Viva Las Vegas!

Today was mostly spent on the road from Yosemite to Las Vegas. Long Drive, nothing and I mean NOTHING to look at! It's pretty much all in the Mojave Desert. However, we did find a wonderful oasis in the middle of the desert. Caliente, CA to be exact. It was a huge berry farm that sold all kinds of fresh fruit and let you pick your own berries. They gave us little berry baskets and a box and sent us out to the strawberry patch. We all had a great time. Even Mandy had a good time hunting for the ripe berries and holding the baskets. It was hotter than the face of the sun and we all had berry stained fingers when we were done, but it was great fun! We took home almost a whole flat of strawberries that we picked ourselves, fresh peaches and nectarines. The berries are unbelieveably sweet. I think Grace has eaten about a pound of them all by herself!After our all too brief break, we hit the road again. Seriously, the Mojave desert is not a place for humans. It seems like everytime we drive through a place like this...

....desolate, barren...that we see some sort of "compound." As in David Koresh like compound. Today it was graffiti'd houses and barns proclaiming the corruptness of the local sheriff's department. Seriously, the entire barn had the "manifesto" spray painted on it. Not sure what about the great expanse of desert that attracts these types, but believe me we've passed several.

We stopped at In-n-Out burger for lunch. This has become a real favorite of the kids during our time in California. Funny thing is, there is not a kids meal on the menu. They have a very simple menu...hamburger, cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, fries, soft drinks and shakes. That's it, so it's really the food that the kids like. They wanted a picture of it for the blog...

We finally made it to Las Vegas around 5:00. We headed straight for our hotel Circus, Circus. We had chosen this hotel because it seemed more geared for kids with it's own Circus in the lobby. However, once we got to our room, we were so grossed out that we ended up checking out and moving to Excalibur. You know, I'm not snobby. I don't need the Ritz, but I do need clean. Especially with little ones in tow. The room was disgusting. Scott and I both had the heeby jeebies. He called over to Excalibur where they told him they had just renovated, as in just finished a week ago. It's great. Mandy was so excited about the castle. She kept telling Thomas and Grace over and over that were were "seeping in a castle." As we drove down the strip in the dark, Thomas and Grace were mesmerized by the lights and all the activity. Thomas tells Grace,"Oh yeah, this is gonna be home for me one day." Scott and I jsut looked at each other, both thinking "great." We'll be the only couple in the nursing home whose son lives in Vegas and is an Elvis impersonator!

They had a combined Top Five for today:

1. "Picking strawberries."

2. "Seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty" We have an amazing view of the strip from our hotel room and we are right next to New York New York.

3. "The buffet!" They both enjoyed their first Las Vegas Buffet tonight for dinner and were quite amazed!

4. "The girl with the bare bobo on the trapeze!" They caught the trapeze act in the circus and the skeezy hotel before we left. Of course, it is Vegas so the trapeze girl had on some crazy costume...she really was completely covered, she just had her cheeks showing through the costume. Of course, they found this absolutely hysterical!

5. "The castle hotel."

Tomorrow morning we are going to get up and head to the Hoover Dam. Scott has wanted to see the Hoover Dam both times we've been here together and we've never gone! After that we'll head back to the strip. We want to take them to see the white tigers at the Mirage and the sharks at Mandalay Bay. We'll probably stop in M&M World for a while too!

Blessings,
Leslie