We woke up in the Grand Canyon, AZ, and went to bed in Monument Valley, Utah… that’s a pretty perfect Out West day!

In order to leave the Grand Canyon, we have to go back through the national Park.

We have discovered our problem with the Grand Canyon. We are North Rim people, but we visited the South Rim. The Grand Canyon gets 6.5 million people each year, and 6 million of those visit the South Rim. The North Rim is much less developed, and commercialized. You have to really want to see the North Rim. After the beauty and peacefulness of Zion and Bryce Canyon, we probably should have gone to the North Rim. Oh well, live and learn. Boys can mark Grand Canyon off their bucket list 😊

We had no where to be until Tuesday morning so we slept in, had breakfast and started making our way to Monument Valley. The WiFi in the Southwest is spotty at best, so we’ve learned to do anything online whenever you have WiFi. So we plotted a few stops on our way and off we went!

Talk about open spaces and long roads… they just go on and on and on!

Our first stop was in Tuba City, Arizona. Tuba City was home to some of the Navajo code talkers during World War II. These young men signed up and provided an unbreakable code based on the Navajo language. The amazing part was that they signed up to fight for a country that up until this point had done nothing but destroy their heritage, with actions like the Long Walk, internment at Fort Sumner, Mandatory Navajo Boarding Schools and federal programs that prevented anything beneficial to the Navajo. Tuba City is also home to one of the original Trading Posts on the reservation. We bought some Navajo spun-wool, Mike found a book on The Code Talkers, and we found an ornament for our travel tree – a hand carved wooden flying pig 🐖❤️

We spent some time in the Explore Najavo Museum. The Museum included a film on the beginnings of the Navajo culture, that bore a striking resemblance to the creation story in the Bible, including Noah and the flood.

The great part about being the only people in a museum is that you get some very personal touches from the guides. One young man spent time teaching us to speak Navajo:

Mother – Shima

Father – ShizheeOlder brother -shanii

Younger brother – shitsili (of course this name led to lots of giggles!)

We got to see real life Hogans – the homes of the Navajo Indians. The Boys thought it was particularly cool that the front door always faces east to get the first light of day.We also learned about the government/judicial system of the Navajo Nation.We left the museum and found the local grocery, Bashas- like a Food Lion out here – and restocked our cooler and snacks. This little $16 cooler has saved us hundreds in breakfasts, lunches and snacks! Speaking of lunch, Mama’s Restaurant on US Highway 89 is now open for lunch 😉The drive was so beautiful but again so different as you pass through different areasand these two enjoyed switching to the front seat some 😉

Well there’s something you don’t see everyday, a hitching post We said goodbye to Arizona and hello to Utah

We made it to our hotel for the evening, Goulding’s lodge. The Gouldings were a couple who lived in Monument Valley, Utah. They initially opened up rooms in their home for borders, which led to a hotel, which led to the lodge today. During the Great Depression as the Navajo nation was hard-hit, the Gouldings traveled to Hollywood with their last $60 and photographs of Monument Valley. They convinced movie producers to come to Monument Valley to shoot movies, and that began the Hollywood phase in Monument Valley. Hollywood and Monument Valley aren’t limited to John Wayne and Westerns – National Lampoon’s Vacation and Forest Gump’s loooooonnnnnggggg run 🏃 were filmed in Monument Valley thanks to the Goulding’s.

It’s easy to see why you would use this for a backdrop of a movie, especially with these two ❤️The boys spent some time swimming and then we had dinner at the Lodge Restaurant.Mike and I tried some traditional dishes, beef stew and green chili stew with Navajo Fry Bread The boys stuck with traditional dinners of cheeseburgers and corn dog bites 🤪We were too late to catch the showing of A John Wayne movie at the theater but it was a great day anyway.

Tomorrow we have a bright and early tour of monument Valley with a Navajo guide. I’m also going to try to get up for the sunrise because when am I going to be in Monument Valley again? ☀️

Well, it had to happen sometime. Everything has been awesome on this, and honestly all of our vacations. But today we had a crummy tour! Crummy and expensive which is soooo much worse.

We got started early today – we needed to be on the road by 8am so we would be at the Grand Canyon by 11:30 for our Pink Jeep Grand Canyon Tour. We left fine, and drove along a beautiful, although sometimes treacherous drive across Arizona and Navajo Nation. Even spotting another Mountain Monogram in Page, Arizona.

