Phoenix to Vegas

Today we drove from Phoenix, AZ to Las Vegas, NV. We started at Tamara's house in Scottsdale.  I went for a quick mountain bike ride at a local bike trail, then we packed up the car and headed out.  We drove for several hours while Lenny and Hanna napped, then stopped in Kingman on the old Route 66.  In Kingman we stopped at a coffee shop (ok, the only coffee shop) and got apple strudels, brownies, latte and chai.  

The last hour and a half after Kingman was tough because it was dinner time and the kids were tired of being in the car, but eventually we made it to Las Vegas, picked up an order of Pho from a nearby Vietnamese shop that I found on my iphone, and stumbled into our rental house.  Lenny and Hanna let off some steam playing (see video) and then both fell asleep. 

The other drama of the day was that our babysitter, Emilce, didn't make it here in our second car as planned... the oil pressure light went on and we are all worried that may be the end of the Audi.  So she drove it back to LA and will fly out tomorrow. She will be with us till Saturday so Robert and I can get some real desert sports in like climbing and mountain biking. 

My bike on the trail. It was pretty much just me and the cacti!  Apart from one
bike-by cactus attack on my hand, I was mostly unscathed by the ride.

Driving into Vegas, the clouds were amazing with the sun peeking through.

Another amazing light view as we drove into Vegas

Scottsdale afternoon: trains and canals

Sunday afternoon, we first visited the McCormick rail park and then enjoyed ice cream and a walk in the "old town" near canals. Here is the train we all rode:

Ice cream!

And here is a fancy bridge across the canal downtown:

Group shot by a fountain: 

Hanna loved the fountain, except she thought it was a swimming pool.

Mountain biking in the McDowell Regional Park

Nice trails built for mountain biking, only half an hour from T&T's house.

Scottsdale: a morning excursion to a playground

This is our first day of visiting Colette's sister Tam, her husband Tim, and Lenny & Hanna's cousin Sam. We started the day with an outing to a local playground.

Lenny and Sam scooted ahead while the rest of us tried to keep up:

Synchronized swings (should be an Olympic discipline):

Water + sand = fun

The local bikepaths have convenient tunnels under major roads:

And yes, Lenny is wearing only underwear at this point ... the pants became a wet sandy mess.

A beautiful morning of skiing

Another great day at Mammoth. It was still cold and windy, but clear and sunny.  We skiied all morning and then picked up Hanna from daycare and Lenny from ski school and headed back to LA where we will drop off our skis and pick up our camping gear.  Phoenix tomorrow!

Hanna last night at dinner digging into a bowl of black beans. Notice the two spoons!
Hanna is a very enthusiastic eater. 

Colette at the top of Lift 25

View down the slopes

Colette and Robert with Woolly the Mammoth

Robert

Lenny slides down the slope!

Hanna digs into the rice pot at dinner, at a Thai restaurant in
Lancaster on our way home

Powder day!

Unbelievably, a big storm blew in yesterday afternoon and it dumped all night!  This is a huge deal in a drought year that has seen only a handful of small storms.  It was snowing when we woke up this morning, and Lenny and Hanna were fascinated to look out of the hotel window and see the snow everywhere.  Lenny was quite sure that the snow on the road was a mistake on someone's part.  

So we set out on the same routine as yesterday - Hanna dropped off at daycare, Lenny to his ski lesson. Robert and I set off to check out the powder which was very nice, and again there were hardly any people on the slopes.  The visibility was quite low and the wind gusts were high.  Robert was loving his new whole face balaclava, and I was suffering a bit with my turtle fur neck warmer and clear goggles (Lenny claimed that he needed my reflective goggles because he was the only kid wearing sunglasses yesterday). 

When we went back at 10am to check on Lenny, he was indoors coloring and drinking hot chocolate.  He explained that there was too much snow for him to ski.  So I stayed with him while Robert went skiing, then we alternated after lunch so I could get some powder runs in. 

End of the day tally:  

Robert - legs are tired because he went running last week.

Colette - legs are strong from training for 100km bike ride last week!  Wants more powder!

Lenny - too much snow to ski today but excited about tomorrow.  Also discovered he likes hot tubs.

Hanna - likes being the only kid in daycare, and also likes sledding. 

View up the slope around 2pm

View from the gondola up to the base this morning. Yesterday there was no snow here.

Doesn't need a caption

Hanna being very very good (as usual)

Left over picture from yesterday of Lenny skiing alone!

Lenny's first day of skiing

We woke up this morning at the lovely Mammoth Village Lodge.  It is at the base of a 10 minute gondala that drops you off at Canyon Lodge, on the snow.  Lenny and Hanna slept well (apart from when they woke up and cried) and they were excited and ready to go this morning!  Lenny put on his "Mammoth" shirt and was thrilled to head up the gondola with Robert while I dropped off Hanna at the Village day care. 

Lenny in the morning before ski school



Hanna wants to go too



First, they learned to stand on the magic carpet ski lift (inside the arches) and then trot down the "slope" in their ski boots (Lenny is the one on the right)

Then it was time to put on the skis, go up the magic carpet, and down with the instructor!

   Lenny and dada after the lesson, heading home to the Village for lunch and nap.

Made it to mammoth!

Hanna in our hotel room at the Village Lodge

Hanna checks out the courtyard area in the village

Day 1... a slow start

Lenny woke up today for the second day in a row with a fever of 104.  So our trip departure will be pushed back a day until tomorrow, Monday the 24th. 

Lenny is doing ok and enjoying watching "Mama's ipad" in "Mama's bed" while being hand fed cookies and juice!  He seems to have a nasty virus but hopefully will feel well enough to travel tomorrow.

1 week to lift off!

With 1 week to close of escrow and 10 days to our departure date, we have a lot to get done. Moving and packing and repair requests are at the top of the list. Then there is my little 62 mile ride I have been training for on Saturday... 

Lenny and Hanna are happily oblivious!

We have reservations for houses in Mammoth, Vegas, Moab, Sedona, and back to Vegas in May!  This trip is really happening!  In between each vacation rental we will do 3-4 nights of camping in various national parks.

Some people have asked what this trip is all about, so here are some details.  Robert gets a sabbatical this year, after getting tenure last year (yay!) so he can take a few months off.  I have taken off the month of April and squashed my shifts in March and May so that I have almost 2 months off as well.  After much discussion we decided to spend the time on a road trip of the Southwest.

This all happened to coincide with wanting to get a bigger house with more bedrooms, and it's a great market right now for sellers in Santa Monica, so we put the house on the market in February and had offers within days!  Escrow is supposed to close (i.e. the final sale) on March 21st, 2 days before we head out to Mammoth for a few days of skiing. 

So in the next 2 weeks we have to pack for our trip, put all our stuff in storage, sell our house, and do some repairs requested by the buyer. Stay tuned for more updates!