We were just outside Sacramento when we decided at the last minute to head all the way down to Vegas to surprise my sister for her 30th birthday. We figured it really wasn't that far out of the way, plus we could get a pretty good workout in at Red Rock Canyon. As a side note we did stop at the Best Buy in Sacramento and exchanged the camera that broke in northern California. We were very hesitate to get the same one again, so we upgraded to a different make and model. Cross your fingers that this one doesn't crap out. After the quick stop in Sacramento, we pushed on through most of California before we called it a night around 11pm at a desert hotel in Mohave, CA. What a long driving day.
Saturday morning we woke up early and headed out around 7am. We only had about a 3 1/2 hour drive till we hit Vegas. This was good, since we had most of the day to climb before surprising my sister at 8pm for the family dinner. The reason we knew all of the details for her party, is because the day before I told my folks I wanted to get my sister flowers and have them delivered to her dinner table, since Jodi and I couldn't be there. After a little conversation with my dad, he told me everything we needed to know. Place: New York, New York Hotel and Casino. The Italian Restaurant on the main level. Time: 8pm. We arrived in Vegas that morning around 10:30am and headed straight for the canyon. The forecast for the day was a high of 107. We knew from the start we had to play the shade. The area we both though of first was the "Black Corridor" at the second pullout. We parked the car there and hiked in. We found this area had the most shade and was a wise choice. We played the shade all afternoon, bouncing from climb to climb. We pulled in over 30 laps that day which was really nice, since we started kind of late. We headed out of there around 6pm to allow ourselves enough time to find the New York, New York, park, and change. We headed into Vegas and found the hotel, parked the car, changed real quick and entered the casino. We found the restaurant and asked them to change the reservations from 6 to 8. Jodi and I had about 30 minutes to kill before we went over to surprise them, so we hung out at an Irish Pub and had a beer, and watched Pre-season football. About 10 minutes till 8, we decided to see if we could spot them walking around. We circled the casino once, and on our second pass, Jodi spotted them. We hid behind a slot machine for a second, discussing how to surprise them. After about 30 seconds, we jumped out from behind the slot machine and said "surprise"!!! They were floored to say the least. They gave us great big hugs and were totally surprised. We talked for a little while about our trip, then headed over for dinner at the Italian restaurant. So the 6 people were my Mom and Dad, my sister and her boyfriend (Brian) and Brian's folks, who we were meeting for the first time. Plus Jodi and I, which made the 8. Over dinner we talked more about our adventure so far and all of our upcoming plans. My sister, Brian, and Brian's Mom all went skydiving earlier that day, and were also sharing all of their stories. It was a great night, and we all had a ton of fun. My parents were so happy that we came, they booked us a hotel room for 2 nights at their hotel. Thanks again Mom and Dad, you all rock!!! We left the casino around 11pm and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep, as we had another long day of climbing in the canyon ahead of us. Below is a picture of all of us at dinner for my sister's birthday.
Here is another one of all of us after dinner.
Sunday morning we woke up around 7:30am, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and headed for the canyon. We entered the canyon, and decide to head for the "Black Corridor" again since the weather was going to be more of the same, if not a little hotter. We hiked in and set up shop like we did the day before. We climbed and climbed all day long. Again, we did over 30+ laps and felt pretty good. Of 2 days climbing in the canyon we pulled in over 60+ laps. All of which were 10a or harder. I felt so good on one 10a, which was 8 bolts long, that I lapped it 12 times, up and down. I got 2 blisters on my feet to prove it. Jodi was right there with me and put in a solid day of enduro as well. Below is a picture of Jodi and I in the "Black Corridor" after a good enduro weekend.
We left the canyon a little earlier than the day before because we had to meet back up with my folks again to do another dinner celebration. We left the canyon around 5pm and headed back to the New York, New York, were we meet up with everyone again at 6pm. Once there, we grabbed some pizza and beers and headed up to my sister's room to eat, and open presents. We hung out up there for a couple of hours, just chatting and enjoying each others company. We left there around 11pm again and headed for our hotel. Once we arrived, we turned in and got a good nights sleep. Monday our plan was to leave Vegas and shoot up to Yosemite. Below is a picture of the Red Rock Canyon, Second Pullout where we climbed for the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment