Vegas Part I - Road Trip

As I previously posted - I returned from an awesome trip to Vegas not long ago. Thanks to Stacy - I now have some pictures to prove it (since my camera decided it did not want to turn on on the first day out!). The trip will be divided into 2 posts since I have lots of pics to show (and more later possibly!).

Ok - I will start the photo show with the road trip the Trask girls and I took on our second day in Vegas. Despite a rocky start trying to get to the highway from our hotel, the trip went very smoothly... We started through the Red Rock Canyon - taking pictures along the scenic route:

We stopped at an old west town called Bonnie Springs for breakfast (where there were quite a few dollar bills tacked to the ceiling) - they also had great food!

Heading out of the Red Rocks we stopped at Joe's Cactus nursery where Stacy got some free glass rocks, Ruth & Corryn bought some pretty nifty homemade earrings, and I pet a pig...

After about an hour of driving toward what we thought was toward the Hoover Dam, we were informed by Ruth that we were actually on our way to a tiny hick town in California called Nipton in search of a pirate named Billy the Kid (long story)... Turns out he was out in the fields working on his backhoe, but we had a pretty good time at the local cantina (a trailer with a pool table and a couple of coolers) claiming to have the "coldest beer around." They were right - the beer was definitely cold and we had a great time chatting with Billy's neighbor, Linda (who was missing most of her teeth and lived in a bus down the street with her brother :).

After leaving Nipton, we traveled along toward the Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and took some Dam pictures:


The Dam was amazing - really big and definitely something I won't forget. As you can see - it was a bit windy :) Oh and the last pic shows the new highway being built - and I am so glad we came through BEFORE that was finished - it looked super scary jutting out into nowhere like that!

More about the hotels/casinos, night life and all of the money we won coming soon in Part II of our Vegas vacation!

Tagged

My aunt Colleen tagged me, sent to her by my cousin Steve . Here are the rules...
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.(2) Post the rules on your blog.(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
(1) done.
(2) done.
(3) hmmmm
- I have the worst memory and I repeat stories to people all the time
- I was called the "Cisco Kid" in our local paper when I was in high school
- I love reality tv and gossip websites like Pink and the Celebrity Baby Blog
- I have had stitches only once - and a few people know where...
- I sometimes say things that seem completely random, yet there is always a Six degees of Kevin Bacon-type of connection (so far Josh is the only one who can track my craziness)
- I turn splotchy on my neck and chest when I am nervous or warm

(4) I am going to have to fail on this one - Most of the people I know have already been tagged!
(5) Done.

Just Because

Back from Vegas

More about the trip soon...

Complete

I was able to finish the mosaic puzzle mentioned in the previous post this weekend with help from my sister-in-law Heather. Definitely a challenging puzzle, but still no match for me :) We had a college reunion of sorts this weekend and it was a blast! Thank you Drew, Chad, John, Spike, Heather, Josh, Bishop, & Val for making the trip to Bemidji to hang out! I fell asleep early - whereas everyone else (except Bishop of course!) went to the bar for Saturday night karaoke. I hear there is video somewhere out there and if I get my hands on it I might have to embarass them by posting it :) It was awesome having everyone back here and we will definitely have to make it a habit!

I also made a few wallets today - hopefully these will help eliminate the need for a purse in Vegas - since I am prone to losing things constantly! The first one took a bit, but once I had the pattern down I was able to make four more fairly quickly. One for each of us, plus a spare :)

Challenge

This puzzle may look pretty easy - but it is actually a mosaic puzzle - so each piece actually is made of little tiny pictures of flowers - and when you put them together they make one big flower :) Both the puzzle and the mat were christmas gifts from my hubby - thanks babe! I already have about a sixth of the puzzle done, basically because I am that good ;)


In other news - just booked a spur of the moment trip to Vegas in a few weeks with a coworker/great friend who always has her eye out for deals! Thanks Stacy - you are awesome and I know we will have a great time :) Four nights at the Golden Nugget sounds pretty sweet to me!

Happy Holidays :)

First pic shows a few of the gifts we received, followed by a few pics from our second annual Christmas Eve Eve dinner. This year I made Chicken Parisienne (one of my faves from Gram P. ), calico beans, fresh green beans with creamy portabello mushroom sauce mix from Tastefully Simple, garlic/bacon/ranch mashed red-skinned potatoes, and of course a veggie tray with dill dip. Our awesome guests brought the drinks, including a 20 year old bottle of port from Aunt Lisa and homemade mead from Sean. Heather made the dessert this year - as shown in the pic - which was a frosted chocolate mini bundt cake sprinkled with crushed candy canes, with a homemade chocolate shot glass inside filled with chocolate-mint liqueur - YUM! As you can see from Sean - that shot helped make for a good time indeed :)
Christmas was then spent in Brainerd at Gram's house, followed by New Years in Nashwauk. Not too shabby for this year's holidays - good food, good company, and a warm place to stay - I really cannot complain!
The last pic shows an update of how my flowers are growing in my new greenhouse - amazing how fast they have grown - the daffodils are blooming already, and the amaryllis is close.