Las Vegas, NM

July 2 - July 8, 2013

We spent six nights in "the original" Las Vegas: Las Vegas, New Mexico. The Las Vegas of today is a sleepy working class town, but it has had a colorful history. The wagon wheel ruts still visible outside of town attest to its importance as a stop on the old Santa Fe Trail. During the 1880's it was known as one of the roughest towns on the frontier, harboring such desperados as Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday.

We were in "the original" Las Vegas to visit with family. My Parents have owned some land there for quite a while. They have a cabin that has served as a wonderful retreat for them over the years.  My brothers, Denny and Pete, have now also built a lovely adobe "cabin" on several acres of the same land. When Rick and I discovered that all three of my brothers would be vacationing at the newer cabin this week, we decided to join them. And when we persuaded my sister, Emily, to join us, it was a party.

Rick and I arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday and had fun with Denny and Pete. My brother Bob arrived on Wednesday night, and my sister Emily, her daughter, Lucy, and my parents arrived on Friday. We had a great time hanging out, eating together, and catching up. It's not often that all of us are together.

Bob, Pete, Emily, Sally, Denny

Las Vegas, NM, is at 6,430' elevation, so we have enjoyed considerably cooler temperatures than those we were experiencing in Arizona. It has rained, at least for a little while, every day since we arrived. New Mexico has been suffering from a drought that has lasted for several years, so everyone has been delighted with the rain. But take a look at the pictures below. We had an incredible hail storm while we were here. These pictures were taken at my brothers' place. This was the first time that I have ever seen so much hail at one time. A nearby town had a full foot of hail laying on the ground after this storm. It was so bad that they had to call in the snow plows to remove it.

When we leave here, we will be beginning to move south and east, towards home. We still have a few stops left before we actually make it back to Florida, but the end of this adventure is now in sight.