Feiya

Bryce Canyon camping

Bryce Canyon National Park | Camping Trip 2020

Camping is one of my favorite pastimes. Since leaving Colorado over 12 years ago I haven’t been camping once. Come to think about it, I bet it’s been almost 14 years since the last time I went camping. It’s not that I lost interest, it’s just that it was an activity that just didn’t fit into my life for the past decade or so. I’m so glad to have rediscovered it and am able to share the experience with Feiya and Dana. The seeds for this trip were planted one year ago when we visited Cedar Breaks National Monument just outside of Cedar City, Utah. While exploring this beautiful area we stumbled upon a campground located in a high meadow full of wildflowers. We walked the campsite loop and saw several empty sites that had spectacular views. We were excited thinking we could be sleeping under the stars in anyone of these sites. And it was a busy holiday weekend to boot! I camped regularly in the Mountains of Colorado in the 12 years I lived there. In my early 20’s camping was more or less finding a secluded spot on a backcountry access road and set up a tent, …

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1st day of school, Las Vegas.

August Update

Made it through August! Even though it was hot as hell here in Vegas, it wasn’t a bad month. I was steady at work for most of the month. Which is good, I like it when I’m not thinking about anything other than work. I like the focus. Home life is pretty well on auto-pilot during the week. We don’t go out much on the weekends, so we cook all weekend long. We fill up the fridge for the week! It works out pretty well. Feiya started school last week. She hit a couple bumps during the first week. The 2nd day she fell asleep and missed 3 classes. She’s had perfect attendance since. Her workload isn’t too bad yet. It’s nice to see her have some structure. The first few days she complained a lot. Today and yesterday I haven’t heard any complaining or moaning. I think she’s getting into the groove. She just spent the better part of the last 6 months cooped up inside. Her only solace has been two sleepovers she spent at her friend’s house this past month. The activity and having purpose is doing her well. There were a couple of rough days last …

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Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument We took a much needed break from the Vegas heat and the 2020 nonsense over the 4th of July weekend. We rented a SUV for a song and drove to Central Utah and stayed in a rented cabin for 3 days. It was like opening the decompression valves to full. All three of us were very happy for the short escape. We reserved the cabin and rental car last month. That’s when we decided that there was no better way to practice social distancing than Utah. I looked at it as a social distancing vacation from well, social distancing. Utah has been pretty laxed on pandemic requirements. When we were there you could tell who the tourists were and who the locals were by the mask or the absence of a mask. I’m not a fan of wearing a mask, but I had to ask myself– Why not? Right now there is no other known way to prevent the spread. Yes, wearing masks is arguably causes more harm than good. I believe that wearing a mask for short periods of time throughout the day as you weave in and out of public places will cause …

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Cooking Mexican food for our Sunday meal.

Mexican Food- Sunday Meal

First Sunday meal in the new place Well, that went ok. The kitchen performed flawlessly. The new gas range is a pure joy to cook with. I think it’s been since I lived in Rapid City, South Dakota since I had a kitchen with a gas stove. Cooking on that stove was a thrill in its self. Now that the thrift stores are open again, I’ll see if I can find some decent pots and pans. I was able to use my brand new Japanese chef knife that I paid $11.99 for on Amazon. It did pretty good. I have a genuine Ginsu knife arriving tomorrow. I’ll be able to slice through an aluminum can AND a tomato. I won’t take that kind of power lightly. Enchiladas The main dish today was enchiladas. We followed a recipe from allrecipes.com. We didn’t follow it to a tee, but we didn’t stray to far from it either. The seasoning on the chicken breasts was Feiya’s idea. We mixed paprika, salt, chili powder, and cumin together. It was pretty tasty, but in the end you really couldn’t taste it in the finished dish. The salsa verde was the highlight of the day! Very …

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Pine Glen Condo Part I

Pine Glen Condo Part I | Summerlin

Here we are smack dab in the middle of pandemic. I’ve never experienced a crisis this directly before. The weird thing is, EVERYBODY is experiencing it. This is not one of those “That only happens somewhere else.” situations. This is happening worldwide simultaneously. Never before has the world been so connected by a common effort, to defeat the coronavirus, or COVID-19. I’m staying optimistic throughout this ordeal as long as I possibly can. We all know the economic hardships that are coming down the pipe. Will the worse case scenarios come to fruition? Sure, there’s a very real possibility that my job is on the line. Vegas doesn’t do well in downturns. And, man do we have a downturn coming! Right now every casino in Las Vegas is closed! The bigger casinos are taking care of their people, for now. The smaller one’s, not so much. This will take awhile to dig out of this hole. The last recession Las Vegas had was in 2008. Home prices finally reached their pre-recession prices in the last two years. That’s nearly ten years of recovery! So, what did we do? We bought a f*****g condo, in FEBRUARY! I’m not sitting here shitting …

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