We drove through the Grand Canyon National Park and made on quick stop at the Watchtower Overlook before heading to the Holiday Inn Express to meet our tour. We made it at 11:20 – checked in, dropped bags and cooler, grabbed our backpacks and water bottles and met our guide, right on time 😀

The tour started off fine. We were with a family from Kansas who were driving to California to surprise their kids with trip to Disneyland. Our Guide, Brad, was very nice and explained lots of things as we drove. Nothing went wrong on the tour, but there was nothing out of the ordinary either. My rule for any tour we take is “did you show us something we couldn’t have done on our own?” The answer for today was a resounding NO! Ugh!!! I hate not getting my money’s worth 😡 basically we paid for someone to make conversation with us, take our photos and drive us to 3 overlooks that we could go to ourselves 🤦🏻‍♀️😡🤷🏻‍♀️ lesson learned! At least we got some good pictures 🤪

BUT the Grand Canyon was really amazing! The colors and levels for all the different kinds of soil were unreal. It was fun to see the boys’ reactions

We stopped at “duck on a rock” overlook … Because it looks like a duck sitting on a rock.Can you see it?

And made some great family pictures… coming to a Christmas Card near you soon 😉We also had a little fun pretending to “fall”Such Hams 🤣😂🤣

We left this overlook and Brad showed us the pine trees that grow here. When you “smell” the bark it smells like vanilla/orange creamsicle! And as the tree ages, it looses its’ bark and the trunk turns orange. The more orange the trunk, the older the tree. Back in the Jeep and off we go to Watchtower (where we stopped coming in… for free 🤦🏻‍♀️). some of us were starting to get sleepy No one knows why the Indians who lived here built these towers but clearly they were worried about someone or something. We went inside the replica built in 1939.

Boys loved seeing the petroglyphs – like hieroglyphics but prehistoric The views from the Watchtower were really beautiful. And it wasn’t as crowded as some of the other spots.

On the drive to the next overlook, we saw some elk. (Again, same elk that we passed on our way to meet the tour… for free 😤) They were pretty cute but apparently we were the only country people in the park today, because people were amazed that there were elk and deer roaming around!?! Seriously, I have deer come on my front porch to eat my flowers. Ugh! 🙄 It finally got to be a joke. We were giggling to the point of tears from Mike’s yankee impersonation of “oh my gawd, it’s a de-ah!” 🤣🤣🤣Waiting in line because “oh my Gawd, it’s a de-ah!” 🤣🤣🤣

But again, focusing on the Positive: I am loving these black and white photos! Who knew you could do so much with an iPhone and the photo edit app.

We left Watchtower and went to another overlook. We thought we were getting out again, but instead, Brad just wanted us to stop and look out over the Canyon. Think of that thing we most want to do and then make a promise to ourselves to make it happen. 🤢 Seriously? It took all I had not to say, what I most want to do is get my money back for this tour. Can you make that happen, Brad? 😤🤪😡🤪😤

Thanks to the power of prayer and self-control, I did not say that. I smiled, tipped my guide, and went on with life (and wrote a scathing trip advisor review and dis-satisfaction survey) Boys were ready run a bit, so we went back to hotel, grabbed lunch and headed back to the park to tour on our own.We drive around the park, and honestly it’s really disappointing to see. The Canyon is just gorgeous but the areas around the Canyon are really run down. It’s just missing a Wings to complete the commercialism. Maybe if we had not seen so much natural beauty at Zion and Bryce, then this may be okay.

BUT we have giggled so much over the mess ups today, that it’s ended up being an awesome day. We had dinner at Plaza Bonita- and were absolutely stuffed with some of the best Mexican food.

Tomorrow we head out for Monument Valley and whatever adventure we can find along the way 🚗 🚙🚗🚙🚗

After our monster hike yesterday, we slept like babies last night, and slept in this morning. We got up, finished off our breakfast and packed up to leave the tiny house. We had an almost 4 hour drive ahead of us, with no particular plan for the day. Sounds like the perfect way to find something cool.

Utah towns are loaded with history! Most of the little towns were started as part of the Mormon church, and operated as communal towns. Some didn’t even exchange money. You earned credits for work and then had debits for things needed. As we traveled I researched the towns. Mike and I thought it was interesting. The boys, well, did not.

The views continued to amaze us. And we have noticed that all the mountains have initials or first letters of the towns on the hillside. After some research, we learned this are called Mountain Monograms in and around Utah. This is Kanab, Utah.

