Vegas Baby, Vegas

Ahhhh Vegas. What an interesting city. It is the epitome of commercialism and somehow still wildly irresistible.

We arrived in Vegas by way of Death Valley where we spent the better part of a day and a half. We scooted out of Bishop, CA early on Friday with hopes (my hopes) of climbing south of there where hopefully the weather was a bit warmer. Alas, the climbing locale known as the Alabama Hills was not as warm as its namesake would have you believe. It was a brisk morning and I could not convince Paige to climb with me. I will say, the climbing looked extremely promising and I hope to come back sometime when there are other climbers around and/or the weather is warmer.

From there we hopped into Death Valley and went for a few hikes. Our first stop was Mosaic Canyon, a very cool slot canyon that narrowed to just a few feet in some places. We followed up the canyon hike with a stroll along the sand dunes right before sunset and settled into our campsite just after dusk. The next morning we went for a run around the campsite and down around the visitor center. We stopped in at the lowest golf course on earth in the heart of death valley and headed back to our tent for breakfast and to get packed up. On the way out we made sure to stop in at the salt flat (the lowest point in north america) and for another short hike through yet another canyon.

Once we were back in cell phone range we called Marc Moore, Paige's friend from high school and met him at his house in Las Vegas. While we killed time before we headed down to the strip, Marc introduced us to the hilarious show that is "It's Always Funny in Philadelphia." I had no idea what I'd been missing out on. This show is hilarious.

Once we deemed it late enough to head downtown, we went on a tour of the strip that was not to be forgotten. After the statutory visits to Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, and all the rest, we ended up at Marc s favorite spot, O'Shea's. If memory serves, we had a good time. You'll have to check with Paige for all the details, but I think we won like a million dollars. I don't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure it happened though.

There's not much to say for Sunday. It was a day of rest. It was much needed.

After Sunday's recovery, today I actually got out for a real day of climbing. While Paige tended to the home-front and to Emma's wounded paw, I went out and made some new climbing friends at Red Rock Canyon. In true Zach fashion, I found several groups of climbers and forced myself on them. By the end of the day I'd racked up almost a dozen pitches and managed to find a half dozen new belay partners that were willing to catch me (a kind gesture on their part considering I was generally twice their size).

Tomorrow we are going to head to Phoenix to stay with my sister Summer and my brother-in-law Matt. While there I will try to convince Summer to name her unborn child after one of her favorite brothers. I think Zachary Boyd has a nice ring to it. It sounds almost as nice as Zacharina Boyd in case the child is a girl. I'll let you know how it turns out. If I can't convince her to name her kid after me, we might go for a hike or something instead. Who knows.

Thats all for now.

P.S. I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow from death valley.