Long time, No Update

I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated.  One thing's for sure, we've been busy.  This post will talk about Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, but since then we've also been to Antelope Canyon, Kanab, UT (home of Best Friend's Animal Sanctuary and near Zion National Park), and Moab, UT.  

Today we arrived in Grand Junction, CO, which is happy in that we have hit civilization again, but sad in that Pete heads home tomorrow very early.  We are all very very sad to see him go.  I can't believe it's been three weeks since he's joined us on the road!  The good news is that we spend the next week basically buzzing across the country so that each day brings us a little bit closer to being back home and back together again.

Back focusing on good things: Las Vegas.  Whew.  I can safely say that we are NOT Vegas people.  

I think we were equally captivated by the Bakersfield oil field.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo and, after a small parking snafu, found the resort itself pretty nice.  I had the opportunity to see a friend from HS who happens to work there, and that was lovely.  We took a tram over to the Belliago fountain, and that was pretty cool.

Paris, Las Vegas.  AKA the Eiffel Tower that Gru stole.

It was basically a rest day - we got up in the morning and hit the pool, the lazy river, and the wave pool.

We made the mistake of heading over to Circus Circus in the afternoon.  Although I had heard good things about the circus acts in the lobby (and Lea and I saw two of them, and they were quite good), let's just say that the hotel is showing its age.  I think the last time it was vacuumed was some time during the Carter administration.  Jax had a good time at the arcade though.  And we did walk through the MGM Grand, which was pretty amazing.

Candy dress, anyone?

We'll just chalk that up to a lesson learned.  We had a very yummy dinner back at the Monte Carlo and we all were ready to hit the road bright and early the next day.

We had an easy drive to the Grand Canyon and we got there and got set up in time to take a quick bike ride along the rim.  Jax especially had been looking forward to bicycling for a while, so it was a great way to see along the edge of the canyon.  I had been before, so it was super cool to hear all three of them go "woah!" as we biked over a small hill and the canyon came into view.

We went back to the canyon to see the rim at dusk, 

and then went back again the next morning to hike down a little bit into the canyon along the Bright Angel Trail.  About a hundred years ago my mom and I hiked about halfway down that trail, and it really helps to give a good sense of how massive the canyon is.  We didn't go down very far - we've learned that there's a lot more kvetching from the children on the way back up, not surprisingly.  But it was about an hour's hike round trip.

Burros!

It doesn't feel nearly as steep going down as it does going up.

Look closely - those little colored dots in the middle of that doorway are Lea, Pete and Jax

We hiked down to the ben ^ d in the trail right where the carrot is

And that was pretty much it for the Grand Canyon.  We really didn't have very much time there at all.  On one hand, I think that was ok, because we weren't going to hike down and the rim hikes aren't very exciting (beautiful, but the kids tire of that pretty quickly).  On the other hand, it did feel kind of rushed for such an iconic park.  Oh well.  Everyone can say that they've seen it, and perhaps someday they'll go back.

Our next stay was Kanab, UT, but en route we stopped and did a tour of Antelope Canyon.  That will get its own post, largely because of the huge number of pictures.  If I have time I'll get those up later today.  If not, tomorrow.  We have a lot of stop and stay stops happening this next week, but nothing too exciting.  It'll be a good opportunity to catch up.  Until then, send good vibes for Pete's safe journey home, and our travels onward.