Here’s our cool stop today, Kanab, Utah… also known as Little Hollywood. Before we get to Little Hollywood, let’s talk about lunch. We stopped initially at a drug store/soda fountain type place, but when no one greeted or acknowledged us when we entered, it seemed odd, and then as we got to the counter, the sliced turkey for sandwiches was sitting uncovered on the counter. Um, yea, no thank you.

So off we went in search of lunch… and then we found it – Big Al’s! They explained that they don’t start cooking your order until you order so it takes a bit, and they really didn’t want you to stand around the counter waiting…

Hahaha 🤣 – seriously, that’s hilarious! But wait, check this one they had up as well:

So we went outside and waited, and killed some time playing Go Fishthen the food and milkshakes arrived – no more cards. Yum! This lunch was delicious!

With our bellies full, we set off to find “Little Hollywood,”. Old westerns movies were filmed here in Kanab , including The Outlaw Josey Wales. A 501(c) corporation runs Little Hollywood and have set up an old western town with sets from old westerns. (It’s probably a front for the mob but whatever, it was fun to see)Now when I say this place is kitschy, I mean serious Clark Griswold kitschy 🤣😂🤣But the surprising this was that Michael and Leo loved it! they pretended to be deaddrove a fake horse and wagonwere the jailer/went to jailand had a high noon showdownTotally cheesy and totally fun! It was starting to get really warm again, so we headed on to Page, Az And then we saw the state lineWe couldn’t figure out what was going on with our clocks. Suddenly the car clock and our phones were an hour different. The we realized that Arizona doesn’t recognize daylight savings time so we gained an hour from Utah.

And then guess what we saw: Another Dam – The Glen Canyon Dam! The boys were so excited about another Dam Tour

But then they remembered the Dam puns, and then they were all about the Dam Tour 🤣🤣🤣

Here’s a Dam picturehere’s a Dam little boy who reminded us of our cousin Rhett. Boys played this game about Dam trivia for about 30 minutes Here’s some Dam family pictures 🤪❤️

and here’s the Dam kid area

Hahaha! And now we’re done with the Dam puns🤪

We went to the pool before dinner to burn off some energy. I’m not sure what this game is, but had something to do with trying to pull each other off the rail?Who knows, but whatever. They were calmer than when they started.

For dinner, we headed out for Navajo taco’s – everyone who has been to this section of the county says we have to try a Navajo taco, so tonight we did…at Steer 89 in Page, Arizona

Wow! These things are amazing! Basically, it is a HUGE TACO served on this freshly baked flakey bread.Look at these 3 after finishing their 1st Navajo tacos

Hahaha! We are all miserably full but smiling.

It’s an early bed tonight so we’re curled up watching Shark Week… Ready to get up early to head to the Grand Canyon!

Escalante is known for its hiking, and we wanted to check it out. The Park Ranger at Bryce Canyon told us to be sure t check out Calf Creek Falls when we made it to Escalante. So after sleeping in this morning, we studied the hiking book here in the Tiny House and researched Lower Calf Creek Falls, locating the Trailhead and making our hiking plan. So a little long but the Falls are supposed to be amazing. So we packed a picnic lunch, first aid kit, compass, whistle and lots of water. Mike also loaded up a cooler to keep in car with cold water for when we finished the hike and off we went.

The drive was beautiful – although it looked like a different planet.

The map was accurate and we found the trailhead without any problems.It was a 3.1 mile hike in and 3.1 out, so off we went to conquer Lower Calf Creek Falls.

We signed the TrailRegister – the hiking book explained that you should always sign the register listing which trail, number in your party and how long you plan on being on the trail.The Hike was beautiful, but it was tough, especially in the heat and altitude. There were some pretty steep climbs followed by gradual descents. But the views were awesome!

There were 14 trail markers that we estimated were placed every quarter mile or so… and once we got to #14, the hike was TOTALLY worth it!The boys played and slid and played and slid for an hour or so.

I think it’s safe to say they had a great time 😉 We had a picnic lunch and just enjoyed watching the boys have so much fun ❤️

I cannot explain how beautiful the falls were, and how grateful we are that this was the hike we took.

After eating and cooling off, it was time to hike out…

We were all so proud of ourselves for completing this hike. It wasn’t what I’d call “easy” – apparently easy in Utah means something different than in North Carolina🤪

On the way back to our tiny house, we passed a Dinocare Gas Station, so we had to get our picture with the dinosaur… because how often do you have a chance to get your picture with a green dinosaur?

