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