December in Vegas

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One benefit to visiting Las Vegas in December is the great Christmas shopping available to us. And now that we are driving to Las Vegas for the very first time, we can buy as much as we want. We have always been limited to what we can pack in our carry on suitcases on previous trips. Or, we have items shipped home, or carried by my brother and his wife in their car.

It is hard to believe we have never driven to Las Vegas. From our new home in Clovis, I hear that it is a 6.5 hour drive, at best. MapQuest says it is 400 miles, or $60 worth of gasoline. The drive will take us down Highway 99 to Bakersfield, home to my former sports wife, Donna. Then, Highway 58 east and I-40E to Tehachapi and Barstow. Finally, we get to I-15 north to Primm and on to Las Vegas. I guess we have been spoiled with an 80 minute flight from Oakland in the past. I imagine we will stop several times, including our traditional stop in Primm to do some outlet mall shopping. We plan to meet up with Kevin and Patty from the Bay Area and enjoy a brunch buffet at The Palms. Then after a few days in old downtown Vegas, we plan to stay with friends out in the wonderful, un-Vegas like suburb of Summerlin, on the northwest edge of the Vegas basin. Downtown Vegas offers us some traditional Hawaiian foods, as well as the best prime rib dinner bargain at the California Hotel and Casino. The Palms Bistro Buffet Also on the agenda is a drive to a Native American outpost just north of Vegas on I-15 that sells fireworks, fire water, and junk. We are going to buy the boxed sets of little liqueur shots as Christmas gifts. And we may buy some rockets for our friend Doug. Again, having a car to transport our purchases open up a whole new retail experience for us. Funny what amuses some people! Vegas rockets We may try some new places this year. One would be the up an coming R & D Hipster Emporium, Lotus of Siam restaurant, a funky museum called Pipedream, and the famous Raku Grill. And since we will be on the Strip, why not have some seafood at famous Joe's Stone Crabs in the Forum Shops? We have been going to Vegas in December for about the last 15 years. We started doing this for my now departed Mom's birthday. She preferred to celebrate her birthday here, rather than having a party. We will continue this tradition as long as we can. Happy birthday, Mom!
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