Our Family Adventure: A working vacation (*lots* of photos)

Every month, the social workers in our area from the company where Matt works have a meeting. They "cover" clinics that don't have social workers full-time, until someone new is hired there. So last month, Matt said he'd take the clinic at Bullhead City, just across the Colorado River from Nevada. The kids & I all came with him this week, and we just got back today.

It was a beautiful drive, and we got to Laughlin, Nevada (where our hotel was) after dark, and saw all the casinos lit up in their glory. It's kind of a smaller version of Las Vegas, I guess. The casino resort where we stayed had very inexpensive prices for a decent room, so we put up with the casino atmosphere for a few days.

Oh, and this was our first overnight trip since our move from Michigan last June, as well as our first time out of Arizona since we moved here!

Here's the highlights of our working vacation, along with photos:

Joshua Forest Parkway was on our way to Bullhead City. I took a lot of photos but had a hard time capturing what a Joshua Tree looks like. Think spiky, like something that belongs in a Dr. Seuss book...

All the kids in the van on the way there...

A beautiful sunset view that inspired Jesse to declare this even more beautiful than Michigan! (Which is saying a lot, because the kids are always remembering the things they miss about Michigan!)

We took a couple of walks on the riverwalk by the casinos in Laughlin and went down by the Colorado River. Arizonans really like their water, but the majority of said bodies of water are man-made. So, at risk of sounding like "water snobs", we really enjoyed a "God-made" body of water! The kids picked rocks & shells to their delight, and I just sat by the shore & enjoyed being there. :)

On our Colorado River walk, we saw the strangest sight: many, many birds' nests attached underneath an overhang. The birds were flying frantically, delivering tasty morsels to their babies, all while we walked underneath them. I've never seen anything like it before!

Here's a closer shot of the birds & nests:

Fun at the pool! Here's Marissa, giving Naomi a piggy-back ride in the pool. :)

The kids & I did school in our room during the day, taking breaks to head to the outlet mall for lunch or to the pool or for a walk, etc. It went really quite well! Here are David & Joshua on one of the beds, with the view of the Colorado and the Black Mountains in Arizona. :)

One of the patients at the clinic suggested that we drive on Historic Route 66 and visit Oatman, Arizona. Matt picked us up after work, and we drove straight there. Look at what we found! The wild burros are descendants of those used in the gold mines near Oatman, and they hang around town during business hours. Once everything shuts down, they leave. We caught them just as they were leaving, walking straight at us so we *had* to slow down. It was really fun!

We drove a bit out of town on Route 66, just for fun. It really looked like we were in Carburetor County, from the "Cars" movie! Just for fun, today I Googled to see where "Cars" is supposed to be. Here's an interesting link, and some of the locations were near Oatman! :)

Our first rattlesnake encounter "in the wild" since moving to Arizona was quite safe, although quite close. Matt took this photo out the open window, with the rattlesnake right by the van!