Windy-March 31, 2014

To say last night and today were windy is really an understatement. It has been terrible, but we are still here and anchored in place. To add to the roar of the wind both of us felt some sort of tremors underneath the coach. Not enough to get a score but we felt it anyway. I am sure they have earthquakes here but not enough to cause problems. Whatever. So, in spite of all of that, we just could not sit here today. We headed for the Strip for what might be our last time. We must check out this weekend. I can't comment further on that now. We parked at New York as it is the easiest to find space plus it's easy to get in and out of. Then we walked across to MGM Grand to check on that Lion's Share slot that has never paid out a jackpot. The line was really long today.

Sorry it's blurry. I was too far away for an iPhone to take a decent

picture. The jackpot is up over $9000 in 26 days. Not bad.

Still no winner as of the time this picture was taken.

 

Then back across the street to the Monte Carlo. There is so much construction going on at New York that it makes it a challenge to get into the Monte Carlo, but we managed. Through that one into Aria. The Aria resort is so beautiful it has to be seen in person to be understood and appreciated. We roamed around there and then headed back to New York and on home. The wind had not abated on bit when we got here.

 

I am not sure I can describe this sculpture in the lobby of Aria. There are

actually 3 of them, but this is the tallest. It's a couple of stories in height.

It is probably chrome but it looks like puddles of liquid mercury that we

all played with when we were kids. Remember when it wasn't a hazardous

material? It has properties of its own to pull apart and join back together again.

This looks like a stack of mercury blobs. It's quite extraordinary. There's no way

to take a picture in Las Vegas without strangers being in the background.

 

Hopefully the wind will lay down tonight and we can another fun day tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yummy lunch-March 28, 2014

Jerry stumbled upon reviews for a Mexican restaurant here and then found it has been voted the best in town for several years. It is called Lindo Michoacan. I think the word "lindo" means pretty or something like that. We got a late start on the day so we headed there for late lunch. We are both thrilled we did not miss this place. The food was fabulous and authentic Mexican food. They do not make food hot and spicy to cover up bad food. They just make it flavorful. We did not hurry so we could savor every bite.

It looks like an old Spanish mission. The place was

very clean and the service was just perfect and delightful.

 

We are not accustomed to horses guarding the parking lot.

But here they are. Maybe there were stolen from Wayne

Newton's old casa when he was evicted?? Just kidding.

But the gates at his old home did have these same horses.

 

Tomorrow this park is hosting a guest cook-out. We are not sure how that is going to work since they are predicting winds as high as 70 mph here in the Vegas valley. If it gets that bad we will be pulling in our slides and hunkering down for the day. The winds have really been bad the last 10 days or so. All the wind does is make everything even drier than it is. Plus it blows yellow pollen all over the place. Messy. We'll just wait and see what happens.

 

 

LVH-March 27, 2014

LVH is Las Vegas Hotel. We have never been there. It is home to the largest sportsbook in the entire state. Jerry really wanted to see it since we heard about it on television last week during the peak of March Madness. I must say that sportsbook is impressive. It was quiet today but we could easily imagine what it looked like with hundreds of screaming men cheering on their teams. Every hotel/casino has a sportsbook, but none as impressive as LVH. Then we went over to Stratosphere. We went back to a shop we found last year and bought another little something for Hannah. We have so much stuff onboard for her we can't even remember what's in here. From there we went to TI, formerly called Treasure Island and then on to the Mirage. We took the tram between the two. I am sure I mentioned recently that we both think there is no city quite like Las Vegas. Part of the beauty is the skyline.

And this is just one example. Maybe I am losing it but I love

the contrast in colors and the unique shapes of these buildings.

 

 

Treasure Island has as many pretty flowers as the Wynn. I am sure all of these hotels have huge staffs whose only jobs are to take care of flowers. I cannot imagine the budget it takes to run that department.

 

These tulips were a very pretty color. I don't know what the pink and white

flowers are but they surely rounded out the vase nicely.

