The road to Vegas... and no, Bing and Bob were not along for the ride.

Birgit took this picture out the car window of Interstate 84 somewhere east of Pocatello. Yes, it looks like some back country road but it was indeed the freeway. It was what caused us to have to take a detour through Pocatello since the direct route to SLC was closed due to snow drifts. It took us 8 hours to get to SLC which is normally a 4 hour drive. That was the easy part however as we soon discovered that SLC drivers are fond of playing bumper cars with each other as they literally bounced off of each other and the dividers as they hurried to get around each other and be the first to roll their cars in this demolition derby. It was quite nerve-wracking as it was necessary to watch out not only for those cutting in and out of traffic with less than a car-length separation on icy, snow covered roads, but also to watch for on-coming cars as they bounced, slid and rolled across to our side of the road. We gave up counting the number of slide-off rollovers somewhere over 30. I have never seen so many car crashes in such a short period.

We gave up trying to make it to Vegas in one day, normally an 11-hour drive, after making it about half-way in 12. We decided to stop in Fillmore, Utah overnight at a little old motel called the "Sewing Wheel." It wasn't the Marriott, but it was clean and cheap. We got to Vegas in time for lunch at In-n-Out the next day. Yayyy! It was great to get to stay and visit with my mother and grandmother whom we hadn't seen in several months.

The highlight of the trip, besides the visit with family of course, was taking Kira to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. I have to say that it was even better than I had expected. Apparently it is an even larger stage than the one on Broadway in New York and was built specifically for this play. We knew we were in for a thrill from the moment we took our seats directly under the bottom of the chandelier which hung about 10 feet over our heads at an awkward angle. As the play begins the chandelier reassembles itself and raises back up to its normal height far above. Later on the Phantom would dangle from it over our heads and then at the high point of the performance it would come falling towards us with the lights going out when it was just about to land on us. Very exciting!

We all agreed that the most amazing part of the play were the set changes. The play ran over an hour and a half with no intermission and it was incredible how the stage transformed from the decrepit remnants of the Metropolitan Opera House to the glitteringly new theater with all the gilt and decorations in gold and velvet, to the outside of the Opera building towering over our heads, to the underground lair of the Phantom and more. All of this happening in just a matter of seconds. It was simply stage magic. Of course the performances were all first rate and it was so rewarding to look over at my daughter who watched the performance in awe. It made it worth the trouble it took to get there.

In all it was a nice visit that included a day trip to the Valley of Fire State Park and time spent with family over the holidays. This will hopefully be our last family visit to Vegas as plans are in the works for them to move to Arizona closer to my uncle and brother. I won't miss the craziness of that city.