Christmas 2009 - Part 1

Wednesday the 22nd, we got the car packed and took off around 5pm. After a couple stops around he neighborhood, and only 1 return trip to the house to get a last minute item, we were on our way south. The itinerary was to head to Vegas, eat at In N Out, then head to Whiskey Pete's. Having grown up in California, and having traversed the road from my hometown to Utah on many occasions as I grew up, I have always had a fondness and pull for Whiskey Pete's that defies definition. I never stopped at the casino, never stayed in the hotel, never did more than drive by. It sits on the border of Nevada and California. At the bottom of a long hill that is always fun to traverse going north, but forever in its incline as you head south, sits this odd casino/hotel. I would recall that one direction, travelling from California, it was a landmark of sorts, indicating that we were soon to meet the lights and display of Las Vegas. When this landmark was reached as you traveled south, it always meant that the trip was coming to a close, and home was just around the corner. The desert lay in all directions to either side of this odd oasis. It sprouts up as if from the nothing in the middle of the barren wasteland of the Nevada road. On the night of the 22nd of December 2009, we spent the night in the castle that is Whiskey Pete's. It is an old casino, and old hotel. The carpet is no longer tight across the floor, with visible waves around its edges, not like you see in the ocean at low tide. Everywhere you looked you can see signs of aging, of sag, of oldness. Yet, as we walked down the hallway to our room, our little 6 year old was wide eyed and amazed. This could be the finest of fine castles at the height of any kingdom on earth. He was amazed, and the only words that seemed to come out of his mouth were 'awesome'. Over and over, everything was awesome. Before leaving in the morning, we went up to the top floor, and found our way to the roof. The kids were able to look over the edge, see how high up we were, and look over the massive desert expanding out below them. Amazement was once again on the menu as their eyes grew in astonishment at the wonders they had never before witnessed. Seeing these things thru their eyes, makes us all revert to the days of yonder, and we all enjoyably returned for a moment to see the newness of it all.


Treyson's apparent joy at saying in the most awesome hotel ever!!


The girls enjoying their own room, and a little downtime after a long journey


The morning of the 24th, after standing at the top of the castle that is Whiskey Pete's, we piled into the car and headed south. As we drove, every 15 minutes or so, Christy would check the ever climbing temperature, and squeel with joy as we squeezed out 5 more degrees in increase. The night before, we had seen the temperature hit 19 somewhere north of St. George. By the time noon met us in the Pacific timezone, we were above 50. We even saw 63 at some point in the day. Having shed our coats and sweaters and winter hats while regassing in St. George the night before, we were now finding ourselves uncomfortably warm and loving to see the cars auto temp control choose A/C.



the castle


a pitstop to purchase alien jerkey. ended up just being earth animal jerky instead, so no purchase was made.


Before leaving on our trip, I had remembered that there was a motorcycle store my friend Marcus had mentioned. I had researched it, and found it along our route that day. We called the store as we approached, and found out that they closed at 2pm. We were going to make it. We had to rush a bit, but we did make it. As we entered this store, wondering what it would actually look like, our imaginations were woefully inadequate to guess its size. This store was amazing and huge. I felt like it was Christmas. And it was! Christmas Eve. We found ourselves wondering around and with rapt amazement wanting to see it all. However, only 25 minutes were alloted to our shopping frenzy. WE did find some great deals, and actually left the store having bought more than we had planned, and surprised ourselves as well as the children with more presents.


After visiting the Nirvana of dirtbike stuffs, we resumed our journey southward. The next stop was going to be a bit more somber. We found ourselves parking in the farthest reaches of the Riverside National Cemetary, wondering amongst the headstones, looking for a specific headstone. #51 in section 20a was the final resting place of my maternal grandparents. As we found ourselves wondering around the section 20a, we soon realized what direction the values printed on each headstone was headed, and started looking for the value we were searching for. As myself and Kylie got closer, we actually broke out into a run, carefully not stepping on headstones, yet hurriedly trying to be the first to reach the goal. We all congregated around the headstone, and started talking about grandpa and grandma Collings. Stores, memories, wishes, histories all flowed, soon accompanied by tears of sadness intermixed with those of joy. We remembered so many good things, and were able to tell our children many stories. They recalled many things as well, some simply stories I had told them, that they retold me. It was theraputic and a really nice way to spend the Christmas Eve afternoon as a family, realizing our own mortality, placing ourselves on the twisted strings that make up the tapestry of the human condition. They are gone. They touched our lives. We find ourselves in a location along the pattern of life, similar to where they were at one point in their lives. Our youngest started asking us where we wanted to be buried. Simply discussing the inevitability of our lives was an interesting conversation to have with our young children while we are still fairly young parents ourselves. None of us are at the point that we can see the end yet, but acknowledging it, is something tremendous.



on the road again!





the gravesite





mourning as well and reliving memories

Finally getting on the road again brought us even further south than even the parents have been in a long time. We crisscrossed freeways, tried to maintain a bead on the destination, and live thru the ever surprisingly and increasing traffic. We were amazed that so many people were out and about as we were on Christmas Eve. When we reached the hotel, and got settled in, it really hit us that Santa was coming tonight. We were enjoying the diverse couple of days travel and adventures, and had remembered the significance of the date, but it seemed to be out of reach. Here we were in a hotel all together as a family. There were a couple presents to be opened to continue our family tradition of Christmas Jammies. We relished in opening these presents as we have each and every year we can remember. After getting them opened, and tried on, we actually took them off and donned out swimsuits. The pool at the hotel is heated, as well as being near a jacuzzi. So, as a family, we spent the evening in the pool and jacuzzi. This is something we have never done on Christmas Eve before and may become part of the tradition. With the heat of the water, and the tiredness of the road upon us, the children all climbed into bed together to await the approach of the beloved elf. He will visit, he will leave presents in Cali, and more at our home in Utah. Our vacation is just starting, and already its been a success.

Twas the night before Christmas ... the children were nestled all snug in their beds