 

These orchids were just beautiful. If we ever give up this

lifestyle I am going to try to raise some orchids. I just love them.

 

 

We had a really nice day. It was perfect weather, cool and breezy. It was relaxing. And we were able to walk a great deal which we both enjoy. If Las Vegas had this type of weather all year round we'd never leave! No one would and that would mean lots of traffic all the time.

 

 

 

 

Windy, oh my-March 26, 2014

I cannot find a word to describe how windy it was today. In spite of that we knew we could not stay here all day and listen to it howl. So, down the road we went. As we were walking around, a little lady in front of us reached in her purse and pulled out a plastic item. I thought for a split second it was one of those rain bonnets ladies wore when I was little. No, it was not. It was, are ready for this?, a Wal Mart bag! She snapped it open and promptly placed it on top of her head using the handles on each side to hold it in place. The wind immediately pumped it up like a bubble. We looked at each other and tried so hard to contain ourselves. We practically jogged past her. Neither of us has ever seen a Wal Mart bag on somebody's head. Even driving back we were still laughing. When I got home I started naming off the unusual bags I could use. I would never use a Wal Mart bag, but how would I look with a Kohl's bag or an H.E.B. bag on my head? I am sorry that this was so funny. Perhaps we were so happy to be out of the coach that anything would have been funny to us. Or perhaps it is something we will never forget. So sorry I could not take a picture of that sight!

B C Diner-March 25, 2014

After another day of work and cleaning and grocery planning yesterday we decided to have lunch at a special place today. So, we hopped in the Cute Red Vehicle and zipped over to Boulder City. We had lunch at the Boulder City Diner. It's a very nice place that has a daily blue plate special and serves beverages in quart Mason jars. We enjoyed it very much. We went there with the intentions of eating outside, but those tables were taken. Indoors was fine and with far less pollen to inhale. Afterward, we drove around town a little, came back here and made a quick stop at Sam's Club. Then we settled in before the wind started.

This is a turbine runner from the Hoover Dam. I saw it in town last trip

and knew this time I wanted to go back and see it closer.

Very interesting. See explanation below.

 

 

 

We are due to get some bad winds, up to 45 mph, starting tonight. It was supposed to stop tomorrow morning. Now it runs until Wednesday afternoon. This will be like the haboobs in Phoenix. They are warning about breathing problems, so we don't know if we will be able to get out tomorrow. My sinuses are threatening to move to another climate already! Everything here is in full bloom so pollen is the irritant du jour. However, all the green trees are really pretty.

Busy day-March 22, 2014

We had plenty to do today and got a somewhat late start which meant we faced much more traffic coming home, but we are safe and sound. We had to pick up some things at Bass Pro Shop. We did not even go look at the fish. That's a huge store so it took us a while to get everything done.

To me, this looks like a little oasis in the middle of the desert,

a calm and peaceful place to be. It is actually the entrance to Bass Pro Shop.

 



As many times as we have been to a Bass Pro Shop here as well as other cities,

we have never noticed how they marked the parking spaces. Have you seen this before?

One thing for sure, it took extra time to spray fish on the asphalt instead

of one single straight line. This is really cute and clever.

 

When we finished there we headed for the Strip. We parked at New York and walked to Excalibur. then we took the tram to Mandalay Bay and then took the tram to Luxor. After that we walked back to Excalibur and on to New York where we had a single piece of pizza. They have such great pizza in that place. We love it. We left to head home and realized traffic was building for everybody's night on the town. We were done and only wanted to go in the other direction. The traffic was as bad as we have ever seen it here. And we are exhausted watching drunk college kids act like they have no brains. Every college in the country must be on Spring break. It's dreadful. We hope it lets up a little next week. We know Jake Taffer is hosting the Night Club and Bar Owners annual convention here this weekend. That brings in more bodies, too, but they are adults. We have noticed that beggars and pimps increase proportionally to the number of people who come into town. Still there is no place like Las Vegas. It is alive and full of energy 24/7 and we love it.

