I brought my star gazing binoculars on this trip, and the dark confines of the Grand Canyon National Park did not let us down. One of the clearest nights I've ever seen. I believe we saw a couple of shooting stars. The binoculars just filled any viewpoint with an incredibly dense cluster of stars.
Donna woke up early this morning and jogged on the Rim Trail while the rest of us rested. When I came out, the views were vibrant.
selfie at the Kolb house deck on the Rim Trail
I must admit that I purposely did not want to spend a lot of time at the Canyon because of the dangerous heights and my children' proximity to them. As fun as a short hike into the canyon looked, when I looked down several switchbacks and saw the trail going alongside a cliff wall with no guard rail and what looked like just enough room for 2 people to pass, there was no way I was going to let my children walk on that. As Barney would say, i nipped it in the bud.
Although my kids think I was being way too overprotective (no argument from me on that), they were fine with moving on with our travels around lunch time. They actually would prefer hanging out in a hotel and watching cartoons to a hike anyway.
I think it also worth mentioning how much wildlife is right around the village at the south rim. We saw what looked like several large elk just walking around.
After lunch, we headed south toward Williams, AZ and I-40. Williams is actually in a beautiful forested region of AZ about 20 mile from Flagstaff. Williams is known as the last town on the famed Route 66 to allow completion of I-40. Because of pending lawsuits, it wasn't until 1984 that I-40 was completed around Williams, thus bypassing Route 66 and making it a relic.
Upon leaving Williams, we began a steady descent from 6,500 ft and 2 and a half hours later arrived in Laughlin, Nevada at about 550 ft. About 1 hour and a half out, we were driving in torrential rain in 63 degree temperatures. After entering clear skies and descending into the Colorado River valley of Laughlin, the thermometer in our car read 119 shortly before our arrival. We went walking after dinner around 8:15, and it was still 109 . . . so much for a stroll on the riverwalk. It was very breezy outside, except it felt hotter when the wind blew. I am not exaggerating in the least to say that it felt like we were walking alongside a giant hair dryer. The low for today is supposed to be 91.
Dinner was somewhat novel for us tonight. We had our first dining experience at an In and Out Burger. The menu has about 4 things listed . . . cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, fries, and shakes . . . but there is a complete secret menu known to its loyal patrons. Donna was able to get her veggie burger, and we also had cheeseburgers both regular and "animal style." Animal style comes with sautéed onions, tomatoes, pickles, and a special sauce kind of like 1000 island dressing. French fries also come regular, crispy, soggy, and animal style on any of these variations which means cheese, sautéed onions, and the sauce. I'm sure there were plenty of other unlisted items we could have ordered. What was really kind of ironic to me was that in the middle of a small town lined with fancy casinos, the employees at In and Out were the most clean cut group of kids I've seen working anywhere. There must be parts of this town we haven't seen.
selfie at In and Out Burger
We're staying at the Tropicana for about $39/night. We sprang for 2 rooms, and they're pretty nice. Here's Francey sitting in the window before dinner.
There may be a change of plans in store for tomorrow. We had originally planned to stay around the hotel until lunch time and then head to the Hoover dam. The kids, however, have very little interest in the dam, so it looks like we'll be heading out first thing in the morning to Los Angeles/Beverly Hills. We'll have most of the afternoon and evening and the following morning. Need to get busy finding a hotel since tomorrow night was the one flex night we have left with no reserved accommodations.
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