LOVE!

Having gotten our "freak" on the night before, in morning light we needed something more "normal" to do. So sans mustache and skeleton sweatshirt we drove to Red Rock to do a little hiking. When inversions of terrible Orwellian level air pollution and temperatures in the teens have kept a family indoors for a month, heaven is 70 degree sunny skies and miles of trails.




We picked a 4-5 mile hike up Pine Creek. We hiked past a homestead (does it count as a "homestead" if the home's foundation is made of concrete? I didn't think so either, but hey, I don't write their brochures.) and ended up at a couple of mini-waterfalls and crystal clear pools of water. The boys bouldered around on the plethora of rocks that soon over take the clear marked "trail" and we wound our way back to the original path. The best way to spend a February morning, ever! What a treat to be outside with out looking like Ralphie's little brother in the movie "A Christmas Story".

We grabbed some lunch and snacks at Whole Foods (Hint: If you ever stumble upon dehydrated Kabocha pumpkin chips, buy them! They are delicious!) and met Anne and Q at the hotel's lazy river pool for some more outside time. Anne and I gabbing away while the 4 boys floated along the river. They dried off and we headed to pick up our tickets to the "événement principal" (French- as a tribute to the Cirque du Soleil show we would soon enjoy). My dislike of crowds prompted us to shop for souvenirs before the show, before the crowds would all "Exit Through The Giftshop". William chose Beatles socks, Romney chose Beatles guitar picks and a talking stick for him and his teacher, Bill also wanted the picks and I wanted vintage inspired looking bag. We were all decked out and ready to go. Only issue, we still had an hour until the show started. What to do? Hit another "free" show first. We walked to the Bellagio to watch the fountain ballet and back just in time to take our seats and prepare to be entertained on grand scale.

The show! There really are not words capable of describing what the experience of being in the audience is like. It is a beautiful, emotional, artistically inspiring, life affirming event. Every sense was treated and stimulated in new and exciting ways. Stunning vignettes that all tied into each other while remaining unique and separate works of art followed each other for 90 minutes, tying in Beatles history and 20th century events. Inspiring! I feel like I need a spiritual philosophy. The philosophy of following"All You Need is Love" more clearly. Since nothing could quite compare to that experience, we decided to eat dinner and call it a night. Dreaming of all the new characters and colors and creations we had just witnessed.