I’m getting behind on the blog because there is so much going on each day. At this point I’m trying to catch up with what we did on Saturday. It’s all becoming a blur of activity.

In the morning I took Adam and Susan up to Red Rocks National Conservation Area, which is in the hills just west of Las Vegas. I’ve wanted to go there for years and for some reason it has never worked out until now.

The Conservation Area is really at the level of a national park. The views and hikes are stunning, and there’s a 13-mile loop drive that gives you a great summary of the place. We did three short hikes, totaling about five miles, and caught a few highlights including the visitor center, some pictographs and a waterfall.

The park was magnificent and the hikes were fun, but in retrospect it was a bit of a mistake to do so much in the early part of the day. I dragged myself back to the house around 5 pm and found Brian & Leigh arising from a nice two-hour nap. So when guests began to arrive at 7 pm for their Saturday night poker game, I was certainly not at the top of my form.

Nonetheless, I survived until midnight and even came out ahead in the game. It was a fun evening with some great people. Four were new to Las Veegas, and two were lifelong residents. One was a pirate/stunt man in the Treasure Island show. One was a reporter for two websites (one his own). It made for a lively night.

At the end of the evening, Leigh and Brian pronounced me fit for the Sunday morning poker tournament. I’ll tell you how that turned out on Monday.