Christmas in Las Vegas - part deux

After we got back from the Hoover Dam, my younger sister and I decided to walk along the Strip for a bit.  We got to the Bellagio and I remembered they have an exhibit of Picasso works currently running.  So we headed on in.

OMG - the place was packed.  Not the exhibit, just the public portions of the hotel and casino.
We took pictures of the Chihuly glass in the lobby.

They have a store selling Chihuly products inside the hotel.  Here are two really cool pieces.

We then headed to the Picasso exhibit.  I'd show you pictures, but they flatly forbade the use of cameras in the display area.

All this was on the 23rd.  On the 24th, we headed outside of town again to go to the Red Rock Canyon about 20 minutes from Las Vegas.  Once again, we were fortunate to have sunny (if chilly) weather.  Here's one formation.  If you kinda squint and look closely, there are tiny hikers near the bottom of the photo to give perspective.

Here's another imposing formation.

I find myself wondering what the massive event was that put that red stripe in place. 

On Christmas Day we had a nice breakfast and exchanged small gifts.  We pretty much just hung out during the day.  For dinner we went to the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Aria hotel across the street from the Cosmopolitan.  It was yummy and I would recommend it to everyone.

The morning of the 26th, I headed to the airport.  The pilot said it had begun to snow in Albuquerque.  Nooooo!  90 minutes later, it was still snowing but had just begun to stick to bushes and grass, but not the streets.  I drove home and noticed a short while later the snow was beginning to stick to the streets.

This is how it looked Sunday morning and I decided to stay home all day.

Since then, I've had a largely uneventful time off from work.  And that's just like I like it.

Papillon

Christmas in Las Vegas

For the past several years, my sisters, brother-in-law and I have been going on destination Christmas trips.  This year we were in Vegas, baby.

My sister did some heavy lifting and got us very nice rooms at The Cosmopolitan on the Strip.  (And we thank her VERY much!!)

Here's the night view from my room on the 53rd floor of the West Tower.

The green building (upper right) is the MGM Grand.  The dark blotch just past it is the Vegas airport runways.

Here's a slightly different angle during the day.

We had a good time - arrived midday on December 21st and flew out on December 26th.

While there we didn't get to any shows.  We checked on tickets, but decided that $193 per person was a little rich for our blood.

We did go to see the Hoover Dam.  Man, it looks big in pictures, but that pales in comparison to how big it is "in person".  Taking the tour, they stress that you shouldn't go through if you have claustrophobia.  I do have it a bit, but the passageways were big enough that I didn't have a problem.
Here's one of the passageways.

And here's the generator room.  To show the size of the equipment, notice the worker in the lower right-hand corner.

Here's me on the observation deck.

Behind me, that tower is NOT falling over.  Some are cantilevered so the power lines don't come into contact with the side of the cliff and short out.

Suggestion - if you're in Vegas and decide to go to Hoover Dam, go early.  It's about 30 miles from Vegas, but factor in extra time if you're staying on the Strip.  I don't remember exactly what time we got there, but it was before 9 AM.  When we left 60-90 minutes later, the traffic heading towards the dam was backed up for several miles, all the way to the highway.  Trust me, early is better.

More to follow in the next installment.

Papillon

Winter

Winter does seem to have made its mind up to hit town. 

For the past couple of weeks, we've had slightly above average temperatures (mid-50's).  That came to an end this weekend.  Friday was cloudy and overcast.  Saturday it started raining around 8 AM and continued to about 10 AM.  It stopped long enough for me to run errands.  Then it started up again and continued into the evening, later turning to snow.

Here are the Sandias in early afternoon on Saturday.

I got about half an inch of snow at my house, much of which has melted since we got into the low 40s today.
Here's what the Sandias looked like today, at about the same time (early afternoon) as yesterday.

The weather's supposed to stay cold with another slight possibility of snow later in the weekend.

I'm already over it.
Looking forward to Spring,
Papillon

Brrr!

On Saturday, we had nice weather, cool but sunny.  Here's more autumn color.

Then a minor cold front blew in on Sunday bringing rain with it.  Since we're in high desert country, rain is always welcome.  (Just not when I'm walking to and from my car at the ABQ main library for their book sale.)

