After almost a month in sunny California, it was time to begin our long journey home. We were east bound…well, northeast to be precise, but it was east nonetheless, and it marked the beginning of our trip home! From San Diego, we ventured through the Mojave Desert and on into Las Vegas! Ken had visited Vegas once before on a family trip long ago, but it was the first time for the rest of us and we were curious and excited! What surprised me most was that it really was in the middle of the desert. I knew this, but for some reason, I didn’t expect it to be so hot & dry! Duh…it’s in the desert!!! Our RV resort was beautiful and just a couple miles from the strip. We couldn’t wait to settle in and head out to see the city and it’s notorious lights, so we didn’t waste much time.
In deciding what to do for our Vegas experience while looking through all the brochures & flyers, we realized there weren’t very many kid-friendly attractions we were interested in…so the kids decided they wanted to do a Vegas buffet!!! We got huge laughs out of reading articles on actual STRATEGIES to get the most out of your buffet experience. It was so funny!! I mean, this is serious, down to the timing of your meal so that if you are lucky enough, you go at the tail end of one meal, only to be able to stay long enough to enjoy an entire new menu for the next meal…oh, & be sure not to drink bubbly drinks because they can make you feel falsely full! It was just too much!! While we did NOT take their advice on how to eat the most food as possible, we DID take the ratings of the buffets seriously. We wanted the food to be delicious & not feel like we were cattle being moved thru a Piccadilly cafeteria line. We ended up choosing The Buffet at Aria Hotel. It didn’t disappoint! We enjoyed every bite of our food & we left without feeling overly stuffed…ahhhhhh!!!
After our yummy meal, we walked thru The Crystal Shops & over to the Bellagio to end our evening with the fountain show. It was perfect and satisfied our curiosity for the city. After that evening, we steered clear of the strip and concentrated on enjoying our time by the pool & exploring the surrounding areas…..
A tour of Hoover Dam was so cool. We learned SO much…just had no idea that it supplied power all the way to Los Angeles. The power of water….whoa!!
Lake Mead was such a fun adventure. The kids finally got to kayak again (hate to say that Myrtle Beach was the last time!) & we explored a completely different terrain than we’d ever experienced before.
From Nevada, we headed north into Utah! Our original plan for this adventure was to conquer the MIGHTY FIVE…Utah’s 5 big national parks…but the new plan on the MUCH shorter version of Part 2’s adventure allowed us to explore only one of those…Zion National Park. It did not let us down!
We had only one day to get it done and we rocked it! Hiking over 5 miles of trails, we had a blast and left the park feeling accomplished. One of the craziest things we saw were several climbers on the sides of the sheer cliffs, hundreds of feet off the ground. We’ve seen this numerous times in movies, but to see it in reality, just astonishing…& yes, absolutely crazy!
Around this time, it started to feel like time was flying by. Well, that’s because it was! Racing from one adventure to the next, we knew it was time to dig deep for the energy to keep going…and thankfully, it’s exhausting days like our day in Zion that gave us that extra push to keep going strong until we finished. With about 3 weeks left of the trip, we were constantly praying for that little boost…because there was still much to see as we made our way back across America!
Special note…This blog post is in loving memory of Ken’s dad, Lance. While we were in Vegas, he passed away. “Granddad” was always up for a new adventure. He was a strong supporter of Ken’s decision to take us on this trip and loved hearing all about our adventures as we updated him along the way. He was able to spend a week with us in South Dakota and we will cherish those memories. Dad, we love and miss you more than words!
Ring Tales...our great RV adventure! 