Before the worst road trip experience of my life, though, there was a lot of fun to be had. Kristin shared the basics, so let me clue you in on the details...
Kristin, Will, Holly & Jim Beam welcomed me to their Vegas mansion just like they used to in the Dirty Dirty. In the olden days a house the size of my entire apartment complex and a yard the size of a house would have seemed like business as usual, but since moving to LA, anything that is free standing, has extra rooms and has more than 8 feet of grassy area around it, it's like a domestic playground. I had my own room... not an office that is converted for guests, but a room dedicated to hosting guests. Awesome. And I can also now vouch for the number of mirrors in her house. Holy cow. Every time I left the bathroom I felt like someone was following me, but it was just... me reflected 3000 times.
Visiting Kristin & Will is as fun in Vegas as it ever was in Atlanta. On Friday, we woke up and started cooking Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey Kristin bought came with gravy, but the smell started to react badly with the night before that was still in our heads and stomachs so she tossed it and crafted her own recipe. All you really need to know about Thanksgiving at Kristin's is that it comes with gravy. I could have just eaten the gravy and been satisfied. I put gravy on everything on my plate, then put another layer of gravy on my plate, then sopped up the gravy on my plate with gravy soaked deviled eggs. I know, it sounds gross, but it was sooo good. Gravy.
Games are always a part of visiting Kristin and Will, and since they had the foresight to bring cornhole with them out West, I was able to fine tune my skills so that this year I can scream, "FOUR IN A ROW" in Lisa's ear while she's pregnant and trying to sleep. She loves when I do that.Before we could get started though, Kristin had to go on a massive crap expedition and pick up a year's worth of Holly poo. Holly is in her grandma stage of life and putters around the yard with an expression on her face like, "What is that smell?" and we're all like, "Hollins, that's you!"
To keep things fair, Will brought out the rules from the American Cornhole Association, which he has assumed the presidency of. There wasn't a clause that said anything about how to play when the beans have absorbed rainwater and are more like beef bricks than bean bags, which is probably why I was able to kick Will's ass. I'm just sayin'.
We also broke out Jenga, which I lost, and A to Z, which I perfected when I used to play teams with Sarah and, thus, won. Man, Kristin is so cute when she's mad that she will never beat me at A to Z.
Now that Kristin & Will live in Vegas and since there are more amazing things than Dave & Busters to go check out, we headed out to Red Rock Canyon. There's a loop you drive around to all the main attractions, but there was one hike in particular that was just off a "dirt road" that we decided to check out. The hike was described as having the "most significant feature" in the canyon and didn't require 3 hours to do. Sounds perfect, right?So we headed down this "dirt road," which was really a rocky mess that made it painfully obvious I've eaten too much gravy so far in this lifetime and that gave Kristin an opportunity to hone her off-roading skillz.
We made our way up the trail, trying to keep our pre-death panting under control so as not to worry those around us. It was beautiful.
We finally came upon some red rock which was dramatically different, and the trail sort of ended. After much discussion, we all agreed that this does not qualify as "significant." Pretty, sure. But significant? No.
We asked some other hikers who were coming toward us if there was anything good up ahead and discovered that there was a 400 foot drop off that wasn't too far and that was worth the extra walk. We decided to go for it, and it was definitely worth it. Sure the cliff thingy was nice, but watching Kristin butt hike to the top was the highlight for me. I had no idea she was so afraid of heights.
We did the obligatory timer photo to commemorate our cumulative efforts, in case the hike back down killed us. We had to do two because in the first one, Kristin had her arms around Will and I and she didn't want to "be the armless person" in the photo. You can't argue with that. So instead we look like the people who aren't sure what to do with their arms while Will looks all Obama-esque and like he just had some tea.
Visiting Kristin has always been one of my favorite ways to get the hell outta dodge. I've visited her in her dorm room in Athens, in her houses in Atlanta and now in her new home in Vegas, and every time I visit I have an absolute blast. Thanks for being such good hosts and for letting me eat all of your candy, Kristin & Will. I love you and am so glad you're within driving distance!!