We did a little exploring in the town of Escalante… it’s not a big place – no stoplights. But everyone was very nice.

We have one more night of home cooked meals before we are back to restaurants, so we used our leftover steak and a couple of chicken breasts to make stir fry. It was delicious! And we finished off our convection oven apple-blueberry dump cake.

We finished off this perfect day with Solo, A Star Wars Movie… but paused for a few Snacks those 2 are great at finishing off leftovers 🤣

Tomorrow we head to Page, Arizona on our way to the Grand Canyon.

Today we left Zion National Park and headed to another of the BIG 5 in Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park. To get the Bryce, you have to drive all the way through Zion National Park. We probably irritated everyone behind us because we were in no hurry and drove like old people on Sunday, just out for a drive.

Yesterday, during the horseback ride our guide pointed out “holes” in the mountain connected to the tunnel built in 1930. Today, we saw it all up close and personal. An interesting note when the built the tunnel, they started at opposite sides of the mountain and worked toward the middle. When the met, they were only 6 inches off a perfect meeting. That’s pretty impressive for 1930’s technology. This is one of the viewing “holes” in the tunnel for outside.This is the view from inside the tunnel.

After a mile in the tunnel, I was happy to see the light 😎

The change in topography was crazy the further you got away from Zion.

And then a rock tunnel as well

We made to Bryce Canyon! It’s a beautiful day and perfect for hiking at 75°. Supposed to be some thunderstorms later today so we have to see as much as we can before that. Their Visitors Center had a few exhibits explaining the wildlife and Bryce’s famous hoodoos. Hoodoos are former when a large piece of rock erodes at different levels, then ice goes into crevices, expands, melts, erosion, ice, expand, melt, on and one for hundreds of years.I also found these wild animals in the wildlife of a Bryce exhibit 🤪Sandwiches, and picnic packed, water filled – lets go see Bryce! We decided to hike the Navajo Loop which took us waaaayyy into the Canyon. Like 1,000 feet into the Canyon. I tried to mark some of the Trail in blueIt is really hard to describe but it was just gorgeous! The giant hoodoos, the trees that seem to just sprout of from any crevice with moisture, and views!These two again had the best time and scared their daddy and I to death! There isn’t a railing on the hike and my stomach was just in knots until we made it to the bottomWe found the perfect picnic rock and enjoyed some rest before starting that crazy climb UP! We has to take several rest breaks as we climbed up. At one break, the boys built mini-hoodoosThe climb continued…And finally we made it back to the top. Whew!!! Those were hard fought miles!

The shuttle system at Bryce is no where near as good as Zion, but the park isn’t as large or as busy. Our big hike completed, we drove up to the main sights of Bryce, stopping at overhangs along the way. The Natural Bridge was amazing!

We beaded ALL the way to the top of Bryce, Rainbow Point, elevation 9,115 😳

and temperature 53° 🥶As we stopped at different overlooks, the boys began to get tired of my plaque reading and desire to stop at every single stop… to which I responded in a very Mother-of-the-Year moment: “you get your butt out of this car, and come look at nature!” Which resulted in absolute belly-shaking giggles from all my boys, and then from me 🤣😂🤣

Whatever, it was worth it…

Back in the car, and we said goodbye to Bryce Canyon. It was really nice but we all agreed Zion was our favorite.

The landscape continued to change to some hills but a good amount of flat pastures and housing spread miles apart.

We are taking a break from hotels and spending the next two nights at a tiny house in Escalante, Utah. This place is too cute! We are all ready to move into a tiny house… or at least maybe travel in one.

We headed into town for groceries, and a little exploring. Steaks on the tiny house grill for dinner and apple/blueberry dump cake for dessert 😊

Even had my own kitchen crew do the dishes for me🥰We watched a gorgeous sunset from the back porch, and thanked God for all our blessings.We finished the night watching the Astronaut Farmer and enjoying being able to spread out a little instead of a hotel. The boys have their own bunk beds, so pray no one falls off 🤪

We’re heading off tomorrow for a hike to see Calf Creek Falls, pools, and a picnic lunch, and the Escalante Grande Staircase.

The good Lord rewarded us for pushing through 114° temperatures a few days ago with a 74° cloudy day today. It was gloriously mild this morning!