 

 

 

Spring at the Conservatory-March 21, 2014

As previously mentioned we heard that the Bellagio finally got the show changed and it is now open to the public. Gone is the Chinese Year of the Horse and in is a gigantic tree house as a tribute to Spring. How gorgeous it is! I'll spare the words and post the pictures.

The trunk is fiberglass and hollow so people can walk through.

There's a koi pond on each side of the tree.

The koi pond camera is inside the trunk and shows the fish up close.

 

The koi were eating the live plants at the edge of the pond.

Is that what koi do?

 

The tulips are 18 feet tall. Everything is done on a large

scale in this beautiful garden.

 

This flower pot must have been at least 8 feet tall.

 

If I had to estimate the height of this tool I would

be forced to say close to 30 feet high.

 

Even the caterpillars are huge!

 

The entire Conservatory is so colorful and it smells heavenly.

There are 80,000 blooms in this atrium.  

 

This entire framed picture is made of living plants. It is stunning.

 

The butterfly house is back again, but larger this time.

 

 

 

 And then outside..........

The shorter tan building is The Cromwell. One of two new

hotel/casinos on the Strip. It will be the home of

Giada  De Laurentiis' first Las Vegas restaurant.

 

We found a shady spot to wait for the Fountains at Bellagio

to perform. Right on time a lady with a nice voice said the

first show would be two hours later for today only. We left.

 

For a mere $10 Jerry could have had his picture made with

these lovely showgirls. He declined!

 

On our way back home we drove on the backside of the strip and found places we have never been in. We are eager to do more exploring. Hopefully there are fewer drunk college students on those streets. It is unbelievable to see all the drunk young people. Keeps the cops busy, no doubt. Apparently casino security people turn a blind eye because most of them are too young to be in there. Just like on the coast, the dollar comes first and trumps all laws on the books.

 

Fun again-March 20, 2014

We had our mail forwarded and it arrived this morning. In the package was our updated vehicle insurance policies which we really needed on board with us. Missing from the package were our new credit cards. The current ones expire in April. So I called cc company and they confessed they goofed, failing to mail the cards a month ago. We've only been with that company for 24 years so they should know who we are. Also missing were our license plate renewals. So, all in all, we were not just disappointed, we were disgusted. So, to take out our frustrations, we returned to the firing range way up north. What a wonderful day to do that. And what fun we had. We could probably go there every week. We enjoy it that much.

This is a view of the Strip from the range. It was hazy there.

There is what appears to be a flame on the right side of the

picture. We don't have a clue what that is. What bothers us

the most is that we can name those buildings. I think that

means we have been here too long!

 

By the time we got back home we were relaxed and no longer concerned about our missing but very necessary paperwork. It will all work out somehow.

 

We heard late today that the Conservatory at the Bellagio has changed their display from the Chinese Year of the Horse to their Spring celebration. You can bet that means a return trip there also.

Spending money!-March 19, 2014

Yesterday's trip to the local dealership proved to be rather expensive. The Cute Red Vehicle needed what is called a "major service". Since baby is out of warranty it all comes out of pocket. So, we had the work completed and as we were checking out we were advised to replace the last two of the tires that came on the vehicle. We pondered over it last night and even until this morning. We made the decision to buy two new tires today. So, now we have the same shoes on all four feet. It is shocking how much quieter baby rides now. We had always complained about how noisy the vehicle was. It's so nice now and it handles so much better. What a delight! I will say that inch for inch or pound for pound it is cheaper to buy tires for the coach. But it really doesn't matter. We do what we have to do to be safe.

We feel like we have lost half of this week and we have nothing to show for it. So, maybe we can find a fun tourist thing to do tomorrow.

