Since The Night We Left

Wells Jr. High said good-bye to a couple of good looking and smart kids on Monday, June 22nd.

The past couple of weeks since that night, we have put over 4k miles on the van and have seen many interesting things. We broke up the first leg of the trip with a brief but interesting pit stop in Hershey, Penn. From there, we hurried on down to Tennessee. Nashville was super hot compared to the rainy and cool weather we had been getting in New England. Memphis seemed even hotter, and except for Graceland and the Peabody Ducks, the kids didn't seem to fully appreciate the depth of the culture that exists there.

We made good time getting from Memphis to Vegas with stopping only two nights. Oklahoma City was beautiful near sunset; the riverwalk area down by the Bass Pro Shop was really a relaxing evening for us, and we needed it. (Unfortunately, the Bass Pro Shop was closed.) The next day, we took a late afternoon siesta in Alberquerque, NM to explore Old Town, and then we stopped in Gallup, NM for the night. We drove by Hoover Dam on the way to Las Vegas, but we didn't stop to take the tour because we knew we'd be back in a day or two after meeting up with the people we planned on meeting there.

Stayed at the MGM for three nights. Got a surprise meeting with my cousin Angie and her husband Mike, who were staying at Mandalay Bay. On the fourth day, Jessica, Kelsie, Alie, Sharon, and I headed for the Grand Canyon. We stayed at a hotel just a few miles south of the park entrance. We saw much wildlife, and the kids all loved it, as did the adults. I went out to watch the sunrise the next morning, and then we all headed back to Vegas after breakfast. We spent one night at the Venetian and then a couple of nights at the Orleans. Now, our stay in Vegas is about done, and that is okay because staying here causes one to cast off restraint to some degree. And, well...with five or so more weeks to go on this vacation, we need to remember what sort of frugality it took for us to get here.

That is the last two weeks in a nutshell. Of course we have some pictures from many of the places mentioned and some from places I didn't mention. With a little effort, I think we can do a little better with keeping up to date for the rest of the journey.



Gene