My translation of the conversation that lead to this past weekend's adventures:

Eve: "Want to drive out into the middle of the desert with me to look for wildflowers that may or may not be there?"

Brian: "Sure! We can bring snacks!"

And boy did we ever. We had three different kinds of bagel sandwiches (four if you count my tuna salad (made with Miracle Whip) and Brian's (made with mayonnaise) separately), strawberries, salmon, cream cheese, apples, bagels, chocolate . . . and we ate almost all of them.

We found wildflowers, too! It looked as though someone had littered with luxurious white blossoms, the way they were strewn about among they dry desert bushes and grasses. We also saw an impressive raptor perched on top of a Joshua tree (though it took off before we could get a photo to identify it), a snazzy-looking black and yellow bird, the outside of Kelso Depot, the nearby remains of a house (all that's left is the fireplace and the foundation), and more.

As it was getting dark in Mojave National Preserve, we decided that since we were more than halfway to Vegas, we might as well keep going. We called Scott first to make sure it was OK, then headed north. On the way, I managed not to run over a jack rabbit as it ran across the road through my headlights, then we stopped briefly to look at the stars and marvel at the total darkness in which a train was passing about 20 feet away. Once in Vegas, we got to meet Photon, an utterly adorable nine-week-old Italian greyhound, and learned to play Puerto Rico. It was a really fun game, and I'm not just saying that because I won. ;)

On the way home the next morning, we were passing Nevada Landings, a casino between Vegas and Primm that went out of business sometime last year, when Brian noticed that half of it was missing! Turns out, it was actually more than half. The building was mostly demolished, with pretty much only half the facade remaining. We stopped to take pictures of the spectacle before continuing on home.

We stopped one more time on the way to check the timing of the "pray," a Ceroc move we learned recently that involves dropping the follower, face first, to within inches of the ground. (I can't help but wonder what the guy pulling into the gas station parking lot as we did it must have thought.) I was then able to finish the last bit of the formation choreography before we got back to Pasadena, where we had time to check out a studio* before heading to formation practice.

It was quite the weekend. Oh, and we also picked up my new $36 eBay-purchased back-up bike (the exact same model as the one I got free from security) in Riverside on the way out Saturday afternoon. And fit it in the purple car.

* Which, by the way, we fell in love with, and applied for the next day. We were approved within hours, put down the deposit to hold it yesterday, and will be signing the lease on Friday!