St Patty's Day-March 17, 2014

We both love the food of St Patrick's Day so much of today was spent putting it together. Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. So yummy. And it was worth every minute. Plus I tried my hand at sausage gravy and biscuits this morning. It was a great first try and I know what needs to be done next time. That took until noon to accomplish. Then we had to go to the bank and return to wash clothes, so today was a rather ordinary day but yet a fun holiday.

The wind has moved in and we feel like we have been tossed around into complete exhaustion. It should be this way for another 24 hours. Oh, joy.

The Cute Red Vehicle has to have its oil changed tomorrow. That in itself will be an adventure. We have been to the correct dealerships all over the country and some are great. Some are not. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Hope we don't wake up in another state!! Batten down the hatches!

St Patrick's Day parade-March 15, 2014

We did start our day very early this morning and made our way to Henderson. It's not too far up the road from here. We did not know where to park which meant that we ended up walking a lot farther than we really needed to, but it was a very nice day so we did not mind. We were absolutely stunned at how many people were there to watch the parade. And as it rolled on we were really stunned at how long the parade lasted. The last entry we saw was number 63 and that was after we had watched it for 2 hours. I will say it was extremely entertaining and great fun.

A few of Henderson's finest started the parade.

 

Color guard from Nellis AFB was second in line.

 

Not sure who this is, but we might assume it was from a church.

 

Lots of kilts in this parade, of course.

 

Wells Fargo stage coach and team of horses.

There were several dozen employees walking behind the coach.

 

A conservative guess of the number of classic and antique

cars in the parade would be 50+. I loved this old Ford.

 

There were at least half a dozen groups of dog owners.

This one was in the Dachshund owners group. Some had

much shorter legs and they just gave up and sat down in the middle of the street.

 

Then we had Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers.

There was a car ahead of these people that was marked as

Vader's Staff car. It had a note on it that read

"Warning: Slow nearsighted Storm Troopers in the area".

 

This nice looking lady was superb on her stilts. She could

walk very fast and cover a lot of ground.

 

There was a sea of green on the streets and we got quite a laugh out of some of the t-shirts people wore. One guy had on a shirt that read "This is the only green shirt I own". Another one, on an Hispanic guy read "I'm not quite Irish but I love to party". Another Hispanic guy had on a green shirt with the picture of a burro and under it is said "Juan's Deer". There were people in green wigs. Most of the little kids were adorable. It made us wish we had Hannah with us. I did see an Oriental man with a bright green mustache. You'll have to take my word for it that this was another of those events we would not have wanted to miss, however, we'd love for them to make it later in the day!

 

I wish you a wonderful Sunday.

And a very Happy St Patrick's Day on Monday!



 

 

 

Stuff-March 14, 2014

The past two days we have had to be normal people and not tourists. It took three attempts at a pharmacy to get a prescription filled. They had run out of that medication. Then when they finally got it filled, the price was wrong, so time was needed on the phone with insurance. Need I say more? Insurance companies are a quick way to total frustration and insanity. I think that is behind us so maybe we can move forward from here.

I did forget to share a couple of interesting things on this blog. When we were on the Strip there was a group of guys walking together and obviously having fun. They had on identical black t-shirts. One had "groom" on the back. Another had "best man" and the other five had "wing man" on the back. We thought that was clever. This is a wild city for a bachelor party.

Nellis AFB is having an operation called Red Flag. That means over 2200 fighter pilots have been here for special training. Almost half of those are from foreign countries. They fly mainly at night and I can tell you since we are only 3 miles south of Nellis, they can sure make a lot of noise. They are leaving this weekend. Then Nellis has to cut 400 airmen from the base due to budget cuts. Some will actually be forced out of the service if they do not take early retirement. They can probably all find jobs here.

The three days of the NASCAR race brought 155,000 people to the "valley" as they call it here. Those people produced $165 million in non-gaming revenue. Can you imagine people spending that much money in 3 days? They only report gaming revenue once a month but I suspect they know how much money those people dropped in the casinos.