We did something new today, and tried our hand at horseback riding. We now have 2 cowboys on our hands who think we need to have horses running around with the pigs. The boys also may or may not have developed a crush on one of our trail guides, Cowgirl Savannah ❤️😊

We met our guides, Savannah and Lance, at the corral. It was so impressive how they matched each of us with our horses. For instance, my horse was stubborn, hard-headed, and didn’t appreciate being told what to do. So yea, totally nailed that one🤪. Once you got your horse, then your name on the trail was the name of your horse. So Leo was Black Magic, Michael was Fancy, I was Concho, and Mike was Roper.

We started off with an easy steady climb up, crossing the Virgin River, and then began an assent up 600 feet to some of the most spectacular views of Zion Canyon.

Look of these handsome cowboys

The boys were awesome! They listened so well to the guides, and followed all their instructions.

We went up, up and up, but the climb didn’t seem too steep – just more a steady assent… but then Savannah pointed out the road below OH. MY. WORD! Thankfully we didn’t look down until this point, and began our descent shortly thereafter- Whew! About half-way down, we stopped for a water and bathroom break, and talked to some of the folks riding with us. There was a really nice family from New York who were on a trip similar to ours, just backwards… we started in Vegas and end in Colorado, they started in Colorado and end in Vegas.

The boys were a little smitten by Cowgirl Savannah ❤️ She is a student at Southern Utah and works here during the summer and on weekends during school. She was a great guide, and was cute too, which I’m sure helped keep my little cowboys’ attention 😊 As we descended, the sights of the canyon were breathtakingAnd the boys enjoyed trading jokes with Cowboy Lance. Here’s one we learned: Did you hear that Willie Nelson was killed? No? He was playing on the road again. 🤣 Or: what do you call a fish with no eyes? Fsh 🤣🤣

Meanwhile by accident, I switched my photos to black and white but they turned out pretty cool…Look at that sexy lawyer-farmer-sawmill operator-cowboy ❤️

Canyon Trails Horseback Riding was definitely one of the coolest tours we’ve done!

After the ride, and after we learned to walk again… on my word, we may all be walking funny tomorrow…

We headed to the car to change into shorts, and then to the Zion Lodge to wash our hands! We made a picnic lunch from our cooler of goodies. However, our picnic ended up as a car-picnic as the rain started to come down. They need rain here like we do at home, so we really couldn’t complain. And after lunch, it was time for ice cream! And then it was on to swimming!

Yesterday we were not prepared for boys to swim in the Narrows or the Virgin River (which we learned was named after Louis Virgin who first traveled along its banks), but today we rectified that!

Yes, it was lower 70’s. Yes, it was raining. And yes, the water was about 60°. But when can you say you swam in a river in Zion National Park?  These 2 had the best time creating this lounging pool from their dam (cue the dam puns)

and skipping rocks… we’re up to 3 skips now!

Mike and I died laughing as they tried to tell us it wasn’t cold (pay no attention to my shivering 🥶)

After we got them into dry/warm clothes, we headed back into the canyon to see all the things we skipped yesterday (Human Museum, Zion Park movie and Nature Center). Due to fear of rain today, we tried to get through anything yesterday that may be off limits due to rain.

The movie was interesting but as we all started to get warm in a dark theater, we started getting sleepy. So off we went for another hike. This time we took the Pa’prus Trail that connects the Museum, Nature Center and Visitors Center. It was beautiful and paved which was particularly nice with the mud. The rain eventually cleared and it ended being gorgeous today.The boys liked the Nature Center and although it was really for a younger age group, they made the best of itWe did manage to find a cool lizard, despite his best attempts at camouflage.

And look, the Virgin River again! This time it was near the South Campground, who’s big selling point is the swimming area created by damming up part of the river. Look behind Michael and Leo in the first 2 pictures below. The water gets about 4 feet deep in the middle of that. Apparently one of the best boy-things ever, is throwing big rocks in water and making a splash because they did it for 30 minutes and laughed their heads off!One more picture and one more rock climb and I think we can officially mark Zion done… until next time 😉Michael wanted to try dinner at Springdale Noodle Pizza, so we headed there for dinner after a quick dip in the hot tub. It was fantastic homemade pizza and was across the street from the Candy Factory who sold ice cream and homemade chocolate 🥰and Mike looked like a hobo walking down the road with the loaf of bread we needed for tomorrow’s picnic 😂🤣

Tomorrow we head to Bryce Canyon before ending up in Escalante tomorrow night.

It was a great day 🥰 I can tell because the snoring has begun!

