We're baaaaaaaaaack!

The Woman is having a hard time being locked in the house all day trying to recover from her hip replacement surgery. It is almost as though we were back in the peak infection times from the pandemic. So, I just took her on a joy ride the length of the strip, from downtown all the way south. She was stunned by the number of people she saw crowding the strip, as well as the completely packed restaurants. Looks like we’re back!

Talk to you soon.

More spring in Vegas

One of the more magical spring events in the Las Vegas valley is when the cactus bloom. Cactus of many different varieties bloom. Most of the year they are just green spiny lumps popping from the ground. But in the spring, many of them put on quite a show, some for only one day, while some bloom for a week or more. And, it is not just a bloom or two. Many of the cactus are laden with blossoms.

When blooming, the blossoms attract all kinds of huge insects as well as an ample share of hummingbirds. The lily-white ones often last only the day. The bright yellow ones can last a week, and sometimes bloom in continuing rounds. However, my favorites are the ones that are a very bright crimson. Awesome!

Talk to you soon.

Cinco de Mayo

Well even through it is a holiday, pretty much every day is the same during the pandemic. However, I did manage to interrupt my streaming on Peacock, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max to grab my freezer ready wine glass and pour myself a margarita to celebrate! Wait a minute, how is video streaming and drinking booze any different than any pandemic day?

Talk to you soon.

Spring in Vegas is amazing!

Spring in Vegas is glorious! The good news – with irrigation and some artificial shading, pretty much anything grows here. The bad news – because of that, everyone who comes here brings the plants they enjoyed where they came from, meaning allergy season here is awful! However, spring scenes like these in pretty much any neighborhood take a bit of the sting out of the horrible allergy season.

My favorite, however, is more of a desert staple. For most of the year, the Ocotillo looks dead. It looks a lot like a very long armed, gangly Octopus (hence the name I assume) sticking out of the ground with its dead tentacles pointing to the sky. However, for a brief glorious time in the spring, it takes on a truly magical look. Instead of dead sticks poking up, it becomes this. Awesome!

Talk to you soon.

First house guest in a year!

Being well past our two weeks for our immunity to peak, the Woman decided she wanted a house guest for dinner. So, she invited one of her friends, Elaine, who she used to volunteer with at Sunrise Hospital – back in the day when you could actually do such things. The Woman whipped up some enchiladas, and we had a nice, maskless dinner on our back deck overlooking the glorious Las Vegas valley. It was awesome!

Talk to you soon.

Post Easter

After spending a wonderful Easter with Nick and Val, Mallory and Rudy, we headed back to one of our favorite spots – Wrightwood California, in the San Gabriel Mountains. We were surprised when we got there that the Mountain High Ski Resort was still open. While only one chair was open and a couple of runs, the parking lot was packed and the runs were busy.

Our main mission was to escape the growing heat in the Vegas valley. However, as we always do when we are anywhere nearby, we set out to find sections of the Pacific Crest Trail that we had not hiked before. The big bonus for us this time of year is that folks through hiking from South to North were often just setting out at this time of year. We actually stumbled on, and talked with, a fair number of folks coming by on their way to the Canadian border.

We managed to find quite a few sections of the PCT that were new to us. Of course, the Woman was beside herself with joy. Even the pooch wanted to get into the act. I don’t know exactly how many miles we checked off on this visit, but I do know that it was well north of 6 (12 round trip). What a nice visit, and the weather was awesome!

Talk to you soon.

Post vaccine Easter

Since the Woman and I had both received our second Pfizer vaccination dose, we headed to San Diego for our first dining indoors in over a year. The Woman’s niece Mallory also lives in San Diego with her man, Rudy, so we got together for some cornhole and some Wizard. We even found some time to head into the Gas Lamp District in downtown San Diego, and even entered a few shops. It’s been so long since we have ventured into a business for other than essential needs that we were a tad bit uncomfortable. But we enjoyed the brief feeling of normality.

We also hadn’t had any hugs (other than between the Woman, the pooch and myself) in over a year as well. Having a sit-down dinner in Nick’s condo, sharing lots of hugs, and playing cards at the dining room table are all things, again, missed for over a year. We had a grand time, and look forward to when this may become more the norm than the unusual rare exception.

Talk to you soon.