Road Trip: Headed Home

Though we could easily have claimed a handful of excuses to stay longer in sunny, warm Arizona with loving, fun family... I missed my husband! (And I missed having the kids sleep in a separate bedroom, but that was second.) So Tuesday morning (Day 9 if you're counting) we once again hit the road. Destination: Las Vegas. Planned pit stop: Hoover Dam.

Well, we did stop here, just above the dam, in a free parking lot with a free bathroom, and a pretty decent view of the whole works. But I decided it was not worth it to pay $10 down the hill for official dam tourist parking and take the dam tour. Traffic moved at literally 5 mph over the dam, so I easily snapped this pic of the super-high bridge under construction there.

Then we were off and running to the Mandalay Bay: Shark Reef Aquarium!

I'd let the boys check out the website before we left Mesa and they were brimming with anticipation to see not only the various sharks, but also the Golden Crocodile, Asian water monitor, Green Sea Turtle, Amazonian fish, stingrays, and the Giant Pacific Octopus... Well, it is a very cool set-up, with very informative (and fun for kids to push the buttons) handsets, but just like at a zoo not all the sea creatures show themselves readily. We did see most everything, but photo-lighting was poor so this is what you get:

I drove down the strip before heading back on the freeway to my dear friend Michele's house in North LV so that the boys could see all the cool hotel structures. (You know, Luxor's Pyramid, the mini-Eiffel Tower in front of the Paris Hotel, the pirate ship at Treasure Island, etc.) At Michele's, we ate pizza and I let the kids get sucked into some Disney show on the big screen TV while I caught up with my old bestest friend. I managed to get the kids tucked in at a decent time, but stayed up a bit too late chatting and watching the episodes of Glee I'd missed while traveling.

The next morning (Day 10) we drove back to Uncle Len's house, with our major pit stop in St. George, Utah. What a beautiful desert city! We had our wonderful packed lunch at a table in the town square next to the historic tabernacle building and a fabulous faux-river fountain the boys played in after eating.

Then we went to see the St. George Temple and Visitor's Center.

Once again, they just loved exploring all the displays inside and seeing the scriptural paintings, etc. Isaac just might be able to recite you more stats about the history of St. George than the Grand Canyon. And of course they needed to go actually touch the temple...

At Len's that night, he made us dinner and even cake! [Let me pause to give some public thanks: Thank you Sharee! Thank you Michele! and Thank you Len! You were each so very welcoming and hospitable and sharing. I appreciate it so much & want you to know what a huge help you each were to me on my journey.]

We were up and out of there relatively quickly in the morning and on our way to see Daddy!! Ate lunch in Twin Falls but hardly stopped; I was motivated by the end in sight. We got home by 4:30 Thursday and had all the bags unpacked and laundry sorted before Mark made it in the door... The kids happily played outside in the fallen leaves or inside with all their left-behind toys until the great reunion. There is, in the end, no place like home.