Day 16

Yesterday we traveled to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was a great ending to our road trip. The city of Hot Springs is quaint, with little shops and restaurants across from old bath houses from many decades ago. We ate lunch at a hamburger place and then crossed the street and toured one of the bath houses. Later we hiked the area and touched a couple of the hot springs and tasted the water. We finished the day by swimming in one of the creeks by at the bottom of the mountain. We had a blast.

We are sad to see the road trip come to an end. It truely was the adventure we hoped it would be. Getting in the car and just driving somewhere is easier than it sounds and hopefully we can plan another adventure in the near future.

A special thanks to Julie, Rick, and family for a great two days in Atlanta. We loved hanging out with the whole Jurin clan. To Chris, Jennifer, and Jacob, we loved our cookout and our short visit. Thank you so much for the hospitality. To Debbie, Jim, Kristin, and Jimmy, Colorado was spectacular. You guys were amazing tour guides, wonderful hosts, and we definitely want to come back soon! Finally, Gretchen, Bill, Sarah, and Charlotte, we already miss you. We were so happy to see you settled in to your new home. We are sad to not have you in Florida anymore, but glad that everything worked out. we loved going to the beach, hiking the mountains, and introducing our kids to the flavors of the Las Vegas strip. Boy did the kids get an education!

We would love the opportunity to return the hospitality so please come visit us soon!

Love, Kim, Dennis, Zak, and Devin

Day 15

Yesterday we traveled from New Mexico to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. We stopped at Palo Duro Canyon located just south of Amarillo, Texas. They say that it is the second largest canyon next to the Grand Canyon. Hmmmm.....not so sure about that, but we had a great time hiking at the bottom and climbing some of the mountains. The rock was very loose and we had to slide down on our bottoms to get down. The rest of the day was spent driving through Oklahoma.

Today, we are taking the scenic route to Hot Springs and then trying to get to Birmingham, Alabama to prepare for the ride home.

Day 14

Yesterday we stayed in a train car in Arizona. WE stayed the night in the town of Williams, Arizona, located on rt 66. We went to a cool restaurant in town and saw a gun fight. The next day,we went to Sunset Crater. Saw a volcano lava beds and went on a hike. Later we went to Petrified Forest national park. It was awesome. We also went to the Indian ruins. It was really fun.

Day 13

Today we left Las Vegas and drove to the Grand Canyon. It took us quite a while to get there and when we arrived, it was raining. we made the best of it and pulled out our raincoats. Due to the weather, we did not go on any hikes. We just got a really good look.

We came back to Williams, Arizona to our train car motel. It is pretty nice. Pictures to come. The town of williams is very quaint and located right on Route 66. We saw a gun show in the street and ate really good tex mex.

Day 12

Yesterday we visited the Las Vegas strip. We spent the morning going to the Adventure Dome in the Circus Circus Casino. Gretchen, Sarah, and Charlotte came with us. The were a ton of cool rides in this indoor amusement park, which was nice because it was 110 degrees outside.

Later, we explored the strip on the monorail and went inside many of the really nice casinos. We went to MGM Grand, The Bellagio, and a few others. It was very hot, but we were in good company. We will miss the Cunningham's dearly.

Day 11

Today we went to Mount Charleston to escape the heat of Las Vegas. It was 20 degrees cooler in the mountains than in Vegas. We took a hike to the top of the mountain and played in a waterfall.


Later, we went to Fremont street to watch a really cool light show. We loved the neon lights and the impersonators all over the place. There was an amazing saxophone player that we listened to.

Day 10 Part 2

In the early evening we went to Red Rock Canyon. We decided to go after dinner to escape the heat. There were easy mountains to climb all over the place. We had fun on nature's playground.

Day 9 & 10

Yesterday we left Utah and drove to Zion National Park. We took the quick view, because we wanted to get to Las Vegas to hang out with the Cunningham family. We decided to take a fast hike down to Taylor Creek and pulled over to see a few scenic views.

The ride to Las Vegas took us through a small part of Arizona through desert canyons and white colored cliffs. We saw Joshua trees everywhere.

When we got to the Cunningham's house we chilled out in the air conditioning and relaxed.

Today we went to Hoover Dam and then to Boulder Beach on Lake Mead. The beach looked like it belonged on the moon. The sad part about the day is the fact that the beach was extremely polluted.