Las Vegas and Death Valley

After leaving Grand Canyon on the Friday afternoon we stopped by the IMAX theater and watched the most watch IMAX movie in the world. It was certainly worth it to be able to go into the depths of the Grand Canyon from the comfort of your seat. After we travelled all the way to Kingman and ended up staying a a dodgy RV park for the night. We used the opportunity to do some washing as we had planned to stay in the Church car park of Grace Valley Reformed Church in Las Vegas the following night.

The drive to Las vegas was very nice with the changes in scenery. There was a really cool part of the drive where after driving along a flat plain for quite a few miles, the road curved gently to the left and up a slight slope. Then, at the top of the rise it almost appeared that the earth dropped away into a rugged series of mountains and steep valleys. The contrast was amazing.

An to top it off, Hoover Dam was a fascinating visit. The new bridge over the canyon was very grand - especially as you did not really notice it from the top on the highway, but down near the dam it looked really good. We had a tour of the dam and the interesting museum. It certainly was a big project back in the 1930's.

We arrived at the Grace Valley Reformed Church after some shopping and settled in for the night. We were able to speak to the pastor and his wife during the afternoon as well, and it was just as well, for the generator played up again, with the same problem as before. We contacted the pastor and were able to arrange for an extension chord to connect to a power point.
The following day we attended the church services. They both contained the same message but the format of each of the services was different. We heard a very powerful message about the place and importance of the the shepherd's in the announcement of the birth of Christ. During the second service we met with another family who were travelling, who we found out later were on a 4 month trip through the states. We spent some time chatting to them during the afternoon and later met up again in the RV Park in Boulder City. The kids really hit off with each other as they had 3 girls the same age as our oldest 3 girls.

That evening we had a really good chat with Greg and Becky, while the children watched a movie together. We planned to travel to Death Valley and camp togther for the following night. It was great to be able to share different stories together and get to know each other better. It was a lovely and relaxing evening.

The next morening we travelled to Death Valley and arrived about lunchtime. We met with the vandenAkkers, and went to the lowest point in the USA, Deadwater Basin. The salt lake was interesting, and looked even better the further out one went, beyond where most tourists walk. While there we met a coupe who the day before had walked to the top of Mt Telephone, the tallest point in California and also part of Death Valley National Park,  which is at over 11000 ft. We also visited Golden Canyon which was a fantastic geological walk with the layers in the sandstone very obvious, as well as the angles and colours that we could see. The kids loved playing in the small canyons that come off the main path.

While dinner was being perpaired, we went for a swim in the warm spring swimming pool. It was beautiful and warm. The evening was similar to the pervious and we spent the night talking and sharing home stories while the kids watched some more movies. It was a great time.