Hello, dear Wave blog readers! Did you miss me? It's okay if you didn't, we've never actually met so I won't be heartbroken. 

I know I said I would post daily blogs but you guys will not believe the madness this trip has already produced. 

Buckle up, because I am about to take you on a wild ride. 

Southern California To Las Vegas

As my mom and I left sunny, Southern California, I thought all was going to be good. I was sipping a perfectly chilled Mango Wave Soda, we were listening to a book on tape, and I could drive in the HOV lane. 

All was good until about thirty minutes in, (after vigorously setting and resetting our maps), that we realized the Hoover Dam was not open. This was set to be our first stop-off as it is just outside of Vegas and a famous landmark that I have never seen. After stressing and stressing some more, we changed our route to Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch and continued on full speed ahead. 

Once again I naively thought that all of our problems were behind us. 

I missed the turn into the ranch, unsurprisingly, but chucked a U-turn at the first opportunity. As we go to pull in I realize there is a little bit of a gravel hill blocking us from the parking lot so I quickly wake up my napping mom to ask if I should drive over it. This was about the time that I learned that half-asleep moms are not moms. 

You know how moms are basically the queens of all humanity and can fix any problem and find any missing sock? Well, because they expend SO much energy crushing life on a regular basis, when they are sleeping all of that shut-offs for a much-needed recharge and leaves the rest of us with a groggy outer shell where our once-invincible super mom used to be. 

In saying all that, yes, my mom did okay the driving of our Prius onto this gravel hill and yes, we did get immediately and aggressively stuck. What can you do? 

Her mom-ness kicked in real soon after that as she jumped out of the car and guided me off the gravel ledge, but by the sound our car was making I was sure we were going to have to call a tow-truck and consider the trip a wash. 

Thankfully, we did not, and the result was a slightly shaken up Allie, and a very cool art exhibit. 

Now I know you're probably thinking at this point, "These women need some serious help", but I think you should really hold that comment for another 48 hours because things only get looser. 

Thankfully, the rest of our drive to Las Vegas was much less eventful. 

Although, in the spirit of keeping things inconvenient, we missed the turnoff for the "Welcome To Nevada" sign, and then in pursuit of a wonderful art installation, we followed our maps 15 minutes into the desert in the wrong direction. But what are mistakes for except to create hilarious memories?!

We found our way back and stopped at the Seven Magic Mountains and took some cool pictures. By now, I was cursing myself for not putting more Wave Soda into our cooler because the desert was clocking in at about 107 degrees and I needed a cool and refreshing drink. 

Leaving the Seven Magic Mountains, we headed towards our place for the night and I desperately clicked around on the Wave Soda website to find our convenient store locator feature so I could pick up some more delicious soda for the trip.

When I discovered that Whole Foods right by our accommodation carried Wave, I firmly decided that there is a god, and she must drink Wave Soda.