we mixed this trip up with a little vegas glitz and some grand outdoor adventures. just after donald finished his semester we flew out to visit david. we got in on wednesday evening and david had reservations waiting for us at his swanky new restaurant beauty & essex, which was so new it wasn't even open to the public yet. [and we ate there a whole week and a half before madonna, so we are obviously very important] it was a special preview night and we got to try all kinds of fancy foods...plus it was really fun to see one of david's venues and hang out with him all night.
the next day we made a highly anticipated stop at in-n-out and set out on a road trip to see some of america's natural treasures. our first night we stayed near the grand canyon in the cutest little koa cabin...which would have been idyllic if it weren't for the fact that donald and the altitude were not exactly getting along. we had a bit of a rough night, but in the morning decided that we didn't want to get this close to the grand canyon and not actually see it, so we powered on. it was basically a clark griswold inspired stop, but now we can say we were there!
by the next morning donald was feeling much better so we were back to our regularly scheduled itinerary, and next up was a visit to lower antelope canyon. it is basically a crack in the ground that you climb down into and then there is a long, underground canyon with wavy walls to walk through. because it is located on navajo land you have to go through with a guide and donald's favorite part was learning the names of the different rock formations like 'the chief' and 'lady in the wind'. from there we took a short drive over to horseshoe bend. it's a little funny because you basically drive up to a well worn path, walk over a desert hill and there it is. no park rangers, no building, and no railing. it was somewhat distracting to watch all the tourists hopping around on what is essentially the edge of a thousand foot cliff, but the view is pretty spectacular. we also managed to hit three different states on our drive back to vegas, which we determined was definitely a record setting day for donald.
the next few days were spent back in fabulous las vegas. when we weren't spending time with david, which was our most favorite activity, we were wandering around the strip and eating yummy food. i spent time at the pool which was glorious, as being at the pool so often is, and donald enjoyed some down time in the sports book. on our last night david scored us some tickets to a really fun show at the venetian and i hit a bonus on the planet moolah slot machine that lasted fifteen straight minutes. so that obviously ended up being my favorite vegas night.
