fried green zucchini

So Kyle had apparently had enough of Nevada casinos and fancy hotels abroad, he was desperate to stay in a Motel 6.  I was thinking about my favorite Motel 6 with the Denny's nearby in St. George, but we were too late to get that far.  We arrived in Mesquite after eight o'clock, felt we had pushed the kids far enough.  We drove around for a while, looking for something simple to appease Kyle, but the Casa Blanca Casino was the best deal we could find.

The cost was twice the price of Buffalo Bill's in Primm, at forty dollars per night for a room with two queen beds, but the lobby/ casino area was considerably less smokey, seedy, dark, and depressing than Buffalo Bill's, and if it's possible to say this about a casino, seemed to have a more wholesome atmosphere.  Grant tore through the casino pushing our stroller into a blackjack table, but the players just laughed... to my relief.

There wasn't much in the way of easy big family food there...a fancy restaurant, a cafe, Starbuck's...so we had Dominoes delivered.  I promised the kids we would swim the next day, since we had a relaxed schedule.

In the morning, the kids and I ate pop tarts, which were half cooked from the heat of the van and made a disgusting mess all over the hotel floor.  Courtney and Zoe made a wiser nutritional choice and headed to the cafe, which turned out to be very reasonable at breakfast time, under four dollars.  We packed up and lugged stuff out to the van. The lady at the desk told me we could swim all day, as long as we were out of the room by eleven.  The pool area had a nice changing area, a water fall, and a fun slide.

Sam and Zoe

Olivia

This is how we knew it was time to get back on the road.

I couldn't control my need to take a picture.

More Arizona.

 We stopped for lunch in St. George.

My sister and I used to love to meet for fried zucchini at Carl's.  This tasted particularly good.

Our last stop...a gas station in Scipio, Utah. It does my inner child good to see road stop curios...Utah shot glasses, bells, salt shakers. Hard to resist.

Can you find the floor?  This van can take no more.