Staycation

We’re on vacation this week. But we didn’t go anywhere, just stayed at home. Hence the whole “staycation”. We’re not unique in this, many people around the country seem to be embracing the concept. But since we live in a city that is built on tourism, people hold weird dreams about coming here, we’re going to take advantage of some of the city’s offerings. Things that we might not typically do simply because they don’t fit into our regular schedules or the fact that they’re too “touristy” or they seem too extravagant to do in the context of everyday life.

Okay really, we’re just relaxing and taking the time to do whatever we feel like… For my husband that means sleeping. For me that means getting to do a run, 30 Day Shred and yoga all in the same day!

Monday we did go to The Strip for dinner and a show. We went to The Mirage and ate dinner at Kokomo’s and caught The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil. We even went outside after the show to watch the volcano in front of The Mirage explode. I hadn’t seen that Strip show (or any other freebie Strip show other than the Bellagio fountains) in over a decade, but apparently they revamped it and launched an updated version in December 2008 so we got to see the new & improved version anyway!

I almost threw away that second picture. I can’t figure out how to make my crummy little point-and-shoot take decent photos on The Strip at night. While dragging the picture to the trashcan, I had second thoughts and decided that I kind of like the pic.

Today we went hiking. While that’s not something that we would typically avoid (hiking is fun!), we did take the time to visit someplace we haven’t been yet. We went to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, the Las Vegas Review Journal’s pick as the best place for a picnic. I have to say that I agree, it’s a lovely little area that only costs $5 for entrance. There are a couple little hiking trails, a grassy area with plenty of picnic tables and a lot of history behind the location.

We encountered a gopher snake (about 3.5 feet long) shortly after we got there (my husband nearly stepped on it), but when I reached for my camera to take a picture, I realized the battery was dead. (Check that sort of thing BEFORE you leave.) So all of our photos were taken with my iPhone. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take shots in nature with that thing? I have no zoom and I couldn’t even see the screen most of the time. I’m actually quite surprised with how well some of these pictures turned out since I couldn’t see anything when I took them, just pointed the camera in the general direction and clicked.