Vegas with Bernie and Elinor

It was time, and past time, to take another trip with Elinor and Bernie.  The Engelhards are dear friends from our Air Force days in Tucson, Arizona, during the 1970s.  In 2013, we jeeped the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park together.  On March 20, 2015, we met again, at a psychologists' conference Dave and Bernie were attending at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.

 The resort, and our rooms inside it, were as flamboyant as Vegas itself.

 The big event of the trip was hearing Elton John sing and play at Caesar's Palace.  We sat on the back row of the highest tier, and it still cost megabucks.  It was totally worth it, though, to hear iconic songs sung by the master songwriter himself. 

The staging and special effects were worthy of the over-the-top Caesar's Palace venue.

On Saturday morning, Elinor and I went driving and hiking at Red Rock Canyon, just down the road from the resort, while Dave and Bernie attended classes.

As a Utahn, I am used to beautiful red rocks, but I can never get enough of them, and Elinor couldn't, either.

Bernie and Elinor flew back to Tucson on Saturday night, so we finished strong, with dinner at an Old Las Vegas restaurant, far from the Strip.  Nora's was rated highly on Urban Spoon, but it was everything the Strip isn't.  There was no glitz.  Nora's is in the middle of a strip mall, it is family run, and you sit at small square tables in an unadorned, large square room.  Nora's also has fabulous Italian food, from the antipasto salad to the lasagna and fruitti de mare to the just-fried cannoli.  This is our second or third trip to Vegas with Bernie and Elinor.  We'll be coming back, and I'm voting for dinner at Nora's!