Vegas, Our Way

We always have fun in Las Vegas, but probably not the kind of fun most people associate with Las Vegas. We did stay in a casino, but it's a bit off the strip, so not so spendy. We've stayed there before and we like it because we can get from the parking garage to our room without having to walk through the casino and bad air. This casino has a bowling alley with seventy lanes. We bowled two games each. I showed improvement! The first time I scored 66 and the second time I scored 67. We had a blast anyways! This casino also has eighteen movie theaters, but we've never had the time to actually go to a movie there. K bought tickets for a show at the MGM Grand--we saw KA. It's one of those Cirque du Soleil shows and it was fabulous. We really enjoyed it more than we thought we would. Wow. So...city park, Vegas show, bowling, buffet, Church, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire...THAT'S how WE do Vegas! I put the picture of the peacock feather at the beginning because it's the closest thing we really saw to a Vegas Showgirl!
Here's my Birthday Boy so happy to be outside in the nice weather having a picnic lunch. One of our first stops on Saturday was a park called Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs, a city park inside Las Vegas City Limits. We really enjoyed it!

Meet Harry. Harry does a great job of taking care of the place. In K's words, this park had "all manner of fowl." I can't tell you how many species of birds we saw, but the flocks were multitudinous. There were several ponds and people were fishing and we enjoyed walking around everywhere. We stepped on all types of fowl excrement. I couldn't help think about it later when the guy at the bowling alley asked for one shoe from each of us. "Here you go..."

You've heard of someone giving a "sideways glance?" Well, Harry did. Harry gave me one long sideways glance.

Harry hissed at me. He closed his beak before I could photograph it wide open, but after he hissed, he honked at the others to warn them of the approaching woman. He raised up, stretching his neck skyward as if to say, "One more step, Lady, and I'm comin' after ya!" Clearly, I knew Harry meant business, so I backed off. Maybe another time, Harry.

You put your right leg in, you put your right leg out...

...And shake it all about!

Someone's having a bad hair day. Actually I worry about this one, but she looks happy, well-fed...I guess she's surviving with a broken feather or whatever.

What do you suppose the heritage of this guy is? Honestly, he looks half turkey and half white goose...I don't know. He was with a hundred other geese eating handouts thrown to him. I think he gets a lot more thrown to him, because he is a different looking creature. Hm...

There were peacocks (and peacock poop) all over the place. Why do they get to be so blue? I can see that in the rainforest, but here? I don't get it.

On Sunday, we went to church at the Hacienda Heights Ward. Great folks! Everyone thought we were there for Benny, a twenty-something guy who was getting confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. "Are you here for Benny?" "You must be here for Benny!" Sunday School was good, but I just loved Relief Society, probably because they gave me chocolate first thing! They have this little basket of welcome cards with a Hershey's Nugget attached with a message welcoming visitors and saying they hope we can find some "nugget" of truth to take away from their meeting. These people know how to make friends fast. And then...the sister who was teaching the lesson just happened to be giving out chocolate chip cookies! I took a small bite and saved the rest for K--yeah, I was feeling guilty about all the chocolate when I was sure he was getting no such thing in Priesthood Meeting. It was HIS big birthday bash weekend, so I shared. After church, we tried to visit the old Historic Mormon Fort, but it was closed. So then...we headed out to one of our favorite spots...RED ROCK CANYON. They have some "Watch out for Desert Tortoises!" signs on the road, so I got all excited, but then I read something in the pamphlet that said the desert tortoise spends ninety-five percent of its life in burrows. NINETY-FIVE PERCENT! How am I EVER supposed to see one in the wild? Bonus: Red Rock Canyon was part of the fee-free weekend, so we totally lucked out there.

Happy Hiking Hubby!

This cactus is called cholla. Perhaps everyone already knows that, but I didn't. I make these comments while hiking such as, "Hmm, I wonder what kind of cactus that is." And my husband, The Park Ranger, usually has a ready answer. There were no interpretive signs for him to cheat from...he just knows stuff.

Over the weekend, we were working on what K called a "fun family project." We are about to begin our annual Jazz Readathon at school and all of the teachers have to submit photos of themselves reading in interesting places. So, we have a lot of photos of me reading with Lady Liberty at New York, New York, me reading to birds, me reading at M & M World, me reading to the MGM lion, and so on. In the end, I'm sending them the picture of me reading with fish at the aquarium, but here's one of me reading in the desert.

One last view of Red Rock Canyon--a soothing Sabbath compared to Lost Wages, Nevada.

On the way home we stopped off at Valley of Fire State Park. We've been there before, in fact, we've "done" the whole park (all the trails, pull-outs, etc.), but when you're in a sunny place in January and it's a lovely sixty-three degrees, you have to stretch those legs.

Petrified logs.

Oh the geology! Red rock scenery at Valley of Fire.

J just loves it when K takes "action shots" of her. As mentioned previously, we are easily entertained--just give us some rocks on which to play. This area was called Seven Sisters.

Near...

FAR!

Looking for a way down...

Happy Boy, Happy Birthday!

We found flowers blooming in January. Mother Nature remembered K on his birthday too!