Are We Done Yet?

I've hit my wall. I've been driving too long, I'm exhausted, and any little thing that goes wrong more than likely reduces me to tears (though Chris doesn't know how many times that's happened). I've called my dad in tears several times and he had to help find a place for us to sleep one night because I was close to catatonic sitting in Zion National Park.

We did make it through two nights of camping, which was quite a feat. The Grand Canyon was amazing, I will say. I thoroughly enjoyed the stay there! The next night was camping on the grounds of the Zion Ponderosa Ranch and Resort. We had a campsite, but access to a pool, bathrooms, showers, and WiFi. We went swimming that afternoon, which felt amazing. Then, it was on to Vegas...

We started off the afternoon by realizing we were staying in one of the towers and NOT the pyramid itself at the Luxor. I was less than thrilled, but the booking website finally made sense (Claire's Freak-Out #I-don't-know complete with a phone call to Dad). I also felt like there was almost nothing for us to do, really, since Chris is underage for almost everything. We did decide to go see Criss Angel's BeLIEve show, which was pretty cool. I had expected more of the Cirque du Soleil-style show, but it was just Criss Angel with Cirque influence in the staging and props. Still interesting, just not what I had anticipated. After that, we wanted to walk down to the Bellagio to catch the fountain. The Luxor and the Bellagio are on COMPLETE opposite ends of the strip...and I wore flip-flops. Big mistake. Chris walks fast and I was completely exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel.

We also did not get to Sequoia National Forest as planned. The GPS is dumb, let's just say that. So I spent nine hours straight driving. We also went through an area where there were more Spanish-speaking radio stations than English-speaking. I hated the drive yesterday. Hated. It.

I also want to break Chris' phones...yes, plural. Apparently, people require constant communication with him so one of the phones is ALWAYS buzzing. I'm about ready to break them or throw them out the moving car. It also caused him to not speak for almost the entire drive yesterday...eight hours of silence is not enjoyable if you're driving. Just watch the video posted on the joint blog...it's entertaining to say the least!

BUT, we are out of the desert (thankfully!!). The drives should be more scenic now and the countdown to Grandma's has begun! We will be there on Wednesday evening, so we're getting so close! I'm really really excited to go to Monterey Bay Aquarium today, which is one part of my childhood that I'm extremely happy to relive. We also are staying in San Francisco tonight, so a very short drive.

Oh..and Happy Father's Day!! Thank you, Dad, for letting me vent and just being encouraging not only on this trip but in general. You rock! I love you!!