So, February:
Started off slow; overtime for Laura, fruitless job hunting for me.
A few weeks into the month, Laura's parents and sister, Abby, came to visit us over a long weekend. I've long heard about the grueling nature of Streelman family vacations, but never fully experienced one until now. In 72 hours, we packed in more activity than I, left to my own devices, would engage in over the course of a month.
The family flew in Saturday afternoon, and after checking in at the hotel, we went for a hike in nearby Red Rock National Conservation Area. We hiked the Pine Creek trail, an interesting geological holdover from the ice age; pine trees don't generally occur in the desert, but there's enough water in the pine creek valley to have supported a pocket of pine since the region was cooler and wetter.
Day two was our day on the Vegas strip. We walked almost the full length of the strip, from Luxor near the south end, to Treasure Island and the Palazzo. In about 12 hours, we saw the lions at MGM, wandered through Excalibur, New York New York and Luxor, saw the fountains at Bellagio, explored Caesar's palace, saw the Eiffel tower at Paris, avoided the sleazy guys with the prostitute advertisements, and strolled the Grand Canal at the Venetian. We had dinner at a lovely outdoor cafe at the Palazzo before seeing Blue Man Group at the Venetian. I have to say, Blue Man Group is the single greatest thing I have ever seen on a stage. There are simply no words to describe it. It began with scrolling message boards that cued audience participation. There was paint, lights, food, audience members drafted and brought on stage, music, and a tsunami of toilet paper that rolled down from the balcony, passing over the entire crowd. We were in the third row, which was part of the "Poncho Zone". I was impressed that the show involved the entire audience; there were no bad seats. We crawled back to the hotel exhausted.
Day three involved a road trip to Zion National Park in Utah. We went to the north entrance first, and took in the view of the majestic peaks. We then drove to the south entrance and hiked the Emerald Pools trail, a beautiful climb up to a series of pools and waterfalls. Just before dusk, we drove up a dizzying series of switchbacks a tunnel through the mountains. Again, we were exhausted when we got home.
On Tuesday, we had the morning to fill before the Streelmans were scheduled to fly out in the early afternoon, so the decision was made to pack TWO adventures into the morning. First, we drove to the Hoover dam and took some dam photos. Then we went to downtown Las Vagas, the site of the early casinos. Mom Streelman had a dollar a friend had given her to gamble on her behalf, and Mom picked the Golden Nugget as the casino of choice. We found the slot machine that felt the luckiest (that is, we wandered until I pointed at a random machine), and Mom proceeded to win a few dollars! Laura and I have been to downtown at night, and the lights are nearly blinding, especially during the nightly light show on what is billed as "the world's largest LED screen."
So that was exhausting.
Since we're past the halfway point of our time in Las Vegas, Laura had been working with her rep to determine where we'll be going next. Our top choice is the Bay Area of California; we have friends there, and there's a little more culture (and coffee shops) than in Vegas. Laura had been told that applying for her California license could take weeks by mail, so we decided to take a road trip to Sacramento so Laura could apply in person, which we were assured was much faster. Since Sacramento is about an hour from our friends in Berkeley/Oakland , we stopped in to see them and crash for the night before going to the Board of Nursing in the morning. It was great to see my old roommate Tim, his wife Becky, and my friends Stephanie and Erin. The lack of familiar faces is one of the hardest things about living in Vegas, so even the few hours we had with them were great.
Visiting the Board of Nursing was about 90% effective. Because the state of Nevada hadn't yet sent confirmation of Laura's NV nursing license, we weren't able to walk out with license in hand, but we were assured that as soon as the confirmation arrived, the license would be issued.
So that was February. March will be just as crazy, and (hopefully) better documented.
-Matt
