Travel Home - Day 4

We got up and left the hotel at check out time, which was 11:00. Today the drive was going to be from Vegas to Phoenix. My brother was set to graduate from UTI, an automotive school, on Friday. The rest of my family was driving in from NM the same day, so we were just planning on getting there around the same time. Pretty easy day.

We left the hotel and headed south down Las Vegas Blvd (The Strip) to a place in Vegas that I had never been in all the trips I made to Sin City.....the sign.




I always thought that it was in some faraway place when you first arrive in LV driving in. Little did I know that it was right down the street this whole time!

After taking a couple of pics there, we hit the road. I had heard that crossing the Hoover Dam might take over an hour because of the new bridge construction being so close to finished. I've been over that dam plenty, so we went a different route down through California and across I-10. This plan didn't sound so bad because our hotel happened to be right off of I-10. We stopped for a quick lunch at Quizno's and were off. Not too far into the drive we stopped for some gas, hit some construction, thankfully no traffic, and then this....


I guess it was cool to be in California for a bit. Just added to the states I drove through. We didn't stop until a quick drink/pee break right before turning onto I-10. I think we were on 10 for about 2 miles until....


A few more hours of that road and we were there! Finally a mini-break from driving. My mom and the rest of the crew got to the hotel about 10 minutes before us, so it was perfect timing. The kids and even my sister were excited to be in a hotel. I'm over hotels, so it wasn't anything special for me, but it was fun to be in the vacation atmosphere with them. My sister and I hit up Wal-Mart for some beers and wine for the next few nights. When we got back, it was time for dinner. My mom is an In-n-Out Burger freak, so I conveniently got the hotel right across the street. Of course, we all walked across for some food. It was delicicious. I went into new territory and got a 3x3. Good stuff.
Funny story....my nephew Adrian was done with his food and being a good boy, went to throw the fries he didn't eat in the trash. Nobody really noticed, but then we all heard my mom scream "No!!". All of us turned, freaked out that Adrian was about to hurt himself. Nope. My mom was just mad that he wasted the fries. She might be part crazy.

After dinner, we gathered up a few drinks and hit the hotel pool. It was the perfect time to do it, too. It was probably 8:30 at night, but still in the 90 degree range. Just the kids and I actually got in, but we all hung out outside for a few hours.

Tomorrow....Diego's graduation day!!