We left Tacoma in undershirt weather and arrived in Las Vegas to shirtsleeve tropics. Trees in Puget Sound are beginning to bud, but south of Olympia and past Gospodor's Monument near Toledo, the emerging lime green smudge of deciduous tree can be seen against the sky. In between the evergreens and the palm trees, we drove through gray-brown Utah and Idaho, saw mile after mile of industrial and agricultural rubble and stopped for the night in Twin Falls, Idaho.



View from our window in Twin Falls




View from our window in Las Vegas

In Twin Falls we had dinner at Applebee's, Lime Chicken for Bob, Roast chicken and broccoli for me—$30.00 Both chickens rubbery and slightly overdone, boxed potatoes, microwaved entrees. Service speedy and competent, ambiance cluttered, marketing promise of the TV Applebee's far outweighs reality.

Tonight, dinner at Bouchon—Thomas Keller's Las Vegas bistro. We'll see what difference a few hundred dollars makes.