On the road again: Family reunion in Las Vegas and Red Rock Canyon

On the way back to the resort from visiting The Valley of Fire State Park and just as we were getting into Las Vegas, Simon and Garfunkel (singing the Sounds of Silence) sang, “and the people bowed and prayed to a neon God they made..” That was a wicked amazing sense of timing! Neon was all over the city.

Another wicked bad timing has been the wind. Tonight’s sunset wasn’t. There was just light colored haze up in the mountains. At least it’s keeping us cooler. It was windy last night too when we had the reunion dinner. I’m hoping our hosts are resting today. They deserve to.

Last night was great. People mixed before dinner, looked at the boards again and after dinner Anita showed a slide show she put together with all the pictures we cut out. She’s going to create a DVD and mail it to all of us. I didn’t do too well in the capturing images department last night. I guess if I knew the clan better, I would have gotten in their faces with my camera. Jim was taking groups for another DVD, and at the very end of the evening, he got a group shot of all of us. It took some time to set up, and I’m anxious to find out how it came out.

By the way, Jim and Anita’s photography can be viewed at their website Sandstone Photography.

In addition to a few pictures of the dinner last night, I do have some images to show you of Red Rock Canyon. This beauty is relatively close to our resort, and reminded me of parts of Sedona Arizona and Southern Utah. We drove the 13-mile scenic route. The only disappointment was the sunset–not too grand.

Tomorrow we are having breakfast with friends. After that, I’m not too sure what we will be doing. Maybe if the wind dies down, Richard can put up his sun scope, and I’ll edit my Valley of Fire shots.

On the road again: Family reunion, part 3

Here we were this morning walking around the hospitality suite, wearing our buttons, eating our breakfast and trying once more to meet family. Some I recognized from last night. One cousin, he’s a Friedman, actually remembered where we were from! Now that’s good remembering for someone with grey hair! More of the younger set showed up this morning too.

After the meet and greet, Richard and I took off to eat lunch and find the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop of TV fame. If you’ve ever watched the show on the History channel you know what I’m talking about. The shop was pretty much as it’s shown in the TV series, except for the owner’s desk area. That wasn’t in the shop. We strolled through the store like the others who wanted to catch a glimpse of TV history. I didn’t bring my camera in because it was a long, narrow and crowded room. But, now, when I watch the show, I can say, “I was there!”

Back at our resort, I took advantage of the down time to edit some shots I took of the Las Vegas strip the other day. I really don’t like to vacation in Las Vegas. I cry when I lose money, I don’t drink and the shows have gotten very expensive. It was hot when we were out so we just walked a little.

They make it easy for you to walk the strip with elevated walkways going from casino, to shopping, across streets, etc. I remember when I was here last for a trade show. We walked from casino to casino, soaking in the lavish interiors. I do have a disclaimer–where our cousins live, it is nice. Their home is near the mountains and is beautiful. The people who live here seldom come down to the strip. Just us tourists walk from shop to shop and casino to casino. It’s like living in Manhattan, you seldom go to Times Square. It took me 12 years to visit the California State Capitol building and we live in the Sacramento area!

Here’s a glimpse of what we saw. Tonight is our dinner and then a large family portrait.

 

Happy New Year

I had big plans for our grandchildren–A New Year’s Eve party. Here’s what I was going to do: have a festive pizza dinner, bake the chocolate chip cookies, get out the hats and noise makers, watch last year’s festivities on the TV via the internet, blow the noise makers, have ice cream and cookies and, finally, put the little kids to bed at 7 p.m..

Here’s what happened: Madison couldn’t come because she was working, Christopher came (wicked wonderful), the little ones were staying for an overnight, we had our pizza, Richard and Christopher unsuccessfully tried to get the New Year’s Eve festivities on the large screen, Ryan finally learned how to blow the noise maker, Olivia couldn’t blow the noise maker and I was disappointed! Ryan and Olivia didn’t seem to mind though. I told Olivia that next year she’ll be able to blow enough air into the noise maker to make noise. She seemed okay with that. The little ones were in bed at 7 a.m.

I had a difficult time with the indoor lighting when I was taking the photographs. That’s something I’ll have to work on this year. Maybe if I had changed the white balance!!

That was the way 2013 ended, and we are ready to see what 2014 will bring. Hopefully 2014 will bring joy, health and prosperity. Happy New Year everyone.