Day 5

Rio Rancho, NM to Henderson, NV

564 miles

So today we left my grandparent's house and headed on the road for my dad's house. I was so excited to get today started because I absolutely love Nevada and I have missed it a lot!

We went through so many different types of weather and temperatures today. We were in the high desert, so it looked warm, but it was about 50 degrees most of the way through New Mexico and into Arizona. We haven't done too much sight seeing on this trip, other than in New Mexico, so I thought it would be a good idea to stop at the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert in Arizona. Turns out it is National Park Week, so it was completely free to get into, which was an added bonus. I believe where we were was about 6,000 feet up, so it was a bit chilly, but definitely worth it to get out of the car and take in the view of the mountains of the Painted Desert.

After that, we had a lot more desert to look forward to. Most of Arizona is pretty boring. Except for Flagstaff...we were in the mountains and it started to snow. Not much though, it was the equivalent of a drizzle. But that was my first time ever driving in snow and it was in Arizona of all places.

Next stop on this leg of the journey was crossing the Hoover Dam. I had no idea there would be so much slow moving traffic. But it took us about 45 minutes to go about 10 or so miles. Kind of annoying, but good for taking pictures. Then finally we were moving again and it was only about 20 minutes to my dad's house. I was so excited when we finally got there that I ran to the door. It is so awesome to be home.

We'll be here for the weekend, then Monday we leave for California.