It’s time to head back out onto the road for our next adventure – Death Valley! We took a specific route so we could see what death valley looks like as we have been told its a whole lot of nothing. Today’s drive is about 6 hours long which the kids weren’t too excited about but on the way we go! One of the most exciting sites and stops of today for us adults was being able to see the highest and lowest point in the United States. Mount Whitney is the highest point standing at 14,505 in elevation, and we drove by it on the way to Death Valley. It is made of granite rock and looks beautiful. The lowest point will be in Death Valley – Badwater Basin which is 282 feet below sea level. Another fun fact – both locations are only 85 miles away from each other.

The drive into Death Valley was incredible. I have to say some of it did look like the desert near our house but the color changes in rock and soil were amazing. It changed from black to red to cream often.  I am super thankful we took the time to drive through even though it was a little out of the way. The pictures below you can see some of the colors in the rock along with how beautiful the scenery was as we are passing through it. Badwater Basin was a half an hour out of the way but was worth seeing. The temperature reached 122 degrees when we finally got to the destination and got out to walk on the salt floor. You can walk a considerable distance on the salt floor, but it was so hot that we decided to take a couple of pictures and move on! Being 122 degrees my phone overheated fast and my watch was burning my wrist within a couple of minutes.

On our way back out we were on our way to Las Vegas! This will be the first time that the kids have been to Las Vegas and this was the most exciting part for them. As we approached the strip, we talked about all the hotels you can see and took a drive down the entire strip until we got to our hotel the Luxor. Most of you probably know that the Luxor is on the far end of the strip. Travis and I haven’t stayed there yet, so this was just as exciting to us! Our stay was fabulous, the room was nice and roomy, and the kids had a blast. After checking into our room, we decided to have dinner. Along the way, we happen to see that they had a whole area for the Esports Area. For you that don’t know, this is where all the big tube names gathered to play Fortnite for charities. The entire set up was terrific and the kids couldn’t believe we were at the exact place where that event was held a couple of weeks back.

The Esports arena had a complete set up of PS4, computers, and Xbox. It was decked out in the coolest chairs, headphones, and gear. You can drop your kids off there for a fee – which in all honestly wasn’t a lot. Since most of the area was taken up at the moment, we decided to walk the strip some and walk back around ten so they could play. They were beyond excited. Playing in Vegas was the highlight of the trip for them! We set out down the strip to see M&M world, Coke Store, Excalibur Arcade, and Bellagio Water Show. It was a whole lot of walking, but everyone seemed to have a good time. The arcade was fairly packed but they each got to spend $5 bucks on games. That took a good hour to even go through money wise. Kobe scored a bunch of stuffed animals that we got to carry around too. The water show was fantastic at night; it is always a favorite of mine. We then got to walk back to the Luxor so the kids could play a little Fortnite before they close at midnight.

While all four boys played on the games, I enjoyed some quiet time for myself.  Haha! I loved watching them all have a blast playing with one another too. We stayed until they almost closed, and then we headed back to the room. One of the funny things along the way was how it is like 1 in the morning the kids weren’t feeling tired. Las Vegas sucked them in good, don’t you say? That’s the whole point, which just made us laugh. After heading to bed that night we slept in longer than planned and heading out of town took longer than we expected. That’s a different story for another day here soon! Today’s adventure was awesome, and the kids were thrilled to be here. This was one day for the books! Stay tuned for more.