***overlook any spelling and grammar errors. I’ll edit in the morning, after sleep and coffee***

We woke up this morning in St. George, Utah and headed to Zion National Park. Good thing mom actually had the archaic things called maps (thanks Utah Tourism Department) because the cell coverage in the desert was zero to none…

We arrived at our hotel faster that expected but thankfully our room was ready! So we unloaded, packed sandwiches and snacks and headed out for day one in Zion.

Springdale, Utah is the small town that has grown up around Zion with plenty of hotels, restaurants and anything you could need, including one of the most efficient shuttle systems I’ve ever seen… only Disney could rival these shuttles… and I’m not sure these guys aren’t better.😳

So we hopped on the Springdale shuttle, which makes 9 stops in Springdale. There is a shuttle stop within 50 yards of our hotel,

and we rode directly into the Park. We purchased an Annual Pass to the National Parks for $80 so all our parks through July of 2020 are covered.

On to Zion, WOW! The views! The history! I have to take a moment and acknowledge President Theodore Roosevelt for creating our National Parks System. These places are gorgeous! I can’t get over that we have these breathtaking areas reserved in our country, and that people come to visit and don’t litter, or destroy by taking advantage of it.

We talked to the Park Ranger and since there is a chance of thunderstorms tomorrow, we decided to get some of our big hikes in today. So off we went to hike the Narrows!

Along the way, we had a picnic and fought off some overfriendly and chunky squirrels not a bad view for lunchThis place is little boy heaven, and a parent’s nightmare! The boys wanted to climb everything, and normally, I’m the go-ahead-climb-it parent, and Mike is the worrier but here… with these sheer rocks and dangerous drop-offs and edges – whew! I’m giving Mike a run for his money for most nervous parent 😀We finally found some common ground and they climbed and climbed… not until their hearts were content, but as much as our nerves would stand 😬

Maybe some yoga will help my nerves 🤣

We hiked through about half the Narrows – just like it sounds, they are narrow passages between the giant mountains. Very cool and a little intimidating. The water was fast moving and the rocks were slick so it was slow going at times. There was also a dark cloud with thunder booms nearby. The Rangers warned about flash flooding, and how quickly it could happen, so we were proceeding with cautious excitement 😊

Michael slipped at one point and lost his slide (shoe) then when he went to grab it, and the current almost took his feet out from under him. There was definitely a moment of fear there for a second. I never believed it when people say 6 inches of water could knock a grown man off his feet, but I think we all do now. (Thankfully a kind man down the water caught Michael’s shoes for him 😊)

After we finished the Narrows or as far in as we wanted to go, we caught the shuttle to Weeping Rock. Water comes in on top of the mountains, and is absorbed. And then travels through all the rock, until it ultimately finds a way out… and when it does, it’s the Weeping Rock

Guess who got soaking wet?We then headed to the Lower Emerald Pools (the middle and upper level hikes were closed due to rock slides… and they’re also listed as strenuous hikes – but we were totally going to do the strenuous hikes if they weren’t closed (yea, right 🥵)). This was quite a hike itself so I can’t imagine what the other hikes entailed –

But the views were just amazing!

We skipped the visitors center, movie and museum for today – we can check those out tomorrow especially if it’s raining. We did get wet again while Leo practiced stone-skipping and Michael built the Brown Rock tower in the river.We calculated we hiked about 8 miles total today so we are wiped out – again.

We grabbed dinner at Jack’s Sports Grill near the hotel, and Michael decided to try something new – Bison Burger! It was delicious!!! It was so good that we’re thinking of going back tomorrow and have another one 🤪

I can’t imagine how you see all this and don’t believe that there is a God in Heaven and that he loves you very much. There is no way something this beautiful just “happened”.

The boys swam after dinner and to just put the perfect ending on today, we had a rainbow over the mountain ❤️

Tomorrow is supposed to be significantly cooler – high of only 80, and were headed out for horseback riding if it doesn’t storm. (Never thought I’d think 80° wasn’t hot, but then again the 95° today, compared to 114° yesterday, felt downright pleasant 🤪🤣🤪)

*apologies in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes… I’ll fix in the morning after some sleep and coffee 🤪*

Vacation is one of the few times in our lives, we are early and/or on time for anything. Plus, being on west coast time, means 8am here is really 11am to us. The Best Western in Boulder City was really nice. And the fact that it was a whopping $65 a night with breakfast was even better 😉

We packed up and headed out to the Hoover Dam. Apparently, this was a bucket list item for Mike. The drive and scenery were beautiful. The pictures really don’t do it justice. The Hoover Dam is HUGE! It is just hard to wrap your mind around how big this thing is.

