A week of intense travel, unbearable heat, and a complete lack of cell phone reception has caused me to fall rather behind on my blogging, but here are some highlights for your reading enjoyment:
*Lake Powell (Page, AZ) was stunningly beautiful and provided a landscape that felt almost prehistoric with the surrounding desert and mountains looming in the background. We had only one full day there, and decided to spend in splashing around in the lake. I wished I’d been able to bring my camera on our lake adventure, but I was worried about it surviving the extreme heat (our frisbee melted in the back of our car). I did, however, manage to snap these two images, the first of the lake (and the beach where we swam), and the second, of a very tired Toddler (sans pants) asleep in the wagon after a few hours at the lake.
*Because Page, AZ wasn’t hot enough, we then traveled to Lake Mead, NV, where temps were around 111 degrees and the air was dry enough to dehydrate my contact lenses on the surface of my eyes after only a few minutes spent outside. Even the water out of the cold tap was scalding hot, because, you know, desert.
*Though Lake Mead was beautiful and the lights of Las Vegas, just 30 minutes away, were tempting, we decided that we’d be happier moving toward or next stop in Groveland, CA, just outside Yosemite National Park.
*A grueling day’s drive through Death Valley brought us as far as Fresno, where we decided on an impromptu night in a hotel. An indoor shower, a night swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool, and a little mindless television was just what the doctor ordered. We left the next morning for Yosemite (about 2.5 hours away) feeling refreshed and grateful for our mobile home, even as we were thrilled to have had a night away from it.
*The last hour of the drive to Yosemite was through the most beautiful, winding, mountainous roads (with no guardrail). It made for an incredible view, but we were very relieved that we weren’t trying to navigate in the dark, when we already exhausted, and with no cell phone service should we have run into trouble.
*The Teen is back!! After two weeks traveling in Europe with a friend’s family, she flew out to rejoin us for the rest of the trip. Amelie flew with her, and the last few days were spent touring beautiful Yosemite and reveling in family togetherness before A returned home to the east coast.
*We left Yosemite yesterday afternoon for Shasta, CA. Our first long travel leg with all five of us in the camper was a success, and we made excellent time, even with a long stopover in Sacramento to have lunch with a friend.
VortexOnWheels 