Vacation - Part V

After leaving the Grand Canyon we still had a pretty long day of driving ahead of us - about 6 hours to Las Vegas. Most of the time we were on Route 66 which isn't really all that eventful in and of itself but Marty had recently read The Grapes of Wrath and it is one of my favorite books so it was fun to try to remember cities and places that were talked about in the book as the Joad family made the trek to California along the same route.

After many hours of driving through the Mojave Desert we were ready to stop for dinner. We looked and looked all over Kingman for a decent restaurant. Marty had his GPS and we plugged in several Italian restaurants. The first one we drove to looked like it had been closed since 1981. The next one, Vito's, was closed because it was Sunday but it also looked like it had been "closed" since the early 80's. The only sign it had other than the name of the place was a big banner that said "we proudly serve Pepsi" We never go to fast food but had to make an exception. McDonalds here we come. Josie has never had fast food before and after her french fries she was done. No cheeseburger for her. After Marty and I ate we both felt sick. No more fast food for any of us. Bleeck!!

Before we left lovely Kingman, AZ, Marty was pulled over for doing 10 miles over the speed limit. The police officers first question was "Are you from Kingman?" Uh, NO!! Thankfully we were just given a warning and sent on our way. Marty's comment "he should've given me a ticket for not going fast enough to get out of this hole."

Marty's mug shot:

And Josie saying "no-no Daddy"

Before driving into Las Vegas we crossed Hoover Dam at night. It really was pretty with all the lights, etc. Even if it does look a little like a Space Port.

Josie is becoming quite the photographer. She directs us where to stand, where to put our hands - "hold hands mommy and daddy" and then aims and shoots.

We got into Las Vegas pretty late but the next day we walked all over the strip. Not really the best place to be with a three year old and a pregnant belly but we weren't really there for the whole scene. Neither of us drink or gamble but it was fun to see. I don't think I ever have to go back but am thankful to have seen it at least once.

And our little photographer strikes again.

We stayed a little outside of the main drag at the Stratosphere. It looked a lot like the Space Needle only higher. The view from the top (over 100 floors up)was amazing.

Josie practicing jumping. She must've done this for a good 30 minutes. I think she was suffering from too much time in the car and not enough running around crazy time.

Our final leg was another 6+ hour drive to San Diego. We returned our car and spent 4 nights right downtown and enjoyed walking everywhere after all of the long car trips. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera charger and our battery died.

One last road trip photo.. Josie conked out.
Overall a great family road trip!!