Letter L-ing it from Canada to Texas!

Letter L-ing it across the continent (in honour of the Lorusso name, of course ;)) 

1 province and 7 states, 4 430 km, 46 driving hours, over the span of 8 days...brought us back to our home in Fort Worth, Texas. What sweetened the deal is that we got to share it with friends. John and Jackie Rice mentioned several months earlier that they'd possibly be interested in driving down to Texas with us and we took them seriously...and made an adventure out of it.

On our honeymoon we somehow got stuck in a time-share presentation (after being warned many times prior by my dad to watch out for them :))...we were shocked and annoyed that they especially tried to influence us towards buying with the idea that we NEEDed a vacation place to regularly take our family in the years to come. Since when did our blessings and privileges become needs? I think of this often now anytime that we travel and it has caused me to be even more thankful for opportunities to go places, see things, to enjoy life and the world which God created!

Butte, MT (looked at the copper mine mansions, walked up to the headframes (required trespassing, but after we had been given 'permission' by one of the locals))

Salt Lake City, UT (explored the state building, toured the Beehive house (Brigham Young's historic home), got asked to leave the Beehive house because we wouldn't convert, walked around the Temple square, took pictures of Tim Horton's coffee cups with the statues of the Mormon founders/leaders)

Zion National Park, UT (rode the shuttle through the canyon, drove through a mile-long tunnel, hiked, hung out with the squirrels, nearly died of heat exhaustion)

Las Vegas, NV (walked the strip, explored the hotels and casinos, went outlet mall shopping, relaxed at our cheap and beautiful resort!)

Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV (probably our favourite part of the Vegas chapter - toured the resort, ate at the buffet (thanks Dad&Mom :)), watched the fountain show 2x, watched John and Jackie fight off cockroaches during the fountain show)

Hoover Dam, UT (drove across the dam, toured the power plant and visitor center museum)

Grand Canyon National Park, AZ (rode the shuttle/hiked the rim of the canyon)