Finishing up the road trip

So, I need to finish writing about my road trip experience! So, now we're at Friday...Friday we woke up and headed to the Grand Canyon. Did you know it's $25 per car to get into the park? Ridiculous. Anyways, I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't be impressed with it. For some reason I was worried that since I'd seen pictures it would just be one of those things where I feel like I'd already seen it and so I was afraid I'd be disappointed because people talk the Grand Canyon up a lot. Well, I was definitely impressed. No picture could ever do the Grand Canyon justice! I could have stared at it forever...the first time I saw it I almost got dizzy from how huge it was and how far back it went! We stopped at two different overlooks on the south rim, and walked around quite a bit. It was cool hearing all the tourists too, with their different accents and languages. There was one old woman who had grey hair and had dyed the tips of some of the strands of her short hair red! She looked like some kind of bird...it was hilarious! So, here are some of my pictures from the Grand Canyon and a few shots of the scenery changing on the drive before we got there:

















Haha, that last one is Jonathan asleep in the car on our way out of the park headed towards Las Vegas.

So, after the Grand Canyon we were on our way to Vegas! We passed the Hoover Dam along the way, and stopped to take pictures. Here are some of mine:





After the Hoover Dam, we were still driving through mountains and just like our friend Kenny, from Viewpoint, told us...it was worth driving into Vegas at night...because it's so dark and then all of the sudden you turn a corner and BOOM! Lights. Everywhere! It was awesome!

Jonathan was driving from the Hoover Dam into Vegas (which was a big accomplishment for him...he crossed the Hoover Dam even though he's afraid of heights!), but once we got into Vegas he got stressed from all the traffic on the strip when we were trying to get to the Bellagio Fountains and so we traded seats and I drove. So I don't have many pictures from Vegas...but here are a couple:




We didn't get to see the water show at the Bellagio, because we were too late driving into Vegas...we didn't have enough time to park somewhere (besides, parking is ridiculous there!) and walk to see it before the last showing at 11:45pm. So, we went to our hotel and took showers. The plan was to freshen up and then go out on the strip...but once we had all taken showers and gotten ready, I had to practically drag the boys out there! Of course, it was almost 2am, but still! We were in Vegas! Surprisingly enough, people actually don't stay out that late in Vegas on a Friday night...because from the time we drove through at around midnight to the time we got back out there around 2am, things looked dramatically different. Of course, we were staying at the Howard Johnson Inn on the wrong end of the strip...where nothing happens and things get sketchy. So, we walked a bit...actually a while...and then went into a casino. The guys wanted to at least be able to say they gambled, so we walked around the casino looking for something they wanted to try out. I had no idea what to do, so I wasn't about to put my money in...but they did. Jonathan lost $1 and David lost $5, I think. :-) Then we left...we walked around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel because we were all really tired.

I don't really have any more pictures from the rest of our journey, because Saturday morning we just drove the 4 hours from Vegas to Redondo Beach, where I'm staying. And once we arrived, we walked out to the beach where I took the pictures I've already posted on here. So, that's the end of the road trip here! Hope you enjoyed reading about it and seeing all the pictures! Sorry it took me so long to get the second half posted.