Our original plan was to leave Vegas at 7 AM, but the younger Pisarros preferred to enjoy Vegas a bit longer. Nicholas wanted us to experience a Vegas buffet breakfast, so down we went to a room in the Luxor that was  filled with foods that had originated in many different countries. After French toast, Nicholas had paella. Nick sampled many foods including paella, and he also ordered a custom “everything”  omelet. Carla is not a breakfast person, but she sampled a few things. As for me, I indulged in many things I haven’t eaten in years including  a cheese blintz, an apple crepe, and paella. I also tried country fried steak, something new to me that was very tasty.

After breakfast, Nicholas requested to see the Sphere, which required some tricky driving to reach. Although it was quite large, we all thought it must look a lot more exciting at night. As we got onto the highway, Carla asked if we could return to Vegas next year. One night was not enough. Nicholas was amazed, saying, “I thought all of you would hate Vegas.” We even amazed ourselves by liking it, with no gambling involved!

The Hoover Dam is 37 miles from Vegas, and as it was on our way  to the Grand Canyon anyway, we decided to stop, and we were all glad we did. It is a fantastic mixture of  majestic rock structures and man-made bridges, with the Colorado River below. Unfortunately, the water level is quite low.

Back on the road, we were getting hungry. I had read something about Kingman, Arizona, a town that celebrates itself for being on Historic Route 66, the first completely paved transcontinental highway in the country. We drove into the town. Many of the buildings looked like they were still in the 1960s. We entered Floyd’s Redneck’s  BBQ Cafe. The barbecued brisket sandwiches were Carla’s favorite meal of the trip!

Nicholas drove for hours, as we passed landscapes that looked like they were on the moon. There were red rock hills of all sizes. Occasionally there would be a long-abandoned dwelling. I expected to see an old prospector with a donkey,  such as there were in television shows when I was a child, but there was no  sign of human  or animal life. After awhile we saw long abandoned dwellings of residents from decades ago. Low lying shrubs began to appear, followed by small trees. Then there were a few clusters of homes that were occupied, but they were at least an hour away from any stores or medical facilities.  The highway exits had names like Coyote Canyon and Roadkill Road. While at first ours was the only car on the road, now there were more and more vehicles. About a third of them were cars, another third were eighteen wheelers, and the last third were motor homes.

Eventually we reached the Grand Canyon Plaza  Hotel in Tusayan, Arizona. Our rooms were lovely  and each had a small terrace. Rather than getting back on the road in search of a place for dinner, we ate in the hotel. Nicholas had stuffed potato skins, Carla, a Caesar salad, and Nick and I shared a chef salad.

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