It's been a little over two weeks since I've updated, I even got a reminder from a friend this week to update, so here goes...
This past week I was on vacation with my family. My parents decided to have some family time since I'm planning on going back to the ship in July. Right away they said that they would take us all on a trip for our Christmas present. Mom wanted to know if I was interested in going on a cruise or if there was someplace I'd like to go. I told her right away that going on a cruise wasn't much of an option considering I was living on a ship already and could go to the beach just about whenever I wanted to. From that I told them that I prefer going to the mountains. After a few weeks they came to the decision that we would go to Las Vegas. I had mentioned before that I had no desire to go to Vegas with it's reputation and not being known for the things I like to do. But it seems to have been a good fit.
We left home last Saturday the 21st and came home on the 28th. The first night we went down the strip to see a few casinos and hotels. They are very large and quite impressive but after that I had seen enough of them. There was just one more that I wanted to see on Sunday, it was home to three restaurants owned by my favorite Chef Mario Batali. I have been to his place in NYC, so it was neat to see his places in Vegas. If only I had been there a week earlier I could have met him. Sunday evening we went out the the Valley of Fire. It's a state park where the rocks really brighten up when the sunsets. in the evening.
Monday consisted of going to some more casinos that my brother and sister-n-law wanted, and getting off the strip to In-N-Out Burger and local record store. I had been to one once before in California, but after hearing more about them from a friend on the ship I was sure it was worth another trip. That evening I was looking at different options of going to visit the Grand Canyon. Before the trip we had looked on line to see how far it was and after finding out it was about 4 hours we thought it would be too far to drive since it would only be a day trip. That day I had found out I could ride on a tour bus for less than $80 bucks so I started doing research to see which had the best options. After narrowing it down to three different bus companies I decided to go to bed. Tuesday morning dad woke me up around 6:30 said that if I wanted to go to the Canyon we could drive out that day. After a few seconds of thinking (waking up) I told him yeah. So we headed out right before 8 just in time to get to the Grand Canyon about noon time. We were pleasantly surprised by fresh snowfall from the previous day. Before making the trip I though it would be stupid to go to Vegas and not make the effort to see God's creation of the Grand Canyon, but after making the trip I KNOW you mist be stupid to not make the effort to go to the Grand Canyon from Vegas. I suppose reading a chapter in my current book about the sovereignty of God and how He designed things to reflect His beauty did make the view even more spectacular... I guess all I should say is that I do plan on going back someday. Around three in the afternoon we started back to Vegas. It was a little tiring to spend the day in the car, but I was glad to get to spend it with dad.
The following are a few pictures from this first part of the ship, I'll post the rest of our trip on the next blog.
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| Hard Rock Cafe on the strip |
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| The Bellagio Fountains |
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| Valley of Fire |
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| The scrumptious meal at In-N-Out Burger. |
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| The South Rim looking North |
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| A great view of the snowfall. |
If I don't update again before February 1st, keep the ship in your prayers. Wednesday they'll have their first major screening in Togo, where thousands of potential patients will arrive to see if they can get treatment from Mercy Ships.
