Finally in Arizona

Leaving Las Vegas was a good thing on the day my husband and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary of the day we met. Why do we celebrate it? Probably because we moved in together just 3 weeks later and for the most part, we feel like we have been married ever since, even though officially it will be only 7 years this August. I suggested to my husband we stay in Vegas to celebrate, thinking that was what he would want, but he said he was tired of the city and wanted to be somewhere natural, beautiful and peaceful. I just love the way he thinks! So off to Hoover Dam and Arizona.

We thought it would be interesting to the kids and us to see this National Historical Landmark. You probably already know that Hoover Dam is a powerful hydroelectric plant that creates enough energy to power all the lights of Las Vegas, parts of Los Angeles and a ton of other towns around the area. You may not know, as we didn't, that since 9-11, it has been on the list for high security, so everyone has to go through a security checkpoint. RVs, trucks and trailers are scrutinized even more. After we drove in stop-and-go traffic for a good 45 minutes on a very hot day, we had to stop, as they wanted us to open our roof carrier. Luckily, after my husband got out to unpack our ladder, I had spoken to the officer for a few minutes and he saw our kids in the back, he decided we were okay and let us pass without having to unpack. So there we were on a Friday, during spring break season, in the heat with a million other travelers trying to get to and across the dam. Let's just say it took awhile. Once we got there, we truly enjoyed our tour. I mean, Hoover Dam is absolutely amazing and it was nice and cool deep inside the ground. We saw the movie on how much man power and cement it took to build that place and all I kept thinking was that humans do some crazy things. I mean they actually built the town Boulder City first, so they could have all the men out there working and have a place to go home to. It was interesting to find out more of what they had to do and sacrifice to create this monstrosity. They are doing it again, too. Since the traffic at Hoover Dam is basically a nightmare, they are building a suspension bridge high above it, so that people can commute and travel a whole lot easier. It was half done while we were there and it will interesting to see it finished, because, as in Hoover Dam style, it is HUGE!

After our tour of the dam, we continued on the road towards the Grand Canyon, though we didn't want to get there for a few days, at least until after Easter weekend was over. The traffic coming from the East into Hoover Dam was even worse than our journey from the West and we counted 6 miles of almost stopped cars. By the fifth mile, we were waving people to turn around, trying to tell them it may not be worth it. We were just glad it wasn't us, and that we were on our way. We were on our way, alright, but did you know there is almost nothing between Hoover Dam and Kingman? It is not a short drive and there is really nothing in between, so we are booking down the road to try to make it to Kingman for dinner. As the sun was setting, we noticed, we couldn't see very well, even though our lights were turned on. Or were they? As it got darker, we realized that we had no headlights. So there we were... driving in the middle of absolute nowhere, a 45 minute drive until we reached Kingman. It was getting really dark (because the middle of nowhere has no street lights), we could barely see the road and we were really grouchy from needing dinner. Not a great time of centered thinking. It was then we noticed our emergency brake light was on. That seemed strange, since the brake was off, not on. We jiggled and wiggled the brake handle and wondered what was happening to our electrical system. Husband decided we needed to stop the car and check it out. I thought, 'No way!' We had little precious light left and losing one minute was less driving visibility for the night and my crazy mind was determined to make it to Kingman. Kingman or Bust! However, once I truly could no longer see, I did pull over and my mind began to imagine us camping on the side of the road. We stopped, and restarted (or should I say rebooted) the car and immediately the brake light was off, and the headlights were on. Our Spirits Renewed! We were going to make it afterall! We found a great hotel, got ourselves some 8:30pm pizza and settled into our place for the night.

Kingman is on historic Route 66, is in the song, "Flagstaff Arizona, don't forget Winona,
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernadino..." and they make sure you know it. Our hotel lobby was plastered with old memorabilia and some of the rooms had plaques that had the names of the famous people of yesteryear who had stayed in them. The breakfast room was like a 50's diner, which the kids thought was pretty cool. It was the Saturday before Easter, and although it is not much of a holiday for us, I was feeling the need to take the kids to a community egg hunt. Something about being on the road and having premium entertaining activities to do and awe-inspiring sights to see all the time, makes one miss the days when just taking the kids to the park with green grass and a fun play structure was the highlight of the week. I longed for community and so that morning I got on the hotel computer and Googled 'Kingman Egg Hunt.' As luck would have it, I found one at 12pm. Plenty of time for the family to sleep in and recover from the day before journey. As I waited for the family to wake up, I was striking up conversation with the hotel front desk attendant. She asked me where I was from and when I said Seattle, she said she grew up around there and loved it. I told her this town was beautiful, too, and what brought here to live in Kingman, Arizona. Her reply, which I will never forget, was, "It's easy to be poor here."

At the park, we saw the usual long lines of children carrying their sacks excited to find lots of candy and hopefully the golden egg, which gave the finder a special prize. I saw my children get excited, too, since they didn't know that it was Easter time. We hadn't dyed any eggs, or put out any decorations to signal that information for them. How fun to see the surprise in their eyes that day. As the kids ran out onto the field, I imagined for a minute that we were home, that this was our neighborhood, and after the hunt, we would get together with our friends while the kids counted and opened their eggs, comparing the goodies they found. It was a moment filled with warmth. Afterwards, unlike our neighborhood, they did not ask for the plastic eggs back and we realized we had a nice amount to have our own hunt in the morning. Charlie took the kids for the day so that I could go out and find some Spring goodies to fill their eggs with. The next morning, we told the kids the Easter Bunny had come and for the first time, they went out and searched in the desert for their eggs. They were dodging cacti, walking over the red lava rocks on a background of Arizona's famous mesas in the distance. Definitely an atypical experience for our memories.

After a few more days, our time in Kingman was over, we had made our reservations. It was time to leave the comforts of this very nice town and head off to camp for a week at the Grand Canyon.