The Grand Adventure, Part 5

Welcome to the last installment of our vacation story!

Before I start, I wanted to add this photo of Jesse that I took on our first hike.....I forgot it! I love the picture. He hiked down and rocky path that was too dangerous for the girls, and this is where he ended up!

After our super long hike, and our ice cream on the verandah, we decided to see a little bit more of the canyon....by car. We drove to Point Imperiel, to the North West, and it was gorgeous!

This is a view to the N of the canyon.




The drive out of the National Park took about 30 minutes, and boy were our kids beat!

We took our weary, filthy selves back to the lodge for showers, and then to the Lodge Lounge. We played a few board games (where Jesse and I learned that we are failing our children miserably....they don't have the slightest clue about how to play checkers), we played cards, and we hung out.

We ate a delicious dinner at our Lodge with our new Ranger friend and her husband. We had a great time getting to know each other, and swapping stories.

By 8:30, the kids were asking to go to bed!




In the morning, we packed up the car, once again, and started the long journey home. I don't even know how to describe how strange of a drive it was. We have driven all over the country, and have never spent so many hours in the wilderness.

Here is a photo of Colorado City, AZ.....if any of you remember the major news events that occurred there.....



We entered Nevada at 10:20 in the morning, and looked at the map. We wouldn't hit a major.....or minor.....city for many many hours. We stopped at a gas station and picked up lunch. Chips, gatorade, beef jerkey. Lunch of champions!

Here is a photo Jesse took of the most desolate stretch of highway I have ever seen!



The highway was called "Extraterrestrial Highway", if you can believe that. There were advertisements for Alien Jerkey, and a big alien research facility. I wish I had pictures of that!

This is that same highway, where we had to stop for a potty break. The girls weren't happy about going in the wilderness, but there were not stops for 150 miles....no gas, no food, no nothing!



We stopped for gas in this Nevada town called Tonopah. I think I would be great friends with the owner of this building....




We headed West toward California!!! The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range was a sight for sore eyes after spending so long in the Nevada desert.



Parts of this highway were very intersting. There was a sigh that said "Dips 5 miles." We quickley found that they weren't kidding. The road had many many roller-coaster-like dips and hills. Enough for Maya to exclaim "What kind of awesome person builds a road like this????"

We met up with the 395 just South of Mono lake



At this point in the trip, we were starving, and we just wanted fast food. We hadn't had any fast food the entire trip, but now we wanted to eat something quick and easy, and get going. No such luck. There wasn't a chain resteraunt in sight (and usually that doesn't bother me!). We finally stopped in Bridgeport, CA for dinner.

This is the historic Inn....




We headed up the windy highway toward home and hit cold, rainy weather. So weird! ground in the sierras was still covered with several feet of snow, and it was very chilly. This spring is so strange.

After 14 hours, we finally made it home, safe and sound. It was a fun vacation, and one I will always cherish!