On the road with Mia and Norah!

Two weeks ago the family went on a mini-vacation to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. We couldn't afford to do much, but Krys found a "stay two nights, get the third one free" deal for the London Bridge Resort, so we figured it was a place we ought to see before we escaped from Arizona. Lake Havasu City is famous, if it's famous for anything, for buying London Bridge 50 years ago and transplanting it into the Arizona desert. (It was actually the tycoon who created the town who bought it, and then he donated it to the state, who gave it back to the family when it became too expensive to maintain, so it's now considered the world's largest antique.) So we loaded the kids in the van, and off we went!

The drive west and then north across the desert ought to be wildly uneventful, but that wouldn't be any fun, would it? About ten miles on this side of Quartzsite, AZ, while we were still on I-10 and about 85 miles south of our destination, the van's air conditioning went out. Actually, it started blowing hot air, which was, if possible, worse than it going out (and Krys continued to leave it on, blowing hot air at us, because she claimed the moving air would feel better than nothing - I didn't buy that). So we continued on in our suddenly very hot van. And then north of Quartzsite on the road to Lake Havasu, I got pulled over by a cop.

This police man claimed I was speeding, doing 62 in a 45-mph zone. I was a bit grumpy not only because of the lack of AC but because I was convinced I was in a 55-mph zone and therefore shouldn't have been pulled over (using the strange logic that doing less than 10 mph over the posted speed limit doesn't count as speeding, which seems to hold no matter where you are). Krys told the cop that our AC was out and that we had kids in the car (I didn't want to because I didn't want to sound wheedling; women can get away with pleading for leniancy more than men can, I think), and I just told him that I was in a 55-mph zone and if he needed to give me a ticket, he should just get it over with (I told him to do what he had to do, because I didn't really care - I just wanted to get moving again so we could get there). He went back and talked on his radio for a bit and then let me go. How nice of him. Krys was convinced that he let us go because he made a mistake and we really were in a 55-mph zone. When we were coming home we looked at every sign on the opposite side of the road, and I'm fairly sure she's right. He probably didn't admit it because I was being a bit of a jerk. But I knew it was 55 there!

Norah did not have a pleasant journey without the AC. Mia didn't either, but she's so stoic that she only started getting whiny right at the end of the voyage. She also didn't drink as much as she should have - we kept giving her water and she just ignored it, because that's what she does. We put the windows down a bit and hoped we could get there as fast as possible, but Norah started whining pretty early on in the non-AC portion of the trip. She needed to pee, so we stopped. She said she needed to poop, so we stopped. She didn't poop, however, and I told her the more we stopped, the hotter it would get and maybe she could soldier on. We finally made it to the hotel and almost ran into the air conditioned lobby. Both kids were bright red. It was no fun at all.

The next day I took the car to the local Toyota dealer, and they kept it until we left. That was through no plan of ours, of course - they had to order a new compressor, so getting it fixed on Monday was out (we arrived on Sunday night). They started working on it on Tuesday, but it took longer than they expected (which always happens, of course). I told them we were checking out on Wednesday morning at 11, so I had to have my car by then, and on Wednesday morning I was able to get to the dealer and get back and on the road by 10, so at least they were good with that. We didn't really need a car - there's not a lot to do in Lake Havasu, especially with two young children (and one handicapped one), so we knew we'd probably stay near the hotel for two days, but it still would have been nice to have one. We didn't go out to dinner because even though there were some restaurants near the hotel, they were too far away to walk (it's still summer in Arizona, after all). We were staying in a time-share-type room, so it had a kitchenette and we had plenty of food, so that wasn't a concern, but it would have been nice to go out once. But we really didn't need a car, so that wasn't an issue.

We had a nice relaxing few days. Mia, of course, wanted to watch TV the entire time, so I spent a good deal of time in the room (luckily they had Wi-Fi, so I could get on the Internet). Norah and Krys went in the pool a lot. We did go on a boat ride around Lake Havasu and the island that was created when London Bridge was erected, so that was fun - nice and windy, and highly informative. The kids didn't love it, but that's just the way it is, right? We also walked across the bridge on Tuesday and ate lunch on the other side before walking back. As I mentioned, there's not much to do. We thought about renting a canoe and heading out by ourselves, but Mia would be a pain in the butt and I doubt if Norah would have enjoyed it, either. Maybe when she's a bit older and can help more. I didn't really care - it was relaxing after two hectic days at the San Diego Comic-Con.

So we came back on Wednesday and settled back in. Krys took the entire week off from work, so she had a couple of days at home to recharge. I certainly don't think that Lake Havasu is a wonderful vacation spot, but it was kind of neat to see the bridge, mainly because it looks so out of place. Maybe next year we'll be able to go someplace a bit more interesting for a vacation!

This week the kids go back to school. The drama has already started! But that's a post for another day!