A Quilter's Guide to Vegas

So let me start right off by saying-- the headline here was just to suck you in-- no quilt shops or even any hand sewing took place on this trip! It was a straight up vacation-- the culmination of my month long 60th birthday party. I am not a gambler, drinker, smoker, or sinner, unless you count Diet Coke addiction-- but Las Vegas has always been on my bucket list. Mostly, I always craved the spectacle of it, and wanted to visit the Hoover Dam and see the desert. So if you've never been, or if you just need a little five- minute virtual break, read on.

We stayed at the infamous Mandalay Bay; there really was no choice about this. And just to put that fact behind us as quickly as possible, I'll say that no one there was talking about it-- sadly, perhaps there has just been too much continuing tragedy for it to stay in memory. Our room faced the airport-- I didn't like the idea of that, but we really did enjoy watching all the helicopters and airplanes buzzing around and the moon rising each night over the mountains became our favorite "show." 

The hotel was really lovely-- it had an three amazing pools-- plain, wave pool, and lazy river. I did not get down there as much as I would have liked-- it closed at six. We were pretty nonstop every day!

No doubt you have heard of "the Strip." This refers to Las Vegas Boulevard that runs north to south and most of the casinos are along it. My first impression was from the airplane-- the city rises up out of nowhere in a valley between dry, spiky mountains. Then on the ground, it was hard to believe how long it was-- four miles, and from one hotel to the next is a long, long walk-- either outside in the heat, or inside from one to the next through shops and casinos. We learned how to take a tram from one to the next-- problem is, it was always a long, long walk to find the tram, or a long, long walk to even find a cab. In all we walked about 15 miles a day as my Fitbit would attest!

Here's a free map we were given of the monorail-- it became my "Bible" (bad metaphor, heehee) of things to do.

The Mandalay Bay was on the extreme South End, and I cannot tell you the enjoyment we had walking up past the Luxor, the Excalibur, New York, NY, MGM, Caesar's Palace, Paris, the Bellagio, the Venetian-- this aspect of Las Vegas is very "Disney-ish" as we went from one theme to the next.

Las Vegas just inherited the Raider's football team and this fact was everywhere.

We had this lovely little lunch at a restaurant on-- well, nothing would have convinced me we weren't really on the Grand Canal in Venice, but this is actually inside. The canal with the gondoliers was the only thing that was a tad smaller than I imagined on the whole trip.

That afternoon, we drove out to Red Rock Canyon. We were so fortunate to get a rental car, and this was just a half hour drive west.

There's a fourteen mile loop to drive... 

Mr. SFO loves a hike, and I had thought we might stop at a few of the stops and walk a mile in or so-- we would have DIED. All we had was one little bottle of water between us, and the heat in this place was incredible.

Then it was back for dinner, a gorgeous sunset over the airport, and more enjoying the spectacle of the Strip at night.

I was beyond tired at night... you cannot even imagine it!

Day 2 was the Hoover Dam. If there's one thing I love, it's a gargantuan engineering project in an even more monumental natural setting. So I'd say this was the highlight of the trip for me. I was kind of afraid it wouldn't be as big as I imagined it!

Well, that was a wasted worry! Can you see the little tiny cars parked way down there at the power plant?

 I believe it is 700 feet down to that roof, and there was nothing to stop me from leaning my camera over the railing to get this snapshot. It was terrifying!

The best view of the dam are from that bridge-- you can walk out over it, but it's a highway and trucks and cars are just zooming feet away from you. Again, there was nothing to stop you from leaping over if a giant truck careened off the road.

You can see by my smile how much it meant to cross off this bucket list item.

And now here is Lake Mead, created by the Hoover Dam:

It is two-thirds empty, and you can see by that little island top in the center, it has quite a bath tub ring. 

No one is trying to say it is all about climate change-- it turns out, they grossly overestimated how much water runs through there each year before the dam was even built. Then, they grossly underestimated how much would be need for all of the development in this area. A lot of water is lost by soaking into the rocks, and even more evaporates in the heat. And still the building continues. It crossed my mind, that maybe the desert was never meant to bloom as it said on a plaque. :-(

I couldn't make it back up to the parking deck, so tired was I by the end of this visit. Mr. SFO had to go get the car. So then he cheered my up on the way back with this:

So you can't have water in the desert, and you can't have this in New England, either-- boohoo!

My hour I gave myself to write this post is over, so I'll just leave you with a few more pictures of all that we jammed in to five days. I did manage to get myself kicked out of a place-- a badge of honor for an old lady of 60 in Vegas, and I'm keeping my kids guessing about why. (I took flash photos in the Titanic exhibit-- OK, so I kept thinking flash was off, but it turned out it was on automatic, and it happened like three times, heehee.) And I did a little gambling and won 50 cents. 

In all, taking a vacation again was so relaxing and enjoyable after the past two years. 

We laughed at places that decorated with fall leaves... you can't beat New England for that!

The Fountain of the Gods in the Venetian...

Featherweights in Vegas..

The Bellagio fountain-- bigger than a football field!

The High Roller Ferris Wheel...

So if you are not a gambler, smoker, sinner, or drinker, and you ever have a chance to go, I'd highly recommend the spectacle of Vegas. I kind of wish I was walking past the Sphinx again right now.

xoxo

Carol