.  A local "art collector" buried 10 Cadillacs nose down in the middle of a desert farm field.  They have been used in many t.v.commercials and movies over the years.  You are welcome to spray paint them if you want, but we forgot to pack our spray paint!

  We passed through New Mexico, where we encountered our first rain of the trip.  It came in quick downpours that would last a minute or two.  New Mexico was hot and dry, just what you would expect.

On into Arizona.  We stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere and Mark noticed a very nice bicycle pared out front, and said that doesn't really fit in around here.  It was covered in med and packed with supplies.  Inside was the rider, who was in the final legs of his BIKE trip from Canada to the Mexico border! He was on day 23.  Now that is something to be amazed by. I only wish we would have taken a picture of him!  

We arrived at the Grand Canyon in the early evening.  After dinner we decided to go to the Canyon to catch the sunset.  It was fantastic!  It was fun to see the kids reaction to that first glimpse! 

Ted's quote of the Canyon was, "There's not much English people here".  We all laughed at that one.  We "Americans" were definitely the minority there.

We hiked the paths until just after dark and on our way back to the car, we came across a herd of mule deer just steps from the path.  They stood there eating, just letting everyone take their picture.  I guess they are used to people!

The morning of the fourth of July, we left for Nevada.  It was only a 4.5 hour drive, easy compared to what the previous days had been.  We stopped at the Hoover Dam, and then pushed on to Las Vegas.

  We checked in to the Stratosphere, with a room on the top floor.  The kids loved it!  Then it was off the the strip to show the kids Sin City!  They had huge eyes and heads facing backwards often!  The hit for them was all of the many candy stores selling every kind of candy that anyone could imagine.
The strip was very busy, I would assume because of the holiday.  We limped them back to the hotel, way too late and they all passed out.  We spent the morning at the pool which was on the rooftop, so they thought that was pretty cool.

We had to stop at Gold and Silver Pawn where the show "Pawn Stars" is filmed, just for a picture.  I sat in the van in total disbelief that there were over 50 people in line outside in 90 degree heat WAITING to get in the store!  They actually have misters on the top of the building to keep the "waiters" cooled off.

After a quick stop at Target for a few essentials, off to California we go....