Viva LV

Quick trip to Las Vegas...

First we had to get to Vancouver for an early morning flight. This meant going via ferry to Richmond the day before. We figured we may as well make a holiday of it, so we took a mid-day ferry and spent the afternoon at Granville island - always an interesting spot. And a beautiful day for a visit, as it turns out.

While touring the eclectic collection of artisans, markets and marinas, we received news that the couple we were to meet in Las Vegas might not be able to get away. Apparently winter had returned to northern Alberta with a vengeance. Russ was stuck in Fort McMurray when his flight out was cancelled, and it seemed unlikely he was going to be able to get to Edmonton in time for their flight to LV.

After checking into our motel in Richmond for the night, we walked to the nearby River Rock casino, to sort of get the preview of Vegas. Not quite the real thing but a better imitation that I would originally have thought. Interesting that the entertainment headliner there was Adam Lambert, the American Idol contestant from last year. He also shared our flight to Las Vegas the next morning, apparently on his way to appear on the show again.

In the end, everything worked out. We had an uneventful flight and arrived to find that our friends did make it after all, thanks to an all-night bus ride for Russ - now that is going above and beyond!

As for Las Vegas, lets just say that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Our flight back was a little more trying for us, as we sat on the tarmac for over 2 hours due to an erroneous warning light for the starter motor on one of the 737's engines. Fortunately for us, it really did not matter when we got back, as we had no critical connections to make and just caught a later ferry (the 8:15 instead of the 5:45). We were home by 10:30.

Back on the boat, we have dived into our boat projects with the best of intentions, at least until the weather again turned cool and rainy. We did get a couple of really nice days, but we are now again huddling down below, updating blogs and working on other computer projects, etc.

At least the geese are still enjoying it. Here is our neighborhood couple going about the serious business of protecting their territory, mostly from reflections in the windows on the houseboat next door.