Dams, Big Ditches, and Psychic Stewardesses...Family Vacation Fun

The countdown to September 15, 2012 has come and gone!  Not only was the 15^th my mom’s 23^rd birthday (well, she may be a little older, but who’s counting?) but it was also the day Hubsters and I, along with my parents, started our family vacation!

Way back in March, Hubsters and I booked our yearly vacation and invited my parents to come along.  Our destination this year…the Grand Canyon!  Neither my parents nor I have ever been, and Hubsters went when he was 8 years old, so I don’t really count that.  We thought it would be nice to see another part of our country’s vast landscape.

We decided to fly to Las Vegas and then drive to Williams, Arizona where we rented a great house for the week.  I should have known that the vacation was going to be a good one when the stewardess on our flight out west put her hand on my stomach, told me she was a psychic and that I would be having a little girl.  When I told her that we were actually having a little boy, she looked very puzzled and said she thought the doctors were wrong.  She also said that little Bopper was going to have blonde hair.  I didn’t think that was too difficult for her to guess as she had been giving me cups of water every 20 minutes during our 4 hour flight and I was sitting next to my naturally blonde-haired husband.

Las Vegas was hot.  As in 100 degree shot.  Yuck.  Thankfully we only spent the night there which included a birthday dinner for my mom at the Cheesecake Factory before we drove to Arizona, which started with a visit to the Hoover Dam!

The Hoover Dam is amazing.  Run by the Bureau of Reclamation under the Department of the Interior, the Dam is economically self-sufficient as it is funded through the power it sells.  The massive scale of the Dam is hard to imagine, one has to see it to believe it.  We started out with a tour of the innards.

Then we spent some time wandering around, going through the museum, and taking pictures.

Oh, and did I mention that it was hot?  And that my dad makes me laugh?

And for your viewing pleasure…a very amateur video, shot by yours truly.

(Note, the commentary in the background just happened to be playing over the loud speakers and does not necessarily match up with the video)

Then, it was off to Williams, AZ.  We rented a great house, but I forgot to take pictures of it, so you’ll just have to go by the pics that I pilfered from the rental website.  By the way, if you’ve never heard of it, Homeaway is a great site to find vacation rentals.  Hubsters and I have used it more than once and have been pleased.  (Plug done.)  

The house was about 10 minutes from the center of town.  Williams, AZ is a little tourist town that, by my determination, only exists to cater to the tourists who come in the summer to go to the Grand Canyon.  Other than a very small and very touristy downtown road, there is nothing there.  But we enjoyed the peace and quiet that came with being in the middle of nowhere, with the exception of the howling animals at night.  And we also saw some animals (well, a bunny).   

And did I mention that the night sky was amazing?  I mean, AMAZING.  AMAZING!  I’ve never seen stars like that.

We ended up doing two days at the Grand Canyon.  It was beautiful both days we were there.  We took the shuttle bus, talked with a ranger, walked a trail, drank some authentic free Grand Canyon water, took in an IMAX film, and got a little sunburned.  It was wonderful.  A once in a life time opportunity.  Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

 

 

We also spent a day in Flagstaff looking at a large hole created by a meteor.

That evening we went to the Lowell Observatory after a great steak dinner.  The observatory was one of my favorite side trips.  We were there at night so we didn’t get any pictures, but they had telescopes set up all over the campus for visitors to look at the night sky.  We saw the moon, a little constellation affectionately nicknamed Wall-e that looked like the little robot from the Disney movie, and then a cluster of stars called M-15 which is not visible to the naked eye.  Here is a link to some pictures so you know what I’m talking about.  It was amazing to look into the night sky and take in the handiwork of God – to see His creation.

 

That about wrapped up the vacation, and on Friday we made our way back to Las Vegas.  But you can’t go to Vegas without at least taking a drive down the famous Strip.  Dad was very kind and drove slowly down the Strip so that Mom and Hubsters could get some pics.

And Bopper enjoyed the vacation too!