Today, more wind, more cold, more rain then snow.  After sitting out in the cold, I guess the car's battery was affected because it took a bit longer than usual to turn over.  It cranked, but didn't start up right away.  Panic, followed by relief.

I got home OK.  Here are a couple of trees in the front yard.

Wet roads plus overnight temps below freezing - not looking forward to the morning commute.  I'm really hoping work delays opening tomorrow.

Papillon

This busy (for me) week

On Wednesday, I had my 6 month teeth cleaning.  Not fun, but lots of clean teeth afterwards. 

Friday night I went to see Penn & Teller perform.  I'm not sure what I expected, but it was an interesting and fun show.

To start with, it was held at the Route 66 Casino.  I've only been there once before, a whole bunch of years ago.  Which meant I'd forgotten it's 17 miles (or so) west of Albuquerque.  It's not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see the middle from their parking lot.  Essentially it was set up to provide food & gambling for people who stop at their truck stop for gas.

I do have a bit of a gripe about their auditorium.  The seating needs to be 'raked' a bit more.  It's flatter than it could be & means it can be hard to find a clear sight line to the stage.  I managed, but it was an effort.  It helped they had a couple of large screens on either side of the stage.  But I didn't want to watch them on a screen, I wanted to watch them on the stage.

The show was part fun and part a discussion of Penn & Teller's philosophy regarding illusion, sleight of hand, putting on a 'magic' show and life.  The pace is leisurely.  I enjoyed it and am happy that I've been able to see them live.  They do include audience participation which was amusing (since the jokes were on other people).  Note:  they're not 'cruel' to the audience participants, but they do joke around.  It's fun to see them do a trick and then show you how they do it.  Teller did a sleight of hand involving a lit cigarette, a pencil and a fake lighter.  He did the trick, then did the trick showing you exactly how it's done, and then faked you out doing the trick again.

I was disappointed because they didn't do their usual meet-and-greet after the show.  The casino is a casino, after all and so they have slots almost up to the front door of the auditorium.  I have a couple of books written by Penn and was hoping to get them signed.  No luck there.  Rats!

Tomorrow is the biannual ABQ main library's clear-the-shelves book sale.  $5 per bag of books - you get to pick the books from the tables they've set up.  LOVE it!

I know.  For many folks, this would not be a busy week.  I'm not most folks.

Papillon

Balloon Out Back

When I first moved to Albuquerque I was frequently found tracking and photographing the balloons during the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

That has tapered off in recent years.  I like sleeping in on the weekends and the balloons go up early.

This morning I heard a balloon around 7:30 AM.  I got up, looked around and didn't see anything.  About 15-20 minutes later, I heard the balloon again.  I walked outside and there, in the park behind the house, was a balloon setting up prior to flight.  My guess is, they decided to avoid the crowds and early hours of the ascension field.

Inflated and almost ready for takeoff.

And, up into the air.

They weren't the only ones looking for later hours and less of a crowd.

Early morning in the Albuquerque metro area during Balloon Fiesta.

Papillon

Getting my creativity groove back

For the longest time, I've done VERY LITTLE in the way of crafts.  I just had no creative energy at all.  I've been waiting for it to come back.  And waiting.

Finally I decided to take the advice of Jack London (American author), who said -- You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.

I decided to start with a project from my quilt group.  We had a packet of batik fabric fat eighths.  We could use those fabrics plus a couple more non-packet fabrics.  We could make anything we wanted - in any size we want.  It also had to include a pieced star.

I have a book of paper-pieced blocks - 50 star blocks/1 for each of the US states.  I chose the block labeled Maine.  Here's my first one - done this afternoon while switching back and forth between football and NASCAR.

Since the packets and fat eighths aren't providing a TON of available fabrics.  If I can stretch things enough, I'm thinking I'll make 5 more blocks and put some sashing around each one and make myself either a small wallhanging or a runner for the dining room table.

Cesar 'helped' for a while.  Inspected my sewing machine.  Laid on fabric so it wouldn't float away.  That sort of thing.  After a while he decided he done more than enough and expended too much energy.

I'm off to see if I can see the lunar eclipse.  I looked earlier but I think my view was blocked by neighboring houses.

Papillon