Wynn Resort, Las Vegas

Last November, My wife and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Las Vegas.  For me, like most Southern Californians,  going to Vegas is not that big of a deal.  But I've only been there three times in my life; once when my mom got remarried, I was around five years old; once for a day when I was 18, I drove out there with my friend Silver and somehow got stuck walking around a parking lot of a Grateful Dead show in a 125 degree heat (alright, maybe I exaggerate... maybe not); and once, right after I was married for a couple days. Still, this was not my first choice, but since I didn't plan until a month before (because I couldn't think of where to go) Vegas became the clear choice. Besides, all my co-workers were telling me the place has changed in ten years and I would probably not recognize the strip. 

In the late planning stages, still trying to figure things out, a co-worker and friend of mine, told me to look at Southwestvacations.com  for a deal. We ended up getting a really great deal to stay at the Wynn Hotel and two round trip flights. But a word to the wise, the earlier the better. I would have saved about a $100 bucks from the time I first looked into staying from the time I actually booked the trip (which was about a weeks lapse). 

The Wynn Hotel was beautiful! The staff was friendly and helpful which made the experience all the more refreshing. I loved the place.

First arriving at The Wynn.

Our room, the view and decor

The Bathroom was great and the tub was almost as good as a jet tub.  

I'm pretty sure I took 6 baths while there!

Mono Lake

Our last stop of the trip was to Mono Lake. Prior to going, I had seen some really amazing pictures of the Tufa Towers and thought since we were so close, we should really make our way out to the lake and take a gander. I suppose the pictures on my blog really don't do the place justice, one really needs to be there in the early morning or evening hours to catch the beauty of the light reflecting off the water. Ours was taken during the afternoon (that's the best you can do when trying to get three girls ready to go!). 

We had bought a little brochure on the lake, in which it encouraged you to float in the lake (we didn't notice until later that the brochure was over 10 years old), so the adventurer I am, brought my swimming trunks and got ready to jump in. My wife's Aunt and nephew were ready to do so as well! When we decided to finally go into the lake, since we had to get the kids changed into their swimsuits, Aunt Kim and son AJ were already dressed, so they went first,. By the time we got the kids ready, Aunt Kim and AJ were coming back and pleading with us not to go in. Apparently, the water was rather soupy and filled with dead brine shrimp, plus there were a billion flies buzzing around in black masses, and the water smelled bad. Thus, we skipped out on swimming in Mono Lake and I've been kicking myself ever since.

Rainbow Falls

The same day we went to The Devil's Postpile, we hiked (more liked walked a very nice easy trail) a little over a mile to Rainbow Falls. The Fall was a beautiful sight, but better than that it was refreshing on such a warm day. We went to the bottom of the falls and placed our feet in the freezing cold water. Wonderful.

The Devil's Postpile

On our trip to Mammoth with my family (and Aunt Kim, Uncle John, and AJ), the one place that was really a set destination for us was The Devil's Postpile. I saw these 60 ft. columnar Basalt formations in the Los Angeles Times magazine (that part of the newspaper is now defunct) and thought it would be an interesting sight to behold. However, two trips to convict lake and I still had not taken the trip, so during our visit I made sure this was on our to do list. As I remember, you had to pay a couple bucks per person to  take you down by bus to the location (I think they're trying to limit the traffic that goes through the area), but afterwards getting to the formations were relatively easy. Due to a maintained trail, we were even able to take my daughter's stroller.