Vegas Vacation!

Last week Mark and I had the RARE opportunity to take a vacation! Several months ago, in the middle of one particularly exhausting day, I received a phone call from a timeshare company. They offered us a free 3 day 2 night stay at their Vegas resort... normally, "normal" Caroline would have turned it down - after all, we still had to pay for airfare and food. And Vegas really isn't on our list of ideal vacation spots. But, for whatever reason, I took it. And we decided to use it. So last Wednesday we flew out of Orlando on our way...

Upon arriving in Vegas at midnight (3 am our time!) we went to pick up the rental car. When we walked out into the lot, there sat a beautiful red Mustang convertible. That, of course, was not in the category that we had reserved... but I "jokingly" said to the lady "we'll take that one!" I just about fell over when she responded "Well, it's all we have left."!! I was so excited!

Mark got a kick out of my excitement ;)

Since we aren't really into gambling, we took the time to visit some sights outside of the city. The first day we went to the Hoover Dam, which I had been to once when I was 12 but Mark had never seen. And, as a former power plant employee, it was right up his alley!

However, I have to say that we were both just as impressed with a road that is being built across the canyon. It is amazing what modern engineering can accomplish! They are building the road from each side, and it will meet in the middle. It blows my mind that they can figure that out!

Here's the other side of the Dam; the lake was created when the Dam was built.

Even though we are way too cheap to gamble, of course we couldn't resist...

Unfortunately we didn't win anything!

The next day we went to Red Rock Canyon, which was right outside of the city. There was a 13 mile loop that you could drive around, with spots along the way where you could get out and hike.

The first spot that we got out at was really neat! I couldn't really tell where the trail was, because basically it was just a mountain of "red rock" that you could climb on. There was no signs or any indication of where you were or weren't supposed to go, so we just kind of wandered around. Of course, I was extra careful not to try to go too high - not that I could have even if I'd wanted to! Carrying around the extra 15 pounds makes me tired! Mark went all over, though, and we did our best to try to take picture that would scare his mom :) This one is one that he took looking down from one of the cliffs he climbed up to.

There's me... safely down low!

I did get a little brave, though, and managed to climb up fairly easily to one overlook. Getting down was another story, though!

This is so different from anything we have in Florida! While it was impressive, I have to say I prefer to have some trees.

There's Mark on his way up...

He really enjoyed the hiking.

Not the most flattering picture...

We laughed at this one - the sign said we were hiking to a SPRING!! I guess in the desert, spring = puddle!

Overall, it was a very fun, much-needed trip. Chris stayed home with Mark's mom, and they both did great - praise the Lord!! We are so grateful that she was willing and able to come. Throughout the trip, we kept making comments to the effect of "Can you imagine if Chris was here? We wouldn't be able to do this with him!" (Of course, we missed him very much, though!)

The funny part is, I am going back to Vegas in 2 weeks for a whole week- this time without Mark - for WPPI. It is going to be a FABULOUS trip, so stay tuned!!