Vegas-Pasco-Vegas....but this post is all VEGAS

OH. MY. GOSH.

I am sooooooooooo far behind as far as posting goes. But, it is a New Year and I have resolved to get caught up as quickly as possible (which may not turn out to be very quickly at all ). Nevertheless, I'm going to give it my best shot anyway!

Back in October, Clark and I booked tickets from Houston to visit our parents in Las Vegas and in Pasco.  Thank goodness for the budget airlines, which logistically and financially made our trip possible.  We flew Spirit from Houston to Vegas, then Allegiant from Vegas to Pasco, Allegiant back to Vegas from Pasco, then Spirit again from Vegas to Houston.  It worked out so great and we're both very happy we did it!

Our agenda for both legs of our Vegas visit was to do as much hiking and outdoor activity as possible.  And hike we did.  I actually arrived very under the weather, but tried not to let it affect our activities too much. And, of course we stopped an In n Out a couple of times!

Our first hike was in the Red Rock Canyon park. We hiked the Ice Box Canyon, and when we got to the end, Jan insisted that it wasn't the end so we kept searching for something that we had already found.   (By performing a little recon back at the house, it was determined that indeed, we had actually made it to the end. Or rather, I was the only one who had scaled up a very steep boulder to make it to the end.)

This place.  I just love it.

One of our day outings was a trip to the Neon Boneyard, where we got to see amazing signs from Vegas' past.

 

We couldn't resist a few photos with various T's.

 

After the Boneyard we made it over to the very new Container Park for some bbq and Mexican food.

 And then we took a stroll down Freemont Street.

I'm not sure if this next hike was during the first leg of the trip or the last, but we drove up to Mt. Charleston for a lengthy hike to see what is said to be the oldest tree in Southern Nevada.  This was the Raintree Hike, and there was a pretty good elevation gain. 

And there she is!

One evening we hiked Lone Mountain, located right in Vegas, which offers views of the Vegas Skyline and grid.

And since we had not been out to Valley of Fire since we were first married back in 2008, we decided to do a hike there as well.

I just miss the desert so much sometimes.  Luckily, we have family there and when we need our fill of red rock, we know where we can go!  Thank you, thank you Jan and Karl for your hospitality, for the yummy food (knock-off Pita Jungle nachos-- yum!) and for all the outdoor activities! We love you both very much!