Day 6 - Las Vegas

It was a long drive from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.  One of the highlights of the trip to Vegas was a visit with an old friend of mine, so we wanted to make decent time.  We woke up early, packed up the car and headed out as soon as we could.  We were excited to drive through Zion National Park on our way!

Can you see the twisty-turny road?!

We enjoyed a beautiful drive through the park and a short, hot picnic near the Visitor's Center.  It would be another great place to visit when we have more time to explore.

Soon, we drove the short stretch through Arizona and then we were finally in Nevada.  What a long, dry, hot drive.  It seemed to get hotter and hotter the closer we got to Vegas.  At one point we were excited to finally see the city off in the distance - we were tired of being on the road.  Ryder, of course, had to go to the bathroom again, but there was no stop in sight.  We ended up needing to do an emergency roadside potty break.  As I stepped out, I thought I was stepping into an oven!  The heat hit me like a wall.  We hurried to get back into the air conditioned car ASAP!

Vegas was big and bright and there was so much to see!  We gawked at the big buildings as Dan drove us to the strip.  We found Circus Circus pretty quickly.  When I stepped inside to check into our room, I was stunned at the number of people just in the lobby!

Our room was nice and clean.  The shower was the best I ever remember taking!  Three days camping can do that for ya!

We explored the games and rides downstairs, then headed for dinner.  My old friend, Shannon, and her husband Bill joined us.  I have known Shannon since we were 3 years old, but we haven't seen each other in about 11 years.  It was so good to see her and get to catch up!  They hung out with us as we watched the acrobatic act and played some games with the kids.  We headed to bed late that night, tired, happy, and overwhelmed!

The next morning, we decided we were ready to leave the crazy huge-ness of Circus Circus.  We had major sensory overload.  We enjoyed a nice, quiet breakfast at a small Denny's a few miles away.  Shannon and Bill joined us again.  Seeing Shannon was definitely the highlight of my trip to Vegas!  It was so good to catch up with her and introduce her to our boys.  She is one of those friends who, no matter how long we've been apart, it will seem like no time has passed when we finally get together again.  Hopefully it won't be quite as long the next time, though!

The boys loved this little palm tree.

The absolute best part of Las Vegas was seeing my dear friend, Shannon!