viva las vegas! @ etc.

here i am!!! :-P... flew in after a very long day yesterday, had pecan pie with eric's parents and sister, and then crashed... yay for 3 hour time changes?
 
today was a blast though :-)
 
first off, eric had a hair appointment so i sat around and waited whole he had that... then we went to red rock canyon -- it's in the mountains around vegas... with several places to stop off and go rock climbing... we saw some petrogliphs (ancient rock writings) in the mountains and climbed up one large stone/mini mountain there called "the quarry"... long and hot but the view was INCREDIBLE!... on the way out of the park, a burro (think mexican donkey) was by the road and when eric opened the window to take its picture it stuck its head in to try to lick me!  craziness!
 
then, after going to in and out (one of eric's favorite "out west" burger places) for lunch, we hit the strip... i spent about $3 on quarter slots and got about $2 back :-)... that's about my gambling limit... we visited mgm grand, excalibur, luxor, new york new york, and then the m&m shop... it was fun. :-)  eric also beat me in a close game of air hockey but he claims he earned it after never ever beating me in reversi all last fall.  nonetheless, fun times all around :-P
 
here's the final random factoid of the day... last night over pie with eric's family, and hearing my dad's family is from south of chicago, eric's dad pulled a drawing off the wall of mr. and mrs. byron mckinstry and their farm in grank park, kankakee county, illinois... when i commented that grant park's where i was born and lived until i was 5 years old, they were all excited... mckinstry was eric's great-great-great-great-grandfather who went to california in 1850 for the gold rush, made it big, then went back to grant park to build this huge farm.... when i called the parents an hour ago and asked them if the name mckinstry meant anything to them my dad blurted out "the byron mckinstry farm??? that's right at the 1/17 split... everyone knows that"... soooo, detour on the trip next week to take pictures of this farm i've passed everytime i've driven between g-ma pudwell's and valpo in the past 4 years and not thought anything of until today... it's a small world after all... :-P
 
time to develop lots of pictures and go party some more :-)
 
oh and p.s.... eric's family moved this spring to a new house, and on the pull out couch i have the best panoramic view of the vegas valley all lit up and the mountains :-)  so even when i wake up at 4/5am (7/8 jersey time) i have lots of awesome things to look at :-)
 
yeah, party time -- later dudes! :-)