The tour is worth every penny to see not just the Dam but the power plant portion. And the boys thoroughly enjoyed discussing “the Dam Tour” and “how awesome the Dam Tour is.” The guides told us “kids love coming on the Dam Tour” and even point out “the Dam bat” who lived in the Dam 🤣🤣I became hilariously obsessed with this guy who filmed EVERYTHING the guide said! Seriously, everything! I can’t imagine he is going to go home and sit and watch Ben, the tour guide’s speech on water distributions to the 7 states who have water rights at the Dam. We loved the tunnels and looking out of vent grate, that was just a little high 😳.

and watching Mike nervously cross a floor grate that was so deep you couldn’t see the bottom!

Leo found out they were serious that you should go to restroom before the tour starts because there is NO restroom on the Dam tour. The size of the generators inside the power plant were shocking. They alternate which generators run each day, and using the power of water, they generate enough power for a 1.5 million homes. They also have enough water in reserve for 20+ years, although they’ve been in “drought conditions” for the past 23 years.

The Visitors Center had great exhibits on the history of the Dam and how it was built. Turns out despite all the rumors there aren’t any bodies buried in the Hoover Dam… or so they want you to believe 🤨. There were also some “Tony Stark” style touchscreen exhibits that the boys loved.

And awesome views of the Dam.

We spent some time outside looking at the Dam…but OH MY WORD! It was so hot! 🥵 Not regular North Carolina hot. We’re talking surface of the sun hot! ☀️ It was a scorching 114° today 😳🥵 Granted little to no humidity but 114° is HOT!

We left the Hoover Dam and the Dam Tour, headed back Boulder City for lunch. This town was something out of a Hollywood set. Clearly they depend on tourism and they definitely keep everything clean and picturesque.

Lunch was the Southwest Diner recommended by the folks at Best Western. Everything was homemade and the burritos were awesome!We left Boulder City headed to Henderson, Nevada… home to the closest WalMart 🤪 but seriously, we wanted to get a cooler, drinks, sandwich stuff and snacks for the next 2 weeks. On the way we caught sights of a few dust devils.We also passed Nallis Air Force Base. The base is so large that it has it’s own zip code.

It is home to the largest number of squadrons of all US airbases, which the boys happily watched as we drove… including fighter jets!

In planning this trip, I read lots about the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, and it just happened to be only 25 miles off our route 😉

This is the most aptly named place I have ever seen, and as beautiful as the pictures are, they don’t come close to what it really looks like.

Fun fact: The Valley of Fire is the very first state park in Nevada

We hiked and climbed for hours!

you know it’s hot when even the Park Service says the heat is “extreme”

Mike and Michael spotted a long horn sheep

And then we found his girlfriend who held up traffic and refused to move for a while 😂

I hate to post purely landscape photos but the Valley of Fire was just that awesome We drove from one stop to the next, hiking as we wanted (or could stand in the heat… I have a new appreciation for the turkey on Thanksgiving!)

By the time we left the Valley of Fire, and the heat, we were wiped out! We headed on to Utah… said goodbye to Nevada, and hello Arizona – we only clipped the edge of it, but it counts and we’ll be back in a few days

The Terrain was become more mountainous and hilly and then we rolled right on into Utah…

From the cross-country travel, the hiking, the heat…We were wiped out! Monday night excitement was the The Meg on television and Dominoes delivery 🤪 it was perfect! And the snoring soon ensued 😴😴😴

We woke up bright and early in the metropolis of Climax, North Carolina and ended the day in the metropolis of Boulder City, Nevada… with a couple of stops in Chicago and Las Vegas along the way.

We started the day bright and early but so excited! Got the airport with plenty of time, and then received No worries. Remember, we delayed the second leg of our flight, so plenty of time to make our connection in Chicago. Moments, I mean moments, later, we receive a “Oops, our bad. You’re not really delayed” text from United airlines. But again no worries. Plenty of time…

The 1st leg of the flight was uneventful with 2 VERY excited boys and a happy mama and daddy.

Leo says the flying is one of the best parts of the vacation.