So now we have the college basketball playoffs going on here. They are playing at MGM and UNLV. We noticed the streets on the Strip were packed with people, younger people. We thought it was spring break at first but now we think it's the tournaments. That's more non-gaming money for LV. So much money flows into this place but yet we see so many destitute people begging on the streets. There are lots of extremely wealthy people here and also there are lots of people living in abject poverty. Not much in between.

We are contemplating going to a St Patrick's Day parade tomorrow. It means we will have to set an alarm and get up early. That's not exciting but I think we both want to go. I'll take pictures if we go.

Bonanza shop-March 13, 2014

We have promised ourselves so many times that the next time we were here we would go to the Bonanza Gift Shop on Sahara Blvd. We finally made it today. It's a couple of blocks from that fascinating Stratosphere.

Bonanza Gift Shop claims to be the world's largest

gift shop. And it might be.

 

We walked this entire gift shop. Did we buy anything? Yes, one cream soda in a bottle. They have so much inventory I would absolutely hate to have to do an end of the year inventory in this shop. It is completely a tourist shop but their prices are so much cheaper than all other shops around here, probably because they buy in such huge volume. So we can say we have been there and we have no need to go there again. Such is life.

 

Miracle Mile shops-March 11, 2014

The wind was just dreadful today. It's out of the north so it's fairly cold. It won't stick around long. We decided to go to the Strip and find a place where we could walk without the wind. We also wanted to eat at BurGR, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant in Planet Hollywood. We parked in the Planet Hollywood deck which puts you directly on the Miracle Mile. It is an upscale shopping mall inside Planet Hollywood. It's a long walk though I doubt it is a mile. Well, maybe it is. I'm not sure.

It's all built to make you think you are walking the streets

of an Italian village. And the ceiling is like being outside.

 

There are no rooms, only lights. It's all fake, but nice.

 

I'm not sure why there is a freighter (fake) in the ceiling, but it's there.

 

Then we got in line at BurGR and got tired of waiting. So we went outside and walked around in spite of the wind. After we wasted about an hour we got back in line and only waited a few minutes.

 

We don't think they had these flames the last time we were here.

Nice touch. It's also warm.

 

They were filming something promotional right in front of the

restaurant. The girl in red was the "star". Now we will wait and

see if it appears on local television or if it's for something else.

 

Sorry this is dark. It's our shared serving of sweet potato fries.

They are heavenly. Nobody can make them like Gordon.

 

It was another fun day. It was relaxing and we were happy to be out and about. We have one more windy day tomorrow before it turns hot. So we will definitely enjoy tomorrow, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Rock Canyon-March 10, 2104

We went way out west of the city today to Red Rock Canyon. It's a natural formation of several different types of rocks. And it is so pretty I do not have words to describe it. The highest point is 4771 feet high so it is not at all like being in the Rocky Mountains. The peaks are very sharp so it is not at all like the Smoky Mountains. Red Rock Canyon is its own unique place. It's quiet and peaceful and very cool. I'm going to enlarge all of these so you can see more detail. Sorry it messes up the print when I do that.

I don't text and drive but I do take pictures while I'm driving.

Here we are not quite out of the city but you can still see the canyon ahead.

Calico rocks.

A closer look. The dark brown substance is called desert varnish.

The name of this is Sandstone Quarry though it is not a quarry.

Ice Box Canyon is back in those rocks. We didn't go there.

The view as we were leaving the canyon.

I stopped in a parking lot for the perfectly formed lenticular cloud

just above the mountains. Cirrus clouds above that.

I haven't a clue what this pretty flower is. It had a dry sage

type smell. It was putting all of its energy into being happy.

 

What a restful day. It was extremely windy but not as windy as tomorrow should be. Still we wanted to see this canyon. I'm getting used to bad hair days in this dry and windy climate. If you are ever in Las Vegas please drive out to Red Rock Canyon. It is so worth your time.