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