On Thursday we got up, had a hearty breakfast/brunch and went on a Pink Jeep Tour of the Red Rock Canyon.  These jeeps were not really jeeps, but a Dodge 350 with a back put on to carry passengers.  It had the suspension to go at a 48 degree angle and not roll over.  Our guide demonstrated it for us, the nice guy that he was.

Our guide was pretty good, as he was very knowledgable about the flora and fauna.  He knew what plants could be eaten, what plants were used for medicinal purposes and what plants had arsenic.  A useful guy to have around, for certain.

As usual, the pictures don’t quite display the vastness of mountains and how big these rock formations were, but they still display how pretty it was there.

Panoramic view – this is three pictures I spliced together in Photoshop

It was pretty windy there that day

These were limestone rocks cut from a quarry that used to be here.  They have been sitting here about 100 years, since they abandoned the quarry.

The brave rock climber!

These were little tiny berries that looked like apples

It was a beautiful (though windy) day.  Lots of beautiful vistas to behold, and at the end of the day we had a nice dinner at B and B Ristorante at the Venetian (Mario Batali’s restaurant).  The service was not the best but the food was good.  Brian gave her a bad tip since she was a bad waitress.  He figured then that Karma was out to get him since he lost money at the gambling tables for the rest of the night.  Sometimes Karma is not your friend.

Friday we lazed about.  Brian lost some more money in the morning, then we hit the pool in the afternoon.  As can be expected, us pale people from the North that haven’t had any real sun in 6 months got sunburned.  Shocker!  It was nice to spend time at the pool out in the sunshine and warmth, though.  We got back to our room, assessed our burnage, changed for dinner and went to Sirio at the Aria.  Great food and great service.  We tried to go to a club for a bit and we turned in fairly early for Vegas time.  We had to get up at 5:30 to get packed and get going to the airport.  Next time I’m making the reservations so I can get more sleep!  Those early mornings are just not good when you are on vacation.