First day in the desert

Life has slowed down significantly now that we're in Cathedral City and that's just fine. Today's activities included picking up our rental car at the Palm Springs airport, lunching at In and Out, wine buying at Costco and Total Wine and hot tub time. The weather is pleasant and shows promise of warming in the next few days. We contacted my childhood friend Chris Harris today by phone and will meet him on our way to LA. The photos in order are the back yard of the Frasers, the front of the Fraser's with our rental Charger and Fraser's cars, the spring flowers ( sand verbena) just sprouting, looking from the front of the Fraser's to the San Jacinta mountains this morning and finally late day hot tub.

Through the Mojave

After three nights in Vegas, it was time to check out. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay with our two shows and good dining and we especially enjoyed the Vdara with its central location. We opted for one more kick at Mon Ami Gabi for breakfast. We sat outside immediately opposite the Bellagio and had delicious eggs bene and perhaps a wake up cocktail. By 11:00 we were on the road heading back to Cathedral City. Bill Fraser offered a more interesting route home through the Mojave Desert. So once we entered California we headed out on secondary roads across the desert. We find that desert topography has a special magic, so the camera was pretty active. Our first stop at the historic train station at Kelso, the heart of military training for WW2. Further down the road, we passed a totally retro gas station on the short stretch of the original Route 66 that was also part of our route.

Next, we passed an extinct basalt crater and then drove through the salt flats of a dry lake bed where they sucked up water to allow the salt to be left behind after evaporation. As we passed through Yucca Valley, we headed up into the hills to Pioneertown for a fabulous lunch of ribs at Pappy and Hariettes, a favourite hangout for locals. The day finished by returning the rental and sucking up some California juice chez Fraser.

Last full day in Vegas

This young lady symbolizes Nevada's history with the a-bomb. Ride 'em cowboy! We've really lucked out with the weather. Today is forecast to be 76 degrees, 15 degrees above normal. Our goal for our last full day was to further explore some of the other iconic hotels/resorts close to us. We noted quickly this morning that there is snow in the mountains around Vegas. We did a combo of walking and monorail today to make our way to what is essentially the south end of the strip. Our route took us from the Vdara via monorail tram to the Monte Carlo, then we hoofed it through the New York New York to the Excalibur, then through the Luxor to end at the Mandalay Bay. New York New York: Excalibur: Luxor:

Mandalay Bay:

We lunched today at the House of Blues in the Mandalay Bay. We shared lobster mac and cheese and buffalo wings. Recent guest artists here include Billy Idol and Santana. They have facade art work featuring beer cap people and chairs. For dinner tonight we chose Carmines in the Caesar's Palace forum. This restaurant serves family style so we all quickly agreed on a Caesar followed by veal Marsala. It was a great meal in a happening environment. Then we were off to the Mirage to see Cirque de Soleil's Love, featuring music of the Beatles. Unlike JLo, no photos tonight - we'll maybe one. This was classic Cirque de Soleil with tons of acrobatics and in this case a fabulous Beatles soundtrack. Wow! A great way to end the day!