July 7 - Lake Havasu City to San Diego - 325mi

The whole trip we had great places to stay, either with friends, or great deals on sweet hotel rooms. Lake Havasu City was not as kind to us. At least it was only one night. But, I was kind of worried we wouldn't make it through that one night. So, please do not visit the Havasu Sands Resort, even if it is a great Hotwire deal.

It did have everything it advertised, but only a weird form of it. Here is the kitchen table/counter:

Me unhappily doing dishes in the sink, next to the mini stove, mini drawers and mini fridge.

It even came with holes punched in the doors so we didn't have to do it ourselves!

We didn't take a picture of the ceiling fan, but we didn't dare turn it on, for fear of disturbing the layer of dust. Of course they didn't have a crib, so we made another makeshift one for RaeRae out of a chair shoved in the corner. Despite it not feeling "homey" or "clean," it actually wasn't dirty (except the fan), so we just laughed about it and stayed the night.

Besides the lackluster accommodations, the rest of the day was gorgeous. In fact, this whole trip was a reminder of how diverse and beautiful our country is!

From desert lakes,

through mountains that look like piles of rocks (as opposed to mountains that are one rock, I guess),

to sandy dunes.

Not bad for one day's drive. And for us, it was a short day!

Our midway pit stop was in Yuma, where we found a nice indoor playplace. However, after we got everyone out of the car, through the 100+ degree parking lot, and in line to order, we found out it was closed for cleaning. Because there was an "accident." We did not inquire further, but were glad to know they actually clean those things once in a while. Yuck. Thanks to our trusty smart phones, we found a less contaminated spot to lock our kids up so we could eat lunch.

Don't worry, she escaped!

After our poor luck with the hotel that night, we "splurged" by Pricelining a three-star deal. We were close to all the things we wanted to see... and there weren't any big shirtless guys smoking in the hallway watching us walk to our room.

We were all a little tired of being in the car by this point, so it was nice to have a few days to explore San Diego before heading up to LA.