redneck recreation

We began our first day in Vegas doing the tourist thing. (This isn't the redneck part, by the way, in case you are wondering). We went on a fabulous tour of the Ethel M chocolate factory. Well, they weren't actually making any chocolates that day . . .


but the free samples,


and the chocolate shop . . .

. . . made up for it.
Here is our crew for the trip:


THIS is the redneck part of the trip:


Yep, we made the adventure to the Nascar races. On top of that, we actually stayed in RVs in the parking lot. Here is our campsite:


But to be really be considered a redneck, we would have had to have astroturf, couches, and our own flagpole complete with flags for all our drivers:


At least that's what I told myself.

Hanging out with Uncle Lee:

Striking their best poses:

A view of the stadium from our seats. The place was gigantic and the amount of people stifling.



See the black cover on the car? That was because of the rain delay we had the first day. In Vegas of all places.


And this is the face of bored children while they waited for the track to dry off.


Eventually, the drivers entered their cars. We had a good view of the pits (here is Danica Patrick getting in her car).


And the green flag flew:


(Notice the empty seats in this photo. This was the Nationwide series race. The next day for the Sprint series race, these seats were all full.)

After another rain delay, they still finished the entire race. And some of us (Sarah and I) were finished too by the time the race was over. Oh well, nothing a little cotton candy can't fix, right?

We were glad for sunnier and warmer weather the next day.

The noise level in this place was out of control. First, there was this:


Next to the air force base with heavier than usual air traffic meant that we heard these overhead from 6 AM to 10 PM everyday.


Then, at the track, we wore these headphones for noise protection, and to give us something to listen too other than the roar of the cars during the race. Aren't we cute?




Here are our race buddies, Tawnya and Lee:


If we were seriously redneck, we would have race jackets for our favorite drivers:


Even if it means sporting a sponsor like Viagra:

As it was, we did sport some of our own memorabilia, but we were more into M&Ms:



All in all, it was a grand family adventure and we enjoyed our time with the girls' cousins. Speaking for myself, however, I can honestly say that my first Nascar experience with likely also be my last.