Las Vegas and more

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Jimmie and I went to Las Vegas for 3 nights. We went to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Bellagio early in the morning (no crowds!!) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The rest of the time we spent on The Strip sucked. It was so crowded! Kelci drove from L.A. on Christmas Eve and spent the night. We gave her a pair of (rip off) Juicy Couture earrings. I swear that place has Walmart quality stuff at outrageous prices, but she loved them. Anything Juicy for Kelci! Christmas day we went to see The Pursuit of Happiness (Will Smith). It was ok. A feel (bad before) good movie. Kelci then had to drive back to L.A. for work the next day. The traffic was so bad, it took her six hours to get back. Jimmie and I left the next day for T or C, NM.

T or C
After stopping off at the Grand Canyon and walking one of the 2 mile trails, we arrived at Truth or Consequences late in the evening and went by Riverbend to see if they had a room available, they didn’t. We ran into Kat, who I had met on my earlier trip, talked to her briefly, then got a room at the Motel 8. We had dinner at the Sunset Grill? I had an excellent quesadilla and Jim had? We walked around town and went into one of the only stores that were open. It was a five and dime type of store and this place had EVERYTHING!! Of course, most of it had a coat of dust. This is the kind of place that will go out of business when the Super Walmart moves in. After walking both of the main streets, we went back to the motel. The next morning we drove around the area. Down by the river, the Rio Grande, were a lot of trailers and chain link fences. Some of the places were very artistically decorated. A trend, hopefully. We drove up by Elephant Butte lake (the largest lake in NM) and then back through town before leaving for Tucson, AZ.

Winslow, AZ
I thought we’d make it to Tucson, but only made it to a corner in Winslow, Arizona. We spent the night at some budget hotel and ate at the Mexican Café. Before dinner some little girls (Native) sold me two pairs of earrings (way better quality than Juicy) and a matching necklace and bracelet. They were trying to raise money to go to a Phoenix Suns game. The food was good. The next morning we went to the only attraction (see pictures) then got on the road to Tucson.

Tucson, AZ
On I-10, before we got to Tucson, we stopped to see “The Thing”. It beckoned us on billboards for miles. “The Thing” held fond memories for Jimmie of a road trip with Little Jimmie about 10 years ago. “The Thing” ($1 admission) has not changed. I have pictures of “The Thing”, but I am not going to post them because I don’t want to ruin the surprise (although I am sure pictures can be Googled). We got to my sister’s in Tucson around 9pm. We drank and played Catch Phrase. Good Times. The next couple of days in Tucson were good. We mostly hung around my sister’s house and on the way out we went to Saguaro National Park and drove around on a dirt road scenic drive. I was quite beautiful.

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Photos

Las Vegas
Paris

Las Vegas
Paris

Las Vegas
Some type of shoe explosion

Las Vegas
Jimmie knows

Las Vegas
...to the best 22 years ever!!

Petrified Forest
Painted Desert