Road Trip, part I

Not much of note happened during the first half of the trip - NC, TN, AR, and OK all look pretty much the same each time one drives through them (with NC and TN being far more pleasant and interesting, imho). When e got to NM, however, we were in for some interesting sights. As we were driving through the desert east of Albuquerque, we could see a massive storm ahead - several miles wide, easily. We stopped and took a few cool pictures of the sky.



The next day we were on through Arizona and up to Las Vegas. Arizona's rock formations, as always, amaze me.


Before we reached Vegas, we drove over the Hoover Dam. Now, I've always heard of it, of course, and love the song by Sugar, but didn't really know what to expect when we got there. I was def. selling the thing short. And kudos to whoever it was that came up with the plan to make a feat of engineering a tourist attraction! I seriously want to go back when we have more time and spend a few hours looking at the displays and wandering around. (Note to self - do not try to drive a massive RV down the windy mountain road surrounding the dam, like someone we were stuck behind for a half hour.)




Mitch was Vegas earlier this summer, but neither Ethan nor I had been before, so we stopped off to take in the spectacle for a day. Like all good, non-corrupting parents, we let Ethan choose which casino hotel to stay at. We offered him a choice between the Luxor and the Excalibur (we were just there for a night, not looking for a place you'd want to stay for ages and ages). Ethan, being my child chose to stay in a castle over a pyramid, so the Excalibur it was. (I was secretly pleased, too, as Carrot Top is in residence at the Luxor, and the idea of encountering him and his scary torso is about enough to give me nightmares.)




I loved the water "show" at the Bellagio, sadly, though, we did not see George, Brad, or any of the other Oceans 11-13 people while we were there. We stayed out of Pacino's wonky casino as well. I think Ethan's faavorite thing was our visit to M&Ms World, where he could mix his own color combo of M&Ms. (He went for purple, hot pink, blue, and mixed colors, both regular and Mini M&M size, in plain and dark chocolate.)




After one night in Vegas, we were on to CA...