Las Vegas, NV

Brandon's trip begins and ends at the Las Vegas airport.  We have only a couple of days left and he's interested in seeing either the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas.  Well, it's snowing at the Grand Canyon - or at least it's supposed to, so that leaves the crazy city of Lost Wages!

We camp at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, but with the Colorado River reservoirs over 100 feet below "full", we can't see the lake from the campground, which is beautiful anyway with palm trees and oleander bushes!  We take Brandon to the Hoover Dam and the new Memorial Bridge, and then head into Las Vegas.  We have a fabulous buffet lunch/dinner, walk The Strip and do a bit of gambling, err, losing!  By 6pm, it's dark and the city lights up - it's garishly beautiful.  So much neon!  It's not for Brad and me, but Brandon enjoys it, scouting out which hotel he wants to stay at when he returns WITHOUT mom and dad. (no photos in Vegas as we didn't carry our camera around, so Brandon has the few photos we took on his phone)

We also take him to Valley of Fire State Park, less than one hour north of Las Vegas.  We hike the Fire Wave trail (which was a big secret three years ago when Brad and I were first here, but is now the most popular hike in the park!) and drive around the red rock formations.  We're all very tired, having been going full out for the past ten days.  We return to Vegas for dinner and to take Brandon back to the airport.  We're sad to see him leave, but we've had fabulous family time together.  Merry Christmas Brandon!

	A treat for Brandon - exotic cars people have rented and they tour around Lake Mead in a convoy with a pilot car. I wish we had known about this, but it's not cheap! The next day, we also spot a Bughatti (most expensive production car?) "in the wild" on our way to Valley of Fire State Park.
	Brandon and Marilyn at the Fire Wave in Valley of Fire State Park.
	The brilliant colours on the rocks at Valley of Fire State Park - orange, red, yellow, purple. It's like a rainbow!