Day 5- Tuesday, May 15th-Flagstaff, Arizona to the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas,Nevada 394 miles

Tuesday was Luke's 10th birthday...not many birthday boys can say they spent their day at the Grand Canyon and then landed in Las Vegas, Nevada. On birthdays, we like to go around the dinner table and share some encouraging words with the celebrator. Mercy reminded us to do this in the van on the way back to the Grand Canyon on Tuesday morning. She also remembered that we had not had the chance to do this for Grace, Philip, Curtis, or me due to evening classes and baseball ...it was a sweet time of fellowship to hear the kids share kind words with one another...they also blessed me for Mother's Day/my birthday. It was a welcome break from the inevitable bickering during the long van rides(My friend calls the van/car the metal box of sanctification!!)...this was another 'snapshot of grace' as we shared and listened to each other comment on various ways we see God at work in our family. We spent a little over an hour back at the Grand Canyon so that the kids could finish up their Junior Ranger Program and view the Canyon from some of the vantage points we missed the day before. We listened to a ranger speak about the history of the canyon in the 'amphitheater' outside overlooking the canyon. He was noting how the early explorers thought the canyon was void of any wild life because of the extremes in elevation and topography...suddenly he looked up....it was surreal as a California Condor-one of the rarest birds in the world- flew overhead !! It looks like a turkey buzzard but has a wingspan of 9.5 feet...hard to fathom how large it was as it was so far above our heads...a few minutes later another one flew over. How kind of the Lord to give us yet another glimpse of His creation!

The view in the amphitheater as we listened to the Ranger speak

Junior rangers 'swearing in'! before the big push to Nevada!

Nevada, finally!!!

To view the Hoover Dam we had to pass through a security checkpoint...The latch on our Yakima carrier was not releasing properly so Mark had to climb on the roof to open it for the checkpoint guys.

We decided not to take a tour of the Dam...instead we parked and took a short hike up to the Pat Tillman Memorial walkway...we actually walked above the Dam on the pedestrian walkway as cars whizzed by next to us on the bridge ...this picture was taken from that vantage point. We were all anxious to get back to solid ground!

Another glimpse to show how high up we were...look how tiny the cars seem!

Relaxing in the hot tub in my brother's back yard! Finally we arrived!!

The view from my brother's back yard...that's the Vegas strip in the distance

We were so glad to be at John and Irene's, which would be our 'home base' for a few days....


PS: I apologize for the weird spacing and font...blogger changed their format and I am clueless!