Happy Holidays! Part 2

After spending about 36 hours back in DC we were off again.  On Thursday morning we caught a plane headed to Las Vegas.  

While Las Vegas clearly has a little something for everyone, our plan was not the typical Vegas trip.  In fact, it was actually a very relaxing time.  We stayed with Ben's aunt and got to spend some quality time with a lot of family.  We also managed to get in some quality lounging time.

Friday afternoon Ben's aunt Noel took us golfing at the Angel Park course nearby. It was a beautiful course, with mountains everywhere you look. We had so much fun and were grateful for the opportunity to be playing golf in late December.  

On Saturday we headed over to Red Rock Canyon for a little dose of nature. We took off on the "Ice Box Canyon" which included cool temperatures and lots of challenging boulders that stood in our way.  

After about 2 hours of hiking, we were ready to get back to the house and relax. After lounging around most of the afternoon, we had a wonderful dinner of pork and dumplings, a family favorite.

(Ben, cousins Karen and Katie and their 95 year old Grandpa Lynn)

Ben's grandpa played football for the University of Wisconsin so to we were excited to show him the personalized Wisconsin jersey Ben had made last year.

After a great dinner, we headed to the casino's to ring in the new year. Due to our paralyzing frugality (and awareness of odds/math), we spent much of the night watching Karen dominate the blackjack tables.

(looking classy but ready to party)

(This is what leaving the casino $7 richer looks like.) 

From Las Vegas, we had planned to drive to Los Angeles, but decided to take the scenic route.We got on the road around lunch time and headed to Death Valley National Park. We have a goal of visiting all of the major National Parks and it just so happened January is the best time to visit Death Valley. Once outside of Las Vegas, we were quickly in the heart of the dessert with no rest stops, gas stations or cell phone service for about 100 miles.

 Once in the park, we stopped at Zabriskie Point for a great look over the valley.

Our next stop was at The Devil's Golf Course. This area gets its name from the large salt formations that create a surface the "only the devil could play golf on".

(the Salt Pans)

Our final stop was the Badwater Basin, which is the lowest point in the United States.

From Death Valley, it was only supposed to be three hours to our hotel.  Unfortunately, we got stuck in the New Year's day traffic from Las Vegas to LA.  We arrived at our hotel around 10pm and grabbed a few hours of sleep. 

What happened when we woke up?  Stay tuned for part 3 to find out.