March 22, 2018 - Thursday 

4 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Despite a marathon traveling session, coupled with a two hour time difference, I'm up bright and early this morning in anticipation of the beginning to maple season, albeit two or three weeks late. More about that in a bit.

We made it home from Las Vegas on Wednesday without a hitch. Fun? You have no idea.

I took far too many pictures to comment on all of them, but I think you'll get the gist. They pretty much run in sequential order, so here we go. They begin with the new luggage Sargie ordered especially for our trip and continue from there.

Chicago's Loop in the background. Driving to Midway Airport.

Tahiti Village where we stayed 

Though he didn't have on his suit, this little guy had no problem recognizing Santa while dining in a local restaurant. 

Sarah and Isabella joined us Friday afternoon

Auntie Sargie and Isabella coloring

We attended a family magic show Sunday afternoon. Everyone was captivated, big and little alike.

The star of the show, Yooper Brother Mark, made his LasVegas stage debut.

He's now thinking of starting his own LasVegas show, calling it, "The Thunder Down Under."

The LasVegas strip at night

Walking up and down the strip, we especially enjoyed the water show and music outside the Bellagio Cassino.

While shopping at the mall across the road, Sargie got sucked into listening to a sales pitch, but did get her hair curled for free and no, she didn't buy the $300 curling iron.

Taken from our balcony. That's Alaska Airlines coming in for a landing.

We saw Sarah and Isabella fly back to Wyoming Monday afternoon.

Diamond Lil
On our $10 a day gambling budget, we didn't come home millionaires. 

Santa even made a stop in Las Vegas during the week. Note: he's sporting his warm weather suit.

Mark and I took a roller coaster ride via virtual reality. Talk about fun! I had to remind myself that we were hardly moving and all the action was really in our eyes and between our ears.

The operator was the holder of a PhD who was also an out of work aspiring actress. Her total movie credits was the back of a head shot on an escalator in a Jason Bourne movie for which she was paid $800.

 Part of one day was spent driving to Red Rock Canyon just outside of Las Vegas. The stark scenery was beautiful.

After our drive, we made our way through old LasVegas to Fremont Street.

I'm pretty sure Yooper Brother Mark runs a brothel when he's not being Santa.

My last meal in LasVegas
Lots of food groups there!

 We boarded our plane at 5 AM Thursday morning and winged our way back to Chicago, arriving at 10:30, half an hour early.

The six hour drive home was uneventful and we found everything just as it should be on Pentoga Road.

Needless to say, we slept like babies last night, but I was awake early this morning with only one thought on my mind, tapping trees.

I'm about two weeks late, but the weather appears favorable for a good end-of-the-season run. There's still plenty of snow in the woods keeping the sap from turning.

Time to rock and roll. I'd write more, but it's time to drill some holes and insert a few taps, hopefully sixty to ninety of them before afternoon's end.

My favorite LasVegas picture. So much to say, no words needed.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...