Brief visit to another planet...

Otherwise known as a weekend in Las Vegas, first time I'd ever been there.

I flew down on Thursday, invited to spend a few days with my brother and his wife, who were attending an "owners' party weekend" sponsored by their vacation resort company. It was a good chance to catch up in person, as we don't often get together.

"Of course you'll have to listen to the sales spiel," he reminded me.

But the spiel came after a couple of days in which we had attended a party at the condo complex, a buffet dinner and this show at the Mirage, and checked out as much of the Strip as we could before heat and sore feet wore us down!

We're gawkers, not gamblers - and what a place to gawk! At the Mirage, I could happily have spent part of the evening just watching the tropical fish in the aquarium that is the wall behind the lobby desk.

And there's nothing nicer than swimming outdoors during really hot weather. The condo pool was pleasant at the deep end and almost too warm in the shallow, and once out, I barely needed a towel to dry off.

I didn't buy into the resort plan (though my brother was able to pick up a considerable number of shares very reasonably - deals abound these days if you're able to take advantage of them.)

Nicest surprise of the weekend came Thursday morning in the Seattle airport, where I encountered two friends (who are among my seven or eight loyal readers!) at the check-in area. Their flight was leaving for California, ten minutes after mine, from the next gate, giving us time for a pleasantly serendipitous visit.

In Seattle, we've had 26 days without rain. Astonishing.