On the Road Again

I am typing this from Las Vegas! We made it!

We left my parent's house in Saskatoon at 7:00am on Saturday morning. The first part of the drive down to the border was uneventful and boring. Nothing but flat prairies, nothing new there. We made it through the border without any problems! The crossing guard hardly asked any questions. I was driving when we crossed and I was so nervous, but it was all good! We crossed from Alberta into Montana and for a while it was the same old flat lands as the prairies we were leaving behind. THEN we hit the mountains. I can't even describe how incredible they were. I've been to BC plenty of times and I've always thought the mountains there are gorgeous, but even they don't hold a candle to the beauty of those Montana mountains. It was breathtaking. Just when I thought they couldn't get any better, we turned another corner and were hit with a sight more beautiful then the last. I already cannot wait to go home just so I can see those mountains again. If you ever have the opportunity to drive through Montana, DO IT. 

We drove as far as Idaho Falls and stopped for the night. Cassidy had only slept for 20 minutes in the afternoon and by 9:30 was having a full out meltdown in her carseat. I felt so bad for her. She was very overtired but could not get comfortable. She calmed down soon, but stayed awake until we came to a stop at 11:00. Suddenly, as soon as we got in our room she got a second wind and was jumping on the beds and shrieking like a crazy person. It was close to midnight before we all went to sleep, and we had to leave by 6 the next morning to make it to Las Vegas by 4:00pm (that's when we had to check in at our place). This meant 5 hours of sleep for all of us. Cassidy usually needs at least double that. In the morning we were all getting ready quietly while she slept. We were hoping we could move her to her carseat without waking her too much. All of a sudden she sits upright in bed and yells "Hi Dad!" So much for that :)

Day 2 was a shorter driving day but it seemed so much longer. The landscape was more interesting. There were mountains in the distance and lots of hills and curves. We went through a small piece of Arizona, and when I was driving we found ourselves in the most gorgeous canyon. It didn't quite compare to the Montana mountains, but it was a different kind of breathtaking. I really wished I wasn't driving during that part. I don't do well with heights, and I'm used to driving the long, flat, prairies. This was anything but! We were going up and down steep hills, around sharp curves and at a very high elevation. I had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel the whole time, but I did still manage to catch glimpses of the beauty around me. On the way home though, John is driving through that! We are planning to stop at the Grand Canyon on the way home, since we're quite close to it. I am very excited about that!

We made it to Vegas around 3:30. We had fun driving down the strip and seeing things I've only ever seen in movies. Our place where we are staying is great! It's small but cozy. It has a pool and a huge fitness center, and is very close to the hospital and other stores. Plus we can see the strip from our room, which is pretty cool! We got unpacked, then drove over to the hospital, just to make sure we knew how to find it. It was so hard knowing that Aviannah was in there, that we were so close to her and yet weren't able to see her quite yet. We got a  bunch of groceries and now Cassidy is in bed, my parents left to explore the strip and John and I are relaxing. It feels so nice. I think I'm going to like it here.