Vegas Stripped

I worked on a hotel in Kentucky a few years back and the front desk girls just had a blast with us tearing up the place. I got a kick out of their sense of humor that would interrupt the usual flow of work. I probably laughed more on that job than any other thanks to the entertainment provided by the staff there. I have remained friends with all of them and one of them now lives in Vegas. Leah had been kind enough to host me in Vegas and I was eager to start the day with her and catch up.

I woke up to coffee and some live piano playing. I love watching and listening to musicians play. I watch on enviously as her hands moved left and right over the keyboard and fingers flashed over the keys making a beautiful sound every time they would land. It was beautiful and so much more pleasant than the wind that would constantly blow in my ears when riding. I wanted nothing to do with the strip and after breakfast we ran off to Mt. Charleston just on the outskirts of town. When looking at it from a distance it looked very two dimensional and as we started to get closer the hills that overlapped each other would separate and the environment would become more and more dimensional. With each mile we climbed higher and higher and the arid landscape soon gave way to more plant life. It was beautiful to say the least. The steep rocky slopes had cozy mountain log cabins resting effortlessly upright. Each structure had a wall of windows facing the downhill side; I could only imagine the view from inside the rustic cabins. Hiking trail parking lots popped up to our left and right and we eventually found ours after visiting one that had been shut down for maintenance. The temperature was pleasant and the sun warm. The far off rocky face looked so rough and textured. The trees stretched up as far as the soil could support them, and beyond that it was pure rock. We grabbed some gear and started up the trail with Leah’s Great Dane at our side.

At the start of the hike Aspens had dominated the landscape and as we got higher the pines and cedars took over. There was a dry creek bed along our trail and I could only image the raging whitewater that would flow through it when the rain would come or the snow would melt. We hiked up to about roughly 7500 ft (total the mountain is about 12,000) and needed to turn back due to lack of time. On the way down the sun had taken a shallower angle and the light was coming in warm and accenting the green aspen leaves. It was like walking in a fairytale. The breeze would blow the leaves into a flutter and the shadows would dance beneath our feet on the rocky trail. That was all you could hear, the wind in the pine needles and aspen leaves. I could have never imagined this place existed only 45 minutes away from the madness of the strip. It was a different planet as far as I was concerned. To each his own, some people would much rather be down there, and I up here.

After the hike I got to fire up the grill and throw down some BBQ Chicken, and make some Rosemary Potatoes in the oven. The only thing I miss about having a place of my own is a kitchen. I love to cook, entertain, and host get-togethers. It felt good to make a meal and feed the rest of the family that made its way over to her house.

Stuffed, the only thing I was capable of doing was crawling up on the couch with the Dane and watching a movie. I wanted to wake extra early and get as much riding in as possible early on so I wouldn’t have to bake in the dessert sun so sleep came right after. I was most excited about the next leg of my trip. Moab had finally approached as the next destination and I had passed by several times before without having time to swing by and spend some time there. I was excited!