Vegas Days

Windy Camp

The wind in Zion really picked-up over the course of the night after I went to bed. If it weren’t for my having one of my heavier bins in the tent with me, it would have sort of flipped over me. It didn’t keep me from sleeping, but once it was time to get up the idea of packing-up was stressful. But I noticed there was a pattern in the winds, in that it would take short breaks, so I packed-up during the breaks and was ready to go by 8 AM.

Driving Back Through Zion

Because I didn’t have any kind of time frame on when I was supposed to arrive in Las Vegas, I decided to drive back through Zion and take pictures I wasn’t able to take on the drive in, due to all the pull-offs and lots being full. Zion is especially beautiful when there aren’t many other people around. Almost everything was empty on my way back towards the east entrance. By the time I turned around and started heading back in the direction of Springdale, however, things were already beginning to get busy and I was happy to be leaving.

Bailing on Valley of Fire State Park

Due to having so much time, I figured that I’d stop at Valley of Fire State Park on the way to Las Vegas, but when I took the exit to get there I ran into a construction area with signs telling me to “Expect Delays” and I made a quick and easy decision to bail on the idea. It was just a point on the map without any real thought put into it and I didn’t feel like taking a chance on sitting in my car for a half hour in the middle of nowhere based-on a whim. I figured spending an extra hour with family would have more value.

Las Vegas

At this point, I only had an hour more of driving until I arrived at my uncle’s house in Las Vegas. His wife and my aunt were also there, and we spent a couple of hours catching-up, while I washed a load of clothes, waiting to check into our casino/hotel. Around 2 o’clock we called the hotel and asked if we could check in early, which we could, so we left intending to make plans for later.

Unloading and Work Prep

The hotel is also a casino, which was something new for me. Smoking is allowed in the hotel and it’s so bad it made my eyes water just walking through the lobby, which was pretty much the casino itself. The rooms were clean and large, though, which is what I cared about. I unpacked and got to prepping for work tomorrow. Then I logged media and started writing this blog post.

Back Out For Dinner And Craps

My aunt and I went back to my uncle’s and we left together for dinner. After dinner, my aunt and I looked for the craps table because that’s the only game I’ve really wanted to play. It took a bit of figuring out the basics, but once I did it was easy and I found it more interesting and/or fun than anything like roulette wheels or slot machines. That being said, it only made me lose money slightly slower than the other games, so the appeal didn’t last all that long.

Work

On Tuesday morning, I had to take care of some work until about noon. It was tough breaking out of vacation/travel mode and focusing on work, but that’s a big part of what I’m trying to prove to myself… is this something that I can pull off? Because if I can, I’d like to keep doing it, even if it’s not on this scale.

Family Time

After getting everything done, it was back to my uncle’s house to hang-out for a while. My “aunt-in-law’s” son came home early from school and we talked astronomy for a while, which was cool because he’s in the process of getting his doctorate at UNLV in the field. He showed me some of his astro-photography and explained the process of assembling the final images from numerous other shots. Then, we headed out to dinner at another casino and this time my aunt showed me how to play the slots, because the craps tables were much more expensive at this casino.

Preparation and Wrapping-Up

On the way back to the hotel, my aunt and I did some shopping for the camping in Joshua Tree tomorrow night. Once back at the hotel, I began wrapping-up my room in preparation for getting out of Las Vegas in the morning. Next stop, Joshua Tree. Next, next stop, San Diego!