7-14-17

Since we stayed up so late last night we slept in until almost 7:30 this morning. When I say we, I of course mean everyone but me because my eyes popped open at 6:30 and there was no going back to sleep. 

We stopped to grab a quick breakfast and then headed west. Our original plan was to hit Lake Mead Recreation area first and then do the Hoover dam but we decided to reverse that because of crowds and heat. We enjoyed the power plant tour. It was really ingenious to build flood and river control and use the power generation to finance it all. We couldn't take the dam tour and lots of dam jokes were made but it was all in good fun. 

Scott and I have hiked the rail road trail and done a boat tour of Lake Mead and the kids had zero interest in going in the lake or even spending time outside in the 111 degree heat so we decided to go ahead and get our drive in towards Phoenix, AZ. 

We stopped in Kingman to eat at a Cracker Barrel - ah, good sweet tea!!  Then we hit the grocery store to replace our lunch food. We drove through the desert and watched as we went from scrubby bushes to Joshua Trees and Saguaro Cacti. There was a storm off in the distance and we could see lightening and even tell that it had just missed us because the streets were wet and the temps were cooler. But no rain is still to be found. Lorelei and I haven't had anything other than two sprinkles in 5 weeks. She misses it but I love the sunshine and could adjust to the dry heat of the west. 

We hit 10,000 road miles since leaving Kannapolis 5 weeks ago. I love having the boys with us but I miss waking to the sounds of birds and going to bed when it gets dark. It's lovely to have the air conditioning but I enjoyed the more natural rhythm of the sun and stars. Of course if I was sleeping outside when it's 95 degrees I'm sure I would be wishing for a hotel room. We arrived in our room right around 7:00 so Luke could do homework and Scott and I could answer emails before bed.