The Full-Time Families group that we are a part of had another meet-up in a town called Lake Havasu AZ near a balloon festival. We all camped on BLM land outside the town. Some of our friends we had made at a previous family meet up had saved us a spot so we decided to check it out.
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As you know from the last post, we had Wobbles at the dealership to get some work done before our warranty ran out therefore we were homeless in Vegas! Justin did a great job researching hotels for us to stay in for a couple days and landed upon the Platinum Hotel.
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We were passing by Area 51 which apparently is where aliens once landed so of course we had to stop by. Well, lucky for onlookers, we just so happened to pack the girls’ alien suits.
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We were expecting this park to be open but without camping options, bathrooms or Visitor Center perks such as maps, advice, trail updates and the Jr Ranger Program due to the government shutdown. However, we were excited to find that the park’s partner non-profit organization had funded a skeleton crew of park rangers to work during the government shut down. The rangers were also keeping the bathroom maintained at the Visitor Center during hours of operation. It was so very kind and we were so thankful for these things. Boy, this park was amazing! I’m so glad we didn’t miss it.
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Our trip with my Mom had been planned very differently than what it ended up like as far as places to explore. The plan was to explore National areas nearby Vegas but alas, the Government was shut down! We were able to visit Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, but weren’t able to explore it as much as we had hoped.
Our first sightings of Joshua Trees on this trip! They are such funny looking things. We found a great little spot to camp, Lovell Canyon Dispersed Campground, on off a semi-trafficked paved road. This spot provided a nice place to enjoy nature after the Vegas whirl wind. We also experienced two things we hadn’t planned on. One terrifying and the other magical.
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Just to let you folks know, I’m not a fan of Las Vegas. Justin and I have been here twice, both on our honeymoon as a break from National Parks. The architecture and art of the casino’s and the amazing shows Vegas has are it’s only highlights in my opinion. That being said, they also often have cheap flights and that is why we found ourselves here! We were picking up my lovely Mom to spend a week with us!! Hurray!!! We were so excited!
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Since we were going to be on the road for Christmas, one of our good friends’ Mom, who lives in Colorado, so very graciously invited us to spend Christmas with the whole family (including our dear dear friends from Portland of course). We knew this was going to add a lot of long driving days to our trip but also couldn’t bear to be so close to them and not spend the holiday with them.
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This was part of our trip where we were trying to get from warm weather to our chilly Colorado Christmas destination with little stops along the way. We wanted to breeze through the cold weather as swiftly as possible with some effort in not making it feel miserable.
We spent about a day and a half in Santa Fe. It’s a cute city that we definitely enjoyed!
As you saw in our last post, we had quite the laundry saga so our day to explore Tucson became the day to retrieve laundry and let the girls play.
Justin ended up leaving around 7:30am to fix his mistake. Justin and I contemplated having the girls and I dropped off downtown to explore while Justin got the laundry, but because the drive to the laundromat was 5 hours round trip with no traffic we decided against it. And boy, I’m so glad we did!
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