Day #10 Still in, you guessed it... Arizona

Oh. My. God. It is hot. So hot. Dry heat is better, yada, yada, yada... I agree to an extent, but only when it isn't 6 billion degrees and hotter than the devil's butthole. We have leather seats in the car, and we're melting into the seats even with the AC on full blast. It felt like I had died and my hell had gone to hell.

Stop #1: Oatman, AZ - Through a winding road into the Arizona mountains and lots of prayers that the dog wouldn't puke, we arrived in Oatman.  An old abandoned mining town turned tourist stopping point. Us included and I'm not ashamed to say that we went purely for the fact that we read that there are wild burros winding the street.  We started seeing burros standing on the hills and side of the road about 10 miles before our destination so we knew we were getting close.  We got there and parked. I put Addie's shoes on her feet (because it's hot enough to burn Satan on summer vacation), got everyone else out of the car and we started walking. It wasn't long until the burros started approaching. And then a man quickly stepped out of nowhere, tapped me on the shoulder, and told me that the burros hate and expressed that again, *hate*, dogs.  He said we could take our chances, but that the burros will typically approach from behind and bite the dog. So back in the car (with AC blaring) Addie went.  We took turns walking through town.  Kailynn and I went first, and then all three kids walked the second time.  I think each group only took 20 minutes, because just in case I had forgotten to mention - it was hot.

::giggle::

Stop #2 - Area 66 - Yucca, AZ - Quick stop here as the museum was closed, but we walked around for a few minutes and took s couple pictures. No aliens were spotted. 

My two favorite desert "trees." The Saguaro and the Joshua Tree. 

Stop #3 - London Bridge (the original) and a family visit - Lake Havasu, AZ - When we lived in Europe, we visited London and walked across the London bridge only to see a plaque stating that we were not walking on the original. The original had been taken apart piece by piece and rebuilt in Arizona.  I mentioned to the kids that one day we might have to take a family trip to visit, not realizing that my aunt and uncle would later move to Lake Havasu, AZ, home to the London Bridge.  This visit was incredibly special to me since not only was I able to check an item off the bucket list, but living so far from family for the last 20 years, any visit with family means a ton. 

Stop #4 - Blythe Intaglios - Blythe, CA - We are finally in California!  Of course, it's still hot.  We got to the site and the intaglios were a bit of a walk away.  There was no way I could walk miles and miles in search of them.  This made me sad, but I really didn't want to turn this into a dying wish.  

Literally in the middle of nowhere in the hot desert.  Don't want to get lost out here.

With it being so hot - the car read 121 degrees when sitting in the sun, and cooled to 108 only after driving - we were ready to get to our new home.  Finally being in California after a long 10 days of traveling only pushed this desire. Our trip has been amazing, but most of the rest of the things we want to see require walking a distance into the desert and we all agree that maybe we should save those for a cooler time of year.  We figure that we'll see a few stops tomorrow and then keep on driving cutting three days off our trip.  Tomorrow night we'll be home!