Happy New Year

Wishes to you and yours for a prosperous
New Year



We are attending the Insight Bowl game today. Pictures tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

'Twas the Night...

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house...
...Happy Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours.

Christmas Lights

Even in the desert some people go all out, decorating with lights for Christmas.

They string lights on the cacti, on the rock "lawn", and add lighted deer and snowman lights.

Saguaros are dressed in Santa hats...

...and Santa is placed in trees.

We drove through some parts of Gold Canyon last night after viewing the Living Nativity program. Driving at night in Gold Canyon can be interesting because there are no main, straight streets. On a printed map, the streets of Gold Canyon look like a bowl of spaghetti. Oh, and there are no street lights as it is a star gazing community. Curt did a good job of getting us back home.

Living Nativity

Tonight we went to the Foothills Baptist Church to participate in the Living Nativity Christmas Program.

We were greeted by these women at the well at the outskirts of Bethlehem.

A Roman soldier took our census card which allowed us to enter the city.

In one stall, a woman had baked bread.

This citizen made and sold leather goods.

The inn keeper told us about weary travelers who arrived looking for a room. He gave them lodging in the stable because his inn was full. We stepped outside to the stable where the shepherd shared his story about the angels visiting him in the pasture and his journey to see the new baby.

The three wise men in their robes of beautiful fabric and exotic gifts shared the story of their journey to find the Christ child.


Isn't she a sweetie?
She was running through the crowded, twisted streets of Bethlehem.

People of all ages participated in the re-enactment. We learned this was the second year this church presented the Christmas story as a living history. The part of the church we were in was set up as small stalls with citizens sharing their story and message about the coming of Jesus. I think there were 10 stalls or stations. People in costume were wandering along the pathway around the stalls, giving us the feeling of a crowded street in Bethlehem, just as it must have been over 2000 years ago. The church members did a fantastic job with designing, decorating and costuming. We learned that 80 people volunteered to take part in the nativity over the three evenings. I am sure will be bigger and better next year.

Water Show

One of my favorite stops in Las Vegas is the water show at the Belligio. The water show is synchronized to music and is a beautiful display, especially at night. I don't think Curt was impressed.

Mirage Aquarium

One of the free attractions at our Vegas hotel was this fresh water aquarium "wall" behind the check-in desk

where brightly colored fish darted about in the water

amongst the plants and rocks

entertaining harried travelers and guests.

New Hoover Dam Road

When Kari & I were in Las Vegas a year ago, we took the Hoover Dam tour and learned about the new four lane road being built near the dam and over the Colorado River. The top photo is from October of 2008.


Curt and I took US Highway 93 yesterday and drove over the dam. I asked Curt to stop at the same viewing area we had stopped at last year so I could take a picture and compare the two. Keep in mind the photos were taken with different cameras and I am not standing in the exact same spot, but you can see how far along the road is. There are more more concrete pillars and cables and the concrete arch on the left has been added.

The new road is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010. It will have an awesome view of the river and dam but I for one will not be driving across the great expanse. Too high, too scary. Construction workers were working on Sunday; not the big earth movers, but surveyors and graders. They were preparing the road bed leading up to and beyond the bridge. There is lots of work to do yet, but in this part of the country, road work is 12 months of the year; not like the two seasons in SD-winter and road construction.

Christmas in Vegas

This Christmas tree, in the lobby of our Las Vegas hotel,

was decorated in bronze colors.

Huge snowflakes were hanging from the atrium ceiling, helping to create a festive atmosphere.

National Finals Rodeo

We are in Las Vegas and attended the opening night of the NFR at Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

I am posting 3 of my better rodeo pictures. Saddle Bronc event

Tie Down Calf Roping
This is a decent pic because neither the calf nor cowboy are moving, much...

And my personal favorite event...Bull riding

The SD cowboys did all right tonight. Three of the six placed in the top four of their events.

The NFR has been on Curt's "Bucket List". We can cross it off now and add the Finals of the PBR. That is on my list.

Arches National Park

On our way to Arizona we stopped at Arches National Park in eastern Utah. It was well worth the stop, even though we saw only about half of the park's unique sandstone formations.

Doesn't this sandstone "sculpture" look like the Three Wise Men?

This is what Arches National Park is famous for...The Windows

The park is well worth a visit. It kind of puts our world in perspective, reminding us who is in charge.

More and different pictures will appear on my "A Picture A Day" blog starting on Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a happy and tasty turkey day!

Red Rock Sunset

As we drove from Utah to northern Arizona on Sunday afternoon, the setting sun was shining on these red rocks in northern Arizona in the Navajo Indian Reservation.


Sunday was a day of seeing red rocks, first in Colorado, then Utah and finally in northern AZ. It made looking at the brown desert grasses and shrubs more interesting.

Colorado National Monument

We started our morning in Grand Junction CO by visiting the Colorado National Monument.

Awesome red rocks lines the southern landscape of Grand Junction. We got the morning sun bringing out the shiny red colors.

The red rock rim drive overlooked the Colorado River as it wound its way to the west through Grand Junction.

There were cool monoliths "growing" from the canyon floor.

It was a great way to start our day, playing tourist. And it was just the beginning of the red rock scenery; all very majestic and colorful.

The "S" Word

Yes, that is SNOW. About 30 miles east of Denver we began to see the white stuff among the hillsides and grass. This shot is just west of Denver city limits. Definitely more snow to the west of Denver than the east.

We left Sioux Falls this morning at 5:45 AM and checked into a hotel in Grand Junction CO at 9:00 this evening; 900 or so miles later and 15 hours of shared driving. Nice to get the miles behind us as we have been on these roads before. Tomorrow is "new territory".

A small buffalo herd along Interstate 70 west of Denver.

We passed through 6 tunnels tonight from Denver to Grand Junction. The Eisenhower Tunnel the longest at 1.5 miles.

New sights tomorrow!