October 20, 2012

Chan woke up early to watch the sun rise while I slept in until 7:45am. I am not a morning person, but we have been getting up so early without an alarm clock. I think it is because it is not dark all the time like it is in AK.

We bought a interagency park pass in Crater Lake and want to get our money’s worth so we drove through Death Valley National Park. As usual, no dogs allowed off the pavement so we didn’t do any hiking.

Can't image why it's called Death Valley

Death Valley wasn’t too interesting except when we passed by the lowest point in the US, 282 ft below sea level. The temps were pretty moderate rising to only around 88 degrees F. We made a quick stop to walk out on the salt flats. I tasted it, it was salty.

Just outside of the park were some rooms and stairs carved into some soft, white rock. Lucy had a good time checking stuff out.

We survived the crazy Las Vegas traffic and made it to La Quinta in the afternoon on Saturday. It was nice to finally get settled in the hotel, driving through Vegas with the trailer was stressful. I think Lucy was also very happy to be out of the car for a while and relax. Poor puppy is 10 years old and used to a little less daily excitement.

Chandler picked up Tayler from the airport and brought him back to the hotel to enjoy a few beers before hitting the strip. Tayler wanted to see the water show and the fire show. Chan and I wanted to ride a roller coaster. The water show at the Bellagio was actually quite impressive and free. We never found out where the fire show was.

We headed to New York New York next for the roller coaster. We played arcade games and skee ball wly ile finishing our drinks. The roller coaster was a bit pricey but totally worth the money.

We spent the rest of the night people watching and wandering around the strip before going back to the hotel.