National Park tour concludes

We spent one more morning in the Grand Canyon.

I'm certainly glad we were there in the "off-season". I wouldn't want to be there in the height of the tourism months. It was entirely too crowded.

One of the things I love about the parks we've visited is the variety of hikes available. The all have "easy, moderate and difficult". We walked along the rim trail at Grand Canyon, which travels, obviously, along the rim.

It's been good for kids to see and hear and occasionally meet people from all parts of the world. There have been few cultures to which they haven't been exposed -- at least a little.

We didn't walk along ... just long enough to find my three favorite vacation hot spots; bathroom, visitor center, book store.

First, I'm officially old enough that, when traveling, my digestive system (to be delicate) doesn't work well--sometimes not at all. While it's a difficult problem, it has the bonus of forcing me to walk a little further in search of a bathroom, so I'm getting more exercise. (which you'd think would help the situation, but it, sadly, does not)

After I've checked out the facilities, I must visit the visitor centers so I can get my nifty "National Parks Passport" stamped with each park's official stamp. Then, I must go to the bookstore to buy the official sticker to attach to my nifty passport. Plus, I buy the official park badge because I have a plan for one of my world famous PROJECTS! A lovely photo memory quilted wall hanging that will, of course, include the official park badge. I will point out that each park offer pre-printed quilt blocks. Those are for sissies!
After wrapping up our Grand Canyon tour, we headed for Las Vegas.

Again, I just want to point out there are simply NO picnic tables in Arizona. We met my older brother in Kingman, Arizona. (He's a geologist and lives there part time in search of minerals and metals and other geology.) He suggested a lovely city park. My assumption: park = picnic tables.

This park did contain a bench. And an old steam engine. A tree.

NOT ONE PICNIC TABLE.

We walked across the street to a diner. The restaurant happened to be on the famous Route 66. One of my many items on my "bucket list" is to travel Route 66 (in a convertible) so I am always looking for opportunities to spend time on this famous byway.

This particular restaurant was not worth the extra effort.

In theory it's only supposed to take about 90 minutes to get from Kingman to Las Vegas. Those calculations came, apparently, before 9 -11. Now it's takes 90 minutes just to get over the Hoover Dam.

Every car must stop and some cars get searched -- I'm assuming you get searched if you look like a terrorist threat, whatever that means. We didn't get searched. I'm guessing the guards don't have kids. Kids trapped in a car for as long as my kids have been in a car this trip would certainly be threat to anyone who knows kids.

There's a really cool new bridge being built and it's almost done. That, rumor has it, will eliminate the need for searching cars before they cross the bridge because then the terrorists will only be able to blow up a bridge, not the dam.

I was a little nervous about taking the kids the Las Vegas. It's complicated and busy. As much as I knew they'd like the lights and the attractions, I've never felt it's a great place for a family vacation.

As expected, the kids loved the circus-like atmosphere, but the problem with Las Vegas is that it takes you so long to get from one place to the next everyone, especially children are exhausted by the time you get there.

They loved the downtown light show, though they were exhausted. The next day, we tried to show them the sites, but the miles it takes to walk from one attraction to the next made us all tired and cranky.

We finally took them to the indoor amusement park at the Circus Circus and let them ride the roller coasters etc. The loved it! We also took in the Tournament of Kings. The food was wretched, but the show entertaining.

We had planned on riding the roller coaster at the Sahara this morning, but it didn't open until noon. Not wanting to wait, we headed for Reno.

Don't get me wrong. Nevada is a beautiful state. The state planners, however, put the highways through the ugliest parts of it. Further, taking a clue from their Arizona neighbors they didn't put in a rest stop or picnic table. After 3 hours of driving we frantically pulled into a town called Goldfield. It look inhabited. Mostly by miners, but inhabited nonetheless. Saw a sign for a city park, so once again, we figured there was a good chance there would a bathroom or a picnic table.
No bathrooms. No picnic tables. Miners, it seems, don't need to go to the bathroom.

Katy and I crossed our legs and Clem drove 90 miles an hour toward Tonapah. This town must have been really cool in it's hey day, but those days are long gone. They do, however, have a gas station with a bathroom. It was too cold for a picnic, so we found a Mexican restaurant recommended by the gas station restaurant.

We also drove through the US Army's storage depot. Holy cow! Imagine miles and miles of bunker looking buildings storing who knows what for the US Army. Throughout the desert there are thousands of mounds of dirt with a concrete door. Then miles and miles of metal buildings.

OOOH! I forgot to mention that just outside of Las Vegas we drove through an Air Force base and we got to watch one of those little drone planes they fly remotely to spy on people and things.

It was pretty cool.

We also passed a couple of naval bases and a sign that said there was a Coast Guard base nearby -- which I can't really understand -- but I can see why the government puts military bases in Nevada. Even the most vicious of terrorists wouldn't want to drive out here to what literally is the middle of freakin' nowhere.

There are no rest stops or picnic tables.

So far, I REALLY like Reno. It's got the cool stuff that Vegas has, but not the smell and it's really easy to walk around town.

We tried taking the children out to a nice restaurant. Clem had his heart set on this place, but taking three children who have been stuck in a car for eight hours to anyplace but McDonalds is really just, well, stupid.

I'm sure we were quite entertaining the the lovely and refined couple next to us. There was minor barfing, butter pat artwork, slurping, talk of farting -- make that Loud talk of farting.

I had two mojitos and it didn't even start to help my headache.

I want you to know that when I write these updates in my head as we're driving down the freeway, they sound so much better. Witty even.

Alas, those moments are gone.