Happy Thanksgiving!

Our friend Jeri arrived on Saturday as scheduled and we've had a great time with her.  I even spent Sunday night at the hotel with her so we could stay up late and have casino time.  That was my one lucky day so I was feeling great! 

Saturday evening our friends, David and Debbie Hawkins celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary at Table 34, a great restaurant in Las Vegas.  There was eight of us at dinner.  David's nephew, Lance, whom I have known of for many, many years but had never met was there with his wife Janine.  There were some other friends from their gym and Jeri, Ted and I.  The food was really wonderful and a good time was had by all!

Tuesday evening we picked up Jeri's husband, Stach, at the airport.  Yesterday we went to see the new Harry Potter movie, which we all enjoyed.  I thought it was the final chapter but apparently they made it into two parts, it was obvious that there will be another movie!After the movie we headed over to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory.  We sampled some chocolate and watched some being made.

Ethel M has a 4-acre botanical cactus garden with over 300 different plants, half of which are cacti and half are succulents.  In the daylight you can read about the plants.  During the holidays they decorate the gardens with Christmas lights and other decorations.  We walked through the gardens just as it was getting dark and the lights were beautiful!

Today we took Jeri and Stach to the Valley of Fire State Park.  It is about 55 miles north and east of Las Vegas.  The name of the valley is derived from the red sandstone formations formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago!   Extensive erosion, uplifting and faulting have created the present landscape that is so beautiful!  The valley was occupied by the Anasazi and Pueblos from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D.  They would have hunted and gathered food but would not have stayed too long because of the lack of water and the heat.  Today it was a bit chilly (mid-40's) but sunny and clear.  We showed Jeri and Stach the campground which we are going to go to on Tuesday for a couple of days. They also saw the natural arch, the balancing rock, the dog, beehives and petroglyphs.

Tonight we had our turkey dinner at the casino with Jeri and Stach.  It was a good dinner and we are home recouperating!  They leave tomorrow, it's been a fun week!

Giving thanks at Thanksgiving..."Ain't Life Grand!"