Here’s the episode 4 from my great road trip in the USA.
Previously: After a very busy phasis with my kids at home and a quite difficult year (when two of my best friends passed…), my lovely husband accepted that I go alone to realize my dream about visiting the Great West areas for the third tim in my life.
Going alone 9000 kilometers from home when you have children and a clientele to manage is a real adventure. You are permanently oscillating in joy, discovery and a little guilt. Leaving your children for several weeks is difficult. That’s why I kept postponing this trip…
I am happy to have been able to go to the USA at a time when the major sites and national parks were almost empty due to the Covid. In July 2022, the USA finally emerged from the pandemic. Result: a very little frequented Vegas, a Grand Canyon for me alone (or almost), and desert landscapes even in places usually crowded as popular as Bryce Canyon! In short, I experienced there a unique opportunity to visit without standing in line nor confronting untimely jostling. The last time I came there I was in my 20. I now enjoy the trip with a different vision.
As you know if you usually read my posts, this blog saved me last year from an ultra-gloomy period. Writing about my children, the education I provide them but also my life as a woman, a mother, a wife and freelancer seemed useful to me. I enjoy expressing myself in writing because I am a former journalist turned therapist. I missed the keyboard. Today I compel myself to write at least one article a week here, a good way to unload all that I have in my heart and in my mind.
Apart from my children, writing is probably what I missed the most during my stay in the USA!
The fourth step of my trip was Laughlin, a small casino town held by indian native people, situated on the banks of the Colorado River. It’s a downright enchanting town that mixes pavilions with a few pretty hotels and some high buildings. The Colorado at this place is verdant, surrounded by palm trees. Landing in Laughlin and strolling along the banks of the Colorado, I have the feeling of walking near the Nile!
The water is very clear and many water activities such as paddle and sea scooter are available. Laughlin is truly an oasis in the desert, not far from the road to Monument Valley.
Despite the 40 degrees in the shade that day and an evening that felt like I was in an oven, the Colorado river offers its freshness. I was delighted to get a room on the 17th floor of the Water Edge hotel and thus overlook the city. The view from my room was amazing. I could really make out, even at night, the edge of the city and the beginning of the desert, as well as the road leading to the Grand Canyon.
So here I am, arriving in Laughlin around 8:00 p.m., just enough time to take a shower after a day in the bus and to put on a dress suitable for the evening.
With my friend met on the way we took the time to make some pictures of the night falling on the river and the salmon pink setting sun which was reflected in the glass of the buildings. Here the palm trees are kings and this city is very exotic for us French people.
We had the diner with other people at a large table in a restaurant with an incredible pink bay window overlooking the water. Of course we were all quite exhausted from the day but the night had only just begun!
We visited the local casino and we even got lost there. We spent about 45 minutes to find the exit! We will be explained later that everything is designed so that tourists spend as much time as possible in the casino which is full of small restaurants, gaming rooms and even a bowling alley.
The whole group was then seduced by the hotel’s superb swimming pool. Personally, that was the first time I’ve bathed at night and in such a heat, under a mega building!
The music of the 90″s resonated at the swimming pool wherea party organized. All this was relaxing! The night has been punctuated by the best hits of the group “Ace Of Base”.
This night was very short. When I returned to my room after the swimming pool it was already almost 2:00 in the morning and I had to get up at 5:00. In such a road trip with many stages as much to say that the hotel rooms constitute only some brief transitions. The ultra-hot shower to wake up in the morning after so little sleep is essential. When I got up I phoned my children whose day in France was already well underway.
On returning to the bus, I saw this boy I had met arriving in Los Angeles. Barely time for a wave of the hand, a coffee and scrambled eggs at Denny’s and the journey resumed. Direction Monument Valley.
Navajo songs resonated in the bus. The landscapes were already stunning on the road, a long time before the arrival on the famous site. Seeing red earth everywhere always gives me wings! I felt I was there on a sacred land.
I felt extremely happy to undertake this new visit alone but connected by Whatsapp with my husband and my children… A great moment!
That evening in Laughlin gave me back my taste for freedom. A flashback. It’s been a long time since I felt so young and determined to enjoy the good times Life gives us. Having my husband on the phone who regularly tells me to enjoy and have fun helped reassure me and take away the guilt I was talking about in the episode 1. I became fully aware that this trip had been difficult to organize, that it was a significant expense and that now it should bring me a lot of benefits in terms of my Self-Love.
