Microsoft Remembers Nephews Jason & Joey Taking Me To Las Vegas

Another Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day that I actually do remember, though I think the month was August, not July.

A few months before I moved to Texas my two oldest nephews, Jason and Joey, flew me to Las Vegas for some fun in the sun for four days.

That photo at the top is from the buffet at the Stratosphere Tower and Casino. The day before we'd taken the rickety double-decker elevator to the top of the Stratosphere Tower. Upon reaching the top the elevator doors opened with our ears greeted with a screeching alarm.

Electric power had been cut to the tower. Nothing was moving. The elevator made it to the top on emergency backup power. Dozens were stranded on the stalled roller coaster on top of the tower.

The temperature was way over 100 degrees.

The temperature inside the tower quickly became quite warm. After an hour, or so, the natives started getting restless, demanding to know how long this was going to last. I loudly piped up with how about giving us something to drink to keep us cool. A call was made and permission was given to open the bar, with free soft drinks to the kids, free hard drinks to the non-kids.

If I remember right it was almost three hours we were stuck on that tower. When power returned we lined up for our turn to return to ground level. Upon reaching ground level we were greeted by the manager of the casino apologizing for the inconvenience. I asked him if he could comp us for three buffets because we were heading for dinner when we got stuck and are now real hungry.

So, the manager wrote some script, like a doctor's prescription. We found our way to the buffet, showed the script and got treated like we were special guests.

The buffet had the option to play Keno whilst eating. I had never played Keno. The nephews asked if they could play Keno. So, they filled out Keno cards, which I then had to play for them, since they were not old enough. The nephews won some at Keno and thought it to be great fun.

And so, the next morning, waking up at Excalibur, at the south end of the Vegas strip, the nephews wanted to return to the Stratosphere for the breakfast buffet. And Keno. And so, we did, which is photo documented in the photo at the top, Joey sitting next to me, which means Jason must have taken the photo.

On one of the Vegas mornings I read in the local newspaper that conditions were such that Death Valley might break its temperature record that day. I asked the nephews if they wanted to get real HOT in Death Valley. They answered in the affirmative.

I've driven Death Valley several times when it is the HOT time of the year. You don't sweat. The moisture evaporates before you have a chance to sweat. You have to constantly be drinking liquids. Previous times I have followed the signs suggesting not to use A/C, as such may overtask the engine. That and no A/C lets one enjoy the overheated experience. 

But, the nephews insisted the A/C stay on.

We got to Badwater, and walked out into the flats a couple hundred feet below sea level.

It was HOT. There is a thermometer at Badwater, advertising the temperature, as this is the location where the temperature record can be broken.

I believe the above photo was taken at Badwater, with the nephews contemplating if they really do want to walk out onto the dried salt flats. Eventually they did so, but I have no photos documenting this.

Another day we drove to Hoover Dam. This was before 9/11 and so you could easily walk across the dam, to Arizona, with no overbearing security.

After playing on the dam, we were a bit overheated, and somehow found our way to a park slightly north of the dam, with swimming access to Lake Mead.  That is Joey next to me, in Lake Mead, which, again, means Jason must have taken the picture.

I webpaged the Nephews taking me to Las Vegas as part of my Nephews in Danger series of webpages....

Spencer Jack's Dad Asking What The Point Is In Las Vegas

When I woke up my phone this morning among the text messages were three from Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew, Jason.

The three text messages included two photos, which Jason said had been sent to him by Spencer Jack's uncle, my favorite nephew, Joey.

Jason indicated he had no memory of when these photos were taken,  but guessed that the first one you see here was taken atop the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.

Jason wondered if, due to my youthful appearance in this photo, that he and his brother had taken me to Vegas to celebrate my 21st birthday.

Well, on my 21st birthday, if I remember right, the arrival of nephews on the planet was a few years into the future.

I do not know how Jason managed to forget  that during August of 1998, months before I moved to Texas, Jason and Joey flew me to Las Vegas for four days, staying at Excalibur.

This trip to Vegas was documented via a webpage, years ago, titled, if memory serves, Nephews in Vegas.

That webpage documentation documented, in detail, the troubling incident which found us stranded for hours atop the Stratosphere Tower, waiting for electricity to be restored. It was well over 100 degrees, which soon had the Stratosphere Tower interior heating up to an uncomfortable level. Eventually cooling libations were provided. When we finally were able to get back to ground level we were greeted by the casino's manager who comped us a buffet dinner after I told him we were starving after the lengthy ordeal.

The other photo which Joey sent Jason which Jason then sent me is that which you see below, which had Jason asking me if I remembered to what Joey and I are pointing.

Again, I am shocked Jason does not remember these type important details.

On the second day of our four days in Las Vegas we learned that on that day there was a chance that Death Valley would break its temperature record at the lowest location in the Western Hemisphere. A location in Death Valley called Badwater, a couple hundred feet below sea level.

The nephews were onboard with driving to extreme heat. We loaded up with plenty of liquid and headed west.

In Pahrump we stopped to get gas. Hovering overhead a billboard advertised Pahrump's Bordello Museum. The nephews thought going to the Pahrump Bordello Museum would be a good Nephews in Danger experience, but I nixed that idea, and so we continued west to begin the long descent into the Valley of Death.

Badwater was HOT, but several degrees short of the record. We continued on, eventually getting to that which Jason asked what Joey and I were pointing at.

It was Zabriskie Point to which we pointed.

The memory of being in Vegas with my two oldest nephews seems recent, but so much has happened, and changed since then. In 1998 I still had a house in Mount Vernon, Bill Clinton was president, 9/11 was just a date which occurred every year. Donald Trump was a sleazy philanderer.

And, apparently, I looked to be only 21....

Spencer Jack & My Favorite Ex-Sister-In-Law Have Me Feeling Like Rip Van Winkle Hiking Up The Mount Baker Volcano

In the picture you are looking at my Super Nephew, Spencer Jack, and his grandma, she being my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy.

I call Spencer Jack my Super Nephew because I can never remember if the right relation term is grand nephew or great nephew, but since Spencer Jack is a super duper nephew, Super Nephew seems to work for me.

Lately it seems not a day goes by when I don't get reminded of the speed by which time seems to be passing me by.

I often think I have some sort of Rip Van Winkle complex. Like I took a long nap and 20 years disappeared.

In the picture, judging by the evidence of other pictures, which I found on Facebook, via Spencer Jack's dad, I think Spencer and his Grandma are hiking to Mount Baker, via the Schrieber's Meadow route.

Here is where the Rip Van Winkle thing kicks in. I think the last time I hiked to Mount Baker, via Schrieber's Meadow, was with Spencer Jack's uncle, my nephew, Joey.

If I remember right Joey was 13 when we hiked up Mount Baker. Spencer Jack is currently 5 years, 4 months, 4 weeks and 2 days old. I got that precise age from Spencer Jack's infrequently updated blog.

In less than 8 years Spencer Jack will be the same age his Uncle Joey was when Joey and I did some mountain climbing up a volcano.

Back when Spencer Jack's grandma was still my sister-in-law, I never would have imagined there would come a day when she would turn into a mountain hiker.

Joey, if you are reading this, in about 8 years it is your uncle duty to take Spencer Jack hiking up Sauk Mountain during an icy snowstorm. And in about 10 years it is your uncle duty to take Spencer Jack to Las Vegas to get stuck for hours on top of the Stratosphere Tower, in addition to passing for 21 at the Hard Rock Casino and getting overheated in Death Valley.