trip to America's southwest: phase two

on to phase two of our trip! after our time in the woods, we met up with some good friends back in Las Vegas for the weekend.

here are the highlights:

:: Bobby Flay. one of the Food Network's celebrities has a restaurant in Las Vegas, Mesa Grill. it. was.absolutely.delicious. i had a pork tenderloin with a sweet potato tamale. brian and i shared the deep dish banana cream pie for dessert. yum. i don't think i'll be challenging bobby to a cooking throwdown anytime soon!

:: can we have the minivan, please? so, we're kind of not minivan people. in fact, my husband is more opposed than i am (i think this goes back to high school days when he drove the family minivan to school...i understand, my sister did the same thing!). well, to have enough room on our trip for 4 adults, 2 babies, and all our luggage, a minivan was in order. so, yes, we were those people, cruising around vegas in a minivan. a souped-up town and country, but still a minivan. i hate to admit it, but i enjoyed all the room, the sliding doors and back that open with a simple double-click of the key fob, and then close the doors by pressing a button on the inside of the door. it sure made getting in and out a breeze.

:: Tulip time. our friends, the Tulips, live in Alaska. so, clearly, we don't see them very often. it was a real treat to work out a holiday weekend vacation with them to catch up, meet their sweet baby (10 months old), and see some sites, too! we had a great time, mostly just hanging out at the hotel, but the kind of time that makes you realize that the time together is worth every bit of effort!


samuel and ethan

:: the dam. one of our goals for the weekend was to visit the Hoover Dam. very impressive. i enjoyed learning about this huge project and taking a tour of the powerplant. i find it fascinating that not only was a solution to a water dilemma constructed, but that it is efficiently being used to provide energy to millions. if it wasn't for all that dam traffic! haha.

hope you enjoyed phase two-- we sure did!

be officially warned-- phase three of our trip wasn't very exciting compared to the Grand Canyon, but i'll write a post anyway! stay tuned...