I flew into Las Vegas on Christmas Eve. The temp was very mild and only slight wind. After renting a car and dropping off luggage at my son's apt., N and I headed to Ellis Island for a $4.99 steak dinner. The next day we headed to the Red Rock Canyon for a little hiking and picture taking. What a beautiful day! I'm not much for desert landscapes but the red rocks really are amazing. We even saw a small herd (for lack of what they are called en masse) of quail. My son took great pictures and I'll post some when his computer is up and running and he can load them.
N worked on Christmas Day for 12 hours, beginning at 8:00 p.m. We headed to a new casino called Red Rock in southwest Las Vegas where N lives. Very nice place, completely with movie theaters and a bingo room (which we later visited but came away empty). Going to a casino on Christmas Day......well, it seems like there should be some sort of law against it, at least for Christians, right? There were people everywhere. Not exactly a reverent way to observe Christmas. But since what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, I think I'm okay. :) We saw In The Pursuit of Happyness, which was a very good movie about a real man and his son rising from homelessness to wealth. N and I don't often agree on movie choices so when I find one that both of us want to see, it's a unique opportunity.
N finally got off work at 9:30 a.m. Apparently there were many, many sick animals on Christmas Day, including one crazy lady who came in, asked N if he was the doctor and started screaming about her dog being helped. This may not have been such unusual behavior for an animal owner in distress but she then proceeded to lay down on the floor, continuing her behavior of frustration (you know, using non-Christmas Day words). N handles situations like this very well and calmly notified the manager of the facility who escorted Ms. Crazy outside.
We headed out for San Diego around 10:00 a.m. and arrived around 3:30 p.m. Pics and more on that later.