August 15, 2013 Day –thirty-seven

Las Vegas NV, home

We both woke up with the feeling it was time to head for home.  Getting out of Vegas was a hassle, with traffic, and we were trying to find a simple place for breakfast and it is clear that Vegas is a town built for the night not for the morning.  Places were either strange bars, had no parking or weren’t yet open.  We opted to get out of town and eat granola bars and yogurt from our own stock.  Time to head home!

It is always good when coming back form a long trip, to get to the Welcome to California sign.  Almost home.

Just after we passed the border we could again see the new solar plant.  It is the largest such plant in the world.  It uses mirrors to focus the sun on towers to heat a solution into steam which drives generators to create electricity.  These arrays are unbelievably huge, spreading across the valley floor.  Those mirrors facing somewhat in our direction certainly were bright.  We agreed that we did not want to be responsible for dusting all of those mirrors.

We were struck again by how dry the Mojave Dessert is.  The drive through the mountains and  valleys are an ever changing mosaic of rocks, sand, and very hardy plants.  At this point in our trips we always do some reflection.  It gives us a chance to not only quantify what we have done but to discuss what it has meant to us.

So, what did we do on our summer vacation?  During the past five weeks we:

* Visited 12 states

* Went to 10 national parks, 4 national monuments, and 10 national historic sites

* Went to 5 museums, 1 zoo, 1 landscape arboretum

* Drove about 7,000 miles

* Went on a river raft float trip

* Went to many ranger talks and the victors centers at each of the parks

* Saw family and friends

* Saw bison, mule deer, elk, wild burros, wild horses, rabbits, prairie dogs, golden mantel ground squirrels, sand hills cranes, chimp monks, bald eagles, osprey, peregrine falcons, cormorants, vultures, red-tailed hawks, white pelicans, skunks, prong horn, moose,

* Drove through low desert, high desert, alpine mountains, prairie, hardwood forest, arboreal forest 

* We saw license plates from every state except for Rhode Island, and lots of the Canadian provinces

* Were in three different time zones

* Experienced temperatures from 34 to 104 degrees

Home

We both agree that the best part of the trip was doing it together, and even after being together virtually 24 hours a day for 37 days, we are still very happy to be together and so glad to be coming home together.  Ready to settle in to our lives, not having found any place we would rather be living.  And already starting to plan, the next adventures.  Stay tuned.

“All journeys eventually end in the same place, home.”
― Chris Geiger