Working Our Way East

Ok, so the chief blogger of the Gray family has been slacking off over the last couple of days. Here’s a quick update since our last post for Saturday.

On Sunday, we had another wonderfully lazy day in Vegas. Everyone slept late, munched on Krispy Kremes for breakfast, then headed down to the pool late morning. We had a great day at the pool enjoying the lazy river, wave pool, and some of the other pools before heading back to the room late afternoon. Everyone was a little red, but luckily none of our clan got completely roasted. After showers and some relaxation in the room, we headed out to the Strip and made our way down to the Venetian where we grabbed dinner at one of the restaurants in the mall there. The Venetian has an indoor canal with gondola rides – we had a great view of the canal from our table at dinner. After dinner, we caught the double decker bus back down the strip to our hotel. The lights in Vegas are really amazing at night. The bus was a great opportunity to take them in (in the comfort of air conditioning).

On Monday, we tried to drag ourselves out of bed early, gather our stuff, and say goodbye to the comfort of the Mandalay Bay. It wasn’t easy, but we got everything back in the van and were on the road by 9am or so. From Vegas, we made the short drive to Hoover Dam. We didn’t spend much time there, but made lots of “Dam” jokes – i.e. the Dam tourists, the Dam visitor center, the Dam parking lot. Humor that an 8 and 10 year old seem to love. After our quick trip over the Hoover Dam, we worked our way on to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

As you drive north from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, you’re driving through a fairly flat landscape with a number of smaller trees. I couldn’t imagine being the first explorer to be working their way across the area, then stumble upon the Grand Canyon. It really seems to appear out of no where. We made it to the Grand Canyon around mid-afternoon. The weather was great, but the crowds of people were crazy. The Grand Canyon is nice, and yes, it is very big, but after you’ve seen the Tetons, it’s kind of ho-hum. I’m glad we made the side trip to check it out, but it isn’t one of my favorite parks.

After spending a couple of hours at the Grand Canyon, we headed back south to Flagstaff and settled into a Hampton Inn for the night.

On Tuesday, we hit the road and a decent hour and worked our way towards Albuquerque. Mid-morning we made a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park and checked out the petrified forest, painted desert, and the petroglyphs preserved at the park. After an hour or so in the park (and another junior ranger badge) we headed on east. We made a stop along the way and grabbed some lunch at a Sonic that sits on the original Route 66. We hit Albuquerque late afternoon, made a stop for gas and drinks, then pushed on to Roswell, NM. We fast discovered that there is a whole lot of nothing for the 2+ hour drive down to Roswell. We rolled into Roswell shortly before 9pm, grabbed some dinner at Pizza Hut, then settled into a great Hampton Inn for the night.

We slept late again this morning, and shortly we’re headed out to check out the alien museum in Roswell, then on to Carlsbad Caverns, and we’ll start working our way into Texas later today.

Everyone is still in great spirits, though we are looking forward to getting home this weekend.

Finally got a few more pics uploaded:
http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay23

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay25

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay26

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay27