We woke up in the morning feeling hungover which wasn’t fair since we only had one drink the night before. Ghis’s back was hurting and both our throats were sore – maybe the dry air?

Ghis went for a drive in the morning to visit Andre Agassi’s school and Morgane and I went to take a peek at a few more hotels along the strip.

We started at The Luxor which is like Egypt, then went to Excalibur, the castle, and New York with its statue of liberty and all. We finished with the MGM hotel.

We all decided we’d had enough of Las Vegas and could move on, even if we hadn’t eaten at a buffet or gambled any money. The only thing we’ll really miss is our hotel bathtub which was big and amazing.

These are some of the things we saw on the way to Las Vegas. First we said goodbye to the green hills and hello to the desert again. We’ve driven between California and Arizona so many times!

Morgane surprised us by knowing that Las Vegas is in Nevada. Her geography has really improved. But every time we change states, she asks if we’re still in the same country.

We saw casinos as soon as we crossed the border into Nevada. Then we kept our eyes open for the famous strip. It was easy to spot. Finding the entrance to the hotel was a bit harder.

Luckily, our Las Vegas friends that we met at Buses by the Bridge agreed to meet us for dinner. We went to the Venetian to meet them. The hotel even had little gondolas that you could ride around a little lake.

Our biggest problem was finding our way around. There are no signs in Vegas to tell you where you are. Casinos are the only places that you can’t miss.

We finally made it to dinner and had a great time! Then we all went outside and watched the volcano erupt at The Mirage. Scott and his wife make and sell promotional items, particularly pins. Their company is called Pinsville and they gave us a bunch of Vegas souvenir pins including their Melvis Pinsley pin which has moveable hips.

We watched the fountains at the Bellagio dance to music and loved it so much that we stayed to watch it a second time. It’s really beautiful. Morgane actually complained that we were keeping her up too late, so we finally got her back to the hotel. But not before we walked past a couple of pole dancers (dressed, thank goodness) in the casino. How to explain that?

It’s our last day in San Diego and we started it off by going to the dog beach with Carrie and Lisa and, of course, their dogs.

The sun came out a bit and Morgane adored splashing around with the dogs. She also loved throwing tennis balls.

Even at low tide, there is not much beach. There used to be, but it washed away in the last storm. Maybe they’ll bring some more sand here.

We drove around Coronado Island, just next to downtown San Diego. It’s quite peaceful, but also touristy. We finally stopped at the Silver Strand State Park and, even though it was chilly, we walked on the beach.

Right away, Morgane and I began finding sand dollars. We found more and more until our pockets were full. We brought them home as souvenirs and I am going to try to whiten them some more.

I took off on my own to do a little exploring and, after exploring the Patagonia store (again), I ended up at Swami’s Meditation Gardens.

The gardens are open to the public and are full of quiet places to sit and think. I saw a couple working on a drawing together.

There is also a view over the ocean and I could see the many surfers at Swami’s Beach. In black wetsuits, they looked like a gathering of seals in the water.

We’ve decided to spend a few more days in San Diego since the weather is so nice. We went back to walk on Ghis’s favourite beach at low tide. It’s the same beach where I lost Morgane’s shoe, but we didn’t see it anywhere.

A comment I keep hearing lately is, “Doesn’t anybody work?” There are always lots of people on the beach.

I love the sandstone cliffs. There are caves in spots, but it’s not wise to get too close. Sometimes they can come crashing down.

We made it out onto the little island and got to see crabs running around in the tidepool. I almost stepped on one while climbing down, too.

Morgane drew clocks in the sand and devil hearts (?!) and even a snowman. Then she made an upright sand snowman. I think she misses the snow!

Morgane and I are lucky when it comes to seeing the pandas. The first time we went to see the baby, there was no line-up and he was sleeping in a tree. When we got there he woke up and did all sorts of cute things.

This time he wasn’t in the same enclosure. We went looking and found out that it was his first day in a new spot. There was no line-up because the mother and baby were both sleeping.

As we were watching the older sister, a voice announced that we should come over very quietly. The mother was awake and eating bamboo stalks. Shortly thereafter, the baby woke up and came out, too. Then he climbed all the way up the big tree for the very first time.

The panda keeper told us that the baby panda might fall but that we must keep quiet and not gasp. She said that pandas can fall from sixty feet and be okay. Luckily, he didn’t fall while we were there.

We saw a lot more of the zoo and it was much less busy than on the weekend. We saw a jaguar, a snow leopard, and koala bears.

We dropped in on a monkey who was throwing a tantrum and was being separated from some smaller monkeys. Morgane said, REALLY LOUDLY, “I can throw a much bigger tantrum than that!” Finally the monkey-keeper left him alone and after throwing himself at the walls a bit, he put himself in a time-out in his hammack. Morgane stayed and watched him for a long time. He peeked out of his hammack now and then.

We also saw an excellent bird show that began with an owl who wouldn’t fly. He was supposed to fly up to a pole and get his treat, but he just kept making a peeping kind of noise. Finally, he did fly for us. Morgane thought it was hysterical when the host said the hawks kept all the mice away. Behind him, several mice came out of a little hole and ran across the stage.

The finale was a parrot who did animal noises and sang the song, Old McDonald Had a Farm. Very impressive. At the end of the show was a very convincing environmental pep-talk and then nobody could resist donating money to the birds’ cause because of the talented crow who collected the bills.

As usual, we paid 25 cents to use the foot massaging machines. It really makes Morgane laugh.

I went to the zoo on Monday with the three kids.

We spent time in the children’s zoo area and then saw the sea lion show.

After lunch we walked around a bit, but it was super busy. I guess a holiday Monday is not the best time.

Sunday afternoon we went with Jean and the kids to the beach. Because of the warm weather, it was busy. There were even lots of kids boogy-boarding. I put my feet in the water and it was not warm. I’d like to try it if I can get a wetsuit!

Morgane was happy just to dig in the sand and play in the park.

Afterwards, Jean drove us up Mt. Solidad so we could admire the view.

We made some new friends here who have both dogs and horses. We got together for breakfast at The Potato Shack where the pancakes are “manhole cover” sized.

Then Carrie and her sister introduced us to their beautiful horses. The kids fell in love with them and fed them carrots, then hay, sugar cubes and alfalfa. Probably the horses liked them, too!

One horse liked Ghis a lot and Gabriel commented, “He loves that horse so much it’s like his wife!” Don’t worry. I was not too jealous. 🙂

Sometimes the neighbouring horses would stick their noses out and surprise us. I guess they wanted pats and treats as well.

We had a great time hanging out with the horses. Being outside and being with animals are two things that make us happy and our friends feel the same.