Road Trip Home: Family Take Two

Max made it to Vegas the day before I did since she drove in on Friday, 12/5, while I was interviewing in Cincinnati. I arrived on Saturday morning to the Las Vegas airport, in my opinion one of the worst I have visited. It's not that the airport is old or out of date. My problem is that the airport is just another casino in Las Vegas. As soon as you get off the plane, you are surrounded by slot machines positioned to get either your first dollar or you last if you are leaving. You might have guessed, that it's not just the airport that I dislike, it's the whole atmosphere of Las Vegas with its emphasis on gambling and commercial sex. If your interests are outside of those subjects, you had better have family there to visit or you won't have much to do.

Now if you're still wondering how Don feels about Vegas- he is rather subtle in his writing- one picture is worth a thousand words!

But Brandy and Will live there and that makes moving through the airport and driving through the strip worth the trip.

We went straight from the airport to a restaurant- Remember Brandy is eating for two!


Brandy has become a very accomplished cook and has some interest in fresh ingredients. Since she lives in the desert where it is warm several months of the year and down right burning the remainder, we suggested she plant some herbs in her back yard. We got barrels, dirt, and bedding plants, picked a sunny spot and planted her first garden.


You might know that not too long after we left, the temperatures dropped and they actually had snow in Vegas. Who would have thought it could have happened? I guess we can just blame global warming for one more freezing spell.

Don and Brandy did a great job! And I had fun watching. (For awhile some years ago I thought that perhaps I might be a gardener as well- not just Don. So I bought all the appropriate equipment- rather the approach I take to cooking. So I bought aprons- and spoons and spades and carts- Oh the cutest stuff you can even imagine. In the end though I find that I like the "IDEA" of gardening much better than the actual back breaking work of gardening. So most of the time I "watch"- from the window- while Don (and now Brandy) do the back breaking work of gardening.)


The morning we left, we decided to go out to breakfast at a place that Brandy wanted to try. You might guess it was in a casino in the new growth area north of Las Vegas. It kind of reminded me of the many casinos being built by native indian tribes across the country. It was built about 10 miles away from the strip with a large hotel and multiple restaraunts.

Unfortunately the one we wanted had a long line, so we just did the brunch, ate more than we intended and started our drive to the Grand Canyon. Nothing like a buffet! Don calls it eating from a trough- it is absolutely amazing how much food you can pile on the plate- and even leave on the plate.

And Brandy and I had time- never enough- to talk baby- oh how much fun this baby talk. Plans for the nursery- plans for the equipment (babies need even more equipment than kitchens or gardens-and it is just as costly)- and of course plans for the Grandma to visit. I'm going back to Brandy's in April- I want to see her REALLY PREGNANT- and then again in June when the baby comes. This is all so exciting. And this Grandma is having a good time!