Making time for much needed relaxing at Lake Mead
This was our first time we decided to veer from “The Plan.” We were originally booked to stay at a private ranch in Utah. On a hunch I suggested we check out the road that led up to this ranch, to make sure that the motorhome would be able to get up safely. I honestly don’t know how to verbalize how terrifying this road was, even in our little hatchback. My tears of terror result in the children crying as we ascended this one lane, torn up clay road, only feet from the cliff that would plunge us thousands of feet into the valley below the mesa, all while passing crosses erected by family and friends of those who had plunged off in the past. Yeah, I couldn’t even get up to the ranch in the car, so it was a no-go for Big Dan and more importantly myself.
But now the question was, where to go? We opted for Lake Mead, and I found a single night spot in the private RV park located within the national recreation area, and right on the lake. As we pulled into the area memories from Aaron’s childhood family outings at this lake came flooding back, along with questions of why we failed to plan this destination into our trip. We only had one night here though, and the private campground we were at was fully booked.
We drove to Vegas that night, just to drive the strip and show the kids the lights. Maybe its because we’ve been in nature for months and they’ve just forgotten what a big city is like, but they sounded like kids who’ve never seen the lights of a big city. They were gobsmacked, oohing and ahhing as we drove. Wade would say that he loved it, then would make puke sounds every time he rolled his window down. The flashing lights kept their attention from the girls walking around in pasties. Amelia wanted to come back to see all the shows and check out inside the buildings. And Aaron and I talked about how we could extend our stay at the lake.
Interestingly the national campground was right next door, and this campground is all first come first served. I have not planned on any of this type of camping because of my need to know that we will have a safe place to sleep, and the anxiety of not know if we’d have somewhere to old is really not my jam. But all of the sudden we were in a position to give it a shot. Aaron chatted up the rangers and found out who was planning on leaving the next morning and what spots were the best. Aaron woke up at 7am and started circling the campground on his bike, but he had a specific spot in mind - a pretty corner one with lots of privacy and a shade structure. Once the current tenants pulled out he parked himself and his bike and called me too drive the car over.
We decided to stay 3 extra days here. I called the hotel at our next stop and pushed back our stay, allowing us to have a memorable and relaxing time here. We were able to finally spend some more time practicing on the paddle boards, even if the lake was a tad chilly. We did homeschool on the beach, and Amelia lost a tooth there. We visited the Hoover Dam and hiked the path where the railroad used to bring supplies too the dam while it was being built. We rode our bikes, although the kids mostly walked them up the hill, I walked mine down the hill. And we reminisced about Aaron’s childhood and the times he’d spent fishing and camping on the lake, making plans to return again.
And I completely forgot, so came back to add - 2 hummingbirds flew into our RV while we were here. Both had to be caught and released. Then in the second spot we were in there were hummingbird nests in the roof of the patio on our site, so we had lots of fun watching them, enough to inspire Amelia to write a poem.