Michael really loved me taking his picture… over and over and over

(he loved it 🤪)

We had a 2+ hour layover in Chicago, and that really worked out because Chicago O’Hare is ginormous!!! It took us at least 30 minutes just to walk to our gate. God was looking out for us when He caused us to reschedule last night. Thankful for small mercies 😊

The extra time gave us time to explore…Eat…

Shoe shine – or pretend shoe shine…Self-playing-magic piano…and iPad

We had to rearrange a bit to get Leo and I beside each other. Shockingly the person in the middle seat didn’t object to switching with me to sit on the aisle 🤷🏻‍♀️ and on this flight, I stole kisses from Leo and from my big boy ahead of me

After a very bumpy descent and landing – We made it!Welcome to Vegas Baby 🎲🕺❤️

It took a while to get the rental car and get on the road, but we worked our way to the Strip. The boys love NewYork, NewYork, the Luxor and Paris

They just couldn’t understand why we wanted to wait 20 minutes to see the fountains at the Bellagio… until they started…(and as a side note, I will never be wearing this dress again… I always thought it made me look cute and/or thin… oh no, no, no, instead i can choose between fat and/or pregnant. Um, Nope.)

LoL 😂 their faces with some of the “sights and sounds” of Vegas. Leo said this town was scary, with way too many signs about Hot Babes! Michael want to know why do the women all get their pictures made in either bra or shirtless! 🤦🏻‍♀️ all valid observations, and I can’t wait to remind them of these when they’re a teenagers 🤣🤣🤣

We explored the Shops on the Miracle Mile, especially the Nestle Tollhouse store and the Sugar Factory. Anyone for a GIANT Jawbreaker? A quick stop on the “streets of Paris”

And we were off, and headed to Boulder City, Nevada. The landscape was unreal compared to North Carolina Boulder City is like a little piece of Radiator Springs (remember from Disney’s Cars). It is a really cute town built around Hoover Dam.

We are staying at Best Western which is the only chain hotel in town. Mike is considering this as a camping because as close to camping as he gets is a hotel that’s doors open to the outside. Guess what? The doors here open to the outside 🤣🤪. It’s not fancy, but it’s clean and beds are comfy so perfect for us!

We grabbed dinner at a local joint, Fox Smokehouse BBQ. Surprise we found barbecue 🐖🐖🐖 it was literally at the end of a strip mall off a side road but it was awesome! Brisket, ribs, pulled pork, fries, fried okra, bacon beans (that’s not a typo, it’s not baked beans, it’s bacon baked beans), and mac&cheese!

And yes, they are as tired as they look! They voluntarily skipped the pool tonight and said they thought they’d just go to bed! 😳

We finished dinner and we’re back in the car by 7:45, and it was still just a little warm outside

So the party-down Browns were back at the hotel by 8, all showered and in bed by 8:30… and all but me were snoring before 9pm (but that is midnight EST).

Hoover Dam is on the itinerary tomorrow and it’s also the supposed to be the hottest day of our trip 🥵😬 Pray for shade and cool tempers 😉

Tomorrow is the big day – again! We are heading out for another cross-country adventure and checking 5 states off our goal of 50! This trip will put us to 21 states visited… (and we’re considering counting Illinois since we have an unscheduled 4-hour lay-over tomorrow in Chicago).

I spent the day:

picking Michael up from camp ❤️;getting Sampson settled; visiting the pigs; and packing. CMT put me in a perfect vacation mood by playing Vacation

United Airlines, on the other hand, tried to give me a heart attack.

Originally, we were to leave Greensboro at 7:30am, arriving in Chicago at 8:40am, and departing for Las Vegas at 10:30am with a 12:45pm arrival time. At 7:53pm, we get the following text from UnitedNow I’m not sure how they know 11 hours ahead of time that someone else’s delay will cause my delay but whatever. So now the question is will we make our connection? Um, have you been to O’Hare? 10 minutes probably not enough time to get the 4 of us and our luggage across that massive airport. So we call United, made arrangements, get on a later flight, notify the car rental peeps… all’s well with the world. It’s 8:54pm now. And then we get another text: This text should have just said: “Our bad, we’re not real delayed, just a little delayed. Oops.” 🤦🏻‍♀️ I. Just. Can’t.

If you’ve traveled with me, you have had the joy (horror) of relishing (enduring) my over-preparedness (obsessive compulsion) of details. There are folders and itineraries. BUT I am nothing if not flexible (insert laughter) so if this is as bad as it gets, it’s no big deal.

So Whew! We’re packed, and everyone but me is asleep. Honestly, I’m afraid I’m going to be up all night checking my phone for another text. This one will probably say “never mind, we can’t read a radar, so everything is back to original time.” 😬🤪