More time strolling The Strip - Lions and M &Ms

Tuesday a.m.

Another cool but at least not windy day here in Vegas.
Satellite guy came yesterday with 2nd new part – the replacement antenna and all is well with the dish – finally. If you’re ever in Vegas and need a satellite system, new or fixed, he is a good person to deal with. – Satellite World, Inc. http://www.satworld.biz/ Very nice people.
Watched soccer game yesterday – two of the best teams in Europe. It was a disaster – 5 -0. Between the two teams 10 of the players are from Argentina.
Oldest son called us a while ago. They got into town with out any weather problems..

Tuesday p.m.

Today we went to The Strip again. Parked at the MGM Grand.
Saw this in the parking area in front of the hotel. Gee that’s what I want to do in my spare time. Only in Las Vegas.

Went to the lion habitat in the casino. Munch. Munch.

I wonder if these guys really read their job description? IN with the lions? I didn’t sign up for this!

You want me to do WHAT?

A good shot of the New York skyline Vegas style.

And the Statue of Liberty surrounded by palm trees. It’s a whole different world here.


Palm Trees? Where's the snow?

One of the many characters we saw while walking up the boulevard.

Read the Sign

Also saw Superman, Batman and one of many Michael Jacksons. Wake me up I must be dreaming.

Then we went to the M & M Experience. I wanted to get a #18 M & M t-shirt. They didn’t have any! One of the clerks took pity on me and gave me a Kyle Busch cardboard cut out – I love it. Me, my cutout and Red.

Also got to look over the car.

Doesn’t take much to make me happy. Yesterday the burros and today the M & M car.

Went out to dinner with our son and wife-to-be. Really enjoyed that. Tomorrow they get married.

Scenery, Snow and Burros

Still Sunday p.m.

The Driver is watching an exciting soccer game so I’m working on this. Posted the item on the ride/jump before I managed to lose it. Now I’ll continue on about our drive. It was much nicer and safer.
As I said we headed to Red Rock Canyon. (Remember you can click on the photo to make it bigger – some of them are worth the effort.) The entrance to the area – we saved $10 by being able to use our “old fogey” pass.

Some of the rocks that gave the place its name.

The sky was so blue and the air so clear.

Just interesting formations.

A storm in the desert towards California – weather report says “frozen precipitation.” Wouldn’t that be snow?

More rocks – love the colors.

A white one behind the red ones.

The wind and rain and time sure shape the rocks and wear them out

Several years ago a big fire went through here. So many of the Joshua Trees are burned.

But time heals and there is new growth all over.

There were more people in the area today then I’ve ever seen there. The trailside parking lots were full of cars. Some climbers out on the rocks. See the guy up there by himself? He was swinging on a rope just before I took the picture.

Different colored stripes in the rocks.

The storm clouds were getting more menacing, but still a long ways away.

Standing alone – so majestic

The colors of the desert. I love the rocks, the mountains, the vegetation and the views. Here it is around 4500 feet.

Yes that is snow along the road in Las Vegas in November

There was quite a bit of it.

The area is known for its wild burros. As many times as we’ve driven through here we’ve never seen them when I had the camera with me – only when I didn’t have it. Today we were lucky. Three of them were walking along and checking out all the people jumping out of their cars with their cameras.

Stopped at Silverton Casino and the big Bass Pro Shop there – could wander there for hours. There now is parking so people can stop and take their pictures with the sign.

Then back to civilization? The building is pretty but the canyon is beyond description.

I love the desert – all the wide open space.

Scarey Ride in the Wind

Sunday p.m.


Had a little sprinkling last night, just enough to make a mess of the windshields. And again the wind is BLOWING – steady at over 20 with higher gusts.
Went out to late breakfast and decided to take a drive up the mountains to Red Rock Canyon. Beautiful clear day for a ride up there.
Drove down part of The Strip again – Just thought this was a pretty picture of the Wynn and Encore – and notice the blue building in the background.

The big blue building – it is the unfinished Fountainbleu – construction halted a while back for lack of money.

Unfinished Hotel

This would have been the entrance.

What a shame. And this is just one of the many unfinished projects around town.
This is the Stratosphere – it is appx. 1150 feet high.

As we were driving towards it I saw a couple of things moving down the outside of the building. IT IS A RIDE!

Doesn't this look safe.

855 feet up

 Some how people are attached to something at the top of the building –see arrow- and dropped down the side – see arrow.

In this wind! Are they crazy or what. It is called SkyJump. Check it out http://skyjumplasvegas.com/Skyjump Also check out the Frequently asked questions. Especially the one “Is it scarey?”

Stroll through new City Center Las Vegas

Sunday a.m.


Back to yesterday. Always enjoy our time walking around the Bellagio – it is still the most impressive of the hotels on The Strip. The glass flower ceiling over the lobby, the gorgeous mosaic floors and of course the Conservatory. Yesterdays pictures were mostly of the Conservatory all decked out for Thanksgiving. Sorry about the video clip being sideways – I’ve got to remember not to hold the camera sideways while taking movies – I have not been able to find a way to rotate them to the right way. Somehow there has got to be a way. 
Clicking on the pics will make them larger and the videos take a little time to load - be patient.
From the Bellagio we took the tram to the new City Center section.

From Tram Window

 Got off at Crystals/Aria (? The names of Hotels? Stores? Shopping? All of the above?) Some pretty hanging decorations.

Decorations in Crystals

Close Up - See colors in silver ones

Lots of restaurants and stores. And more people than I thought would be there – though this is a holiday weekend. Walked through to an exit door and got a look at some of the other buildings. Nice view.

Through another door into another shopping section – this one decorated a little different.

Out another door into a parking/valet area. This area has a huge long wall of water falling that changed volume. Very pretty.

Water Fall around Valet area

Hope this works - short video of the falling water  near the end you can see the volume increase.
Another view of some of the buildings. The color in the middle of the bottom of the picture is a fountain.

Another picture of it. Very pretty to watch – does all kinds of wiggles.

Just another sculpture in another building.

There were three of these in different sizes

The Driver taking pictures of some tourists.

I love these buildings – yes they look like they are tilting.

Tilting Buildings

Another shot of the buildings. Remember this was all built in less than three years!

Loved this sculpture – it is of an old fashioned pink round wheel shaped eraser. They used to erase more paper than ink/pencil.

should get the job done

Reflections in window of Chihuly Exhibit.

Chilhuly piece – Yellow Iciciles

About 10 feet tall

Back into another building where we saw these pretty trees with the moving lights.

Picked up the car and back out onto Las Vegas Blvd. My favorite the M & M Experience

The CocaCola bottle

And this is something I’ve never seen in Vegas before – just got a couple of pictures.

Puppets?

Kind of like being on Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, CA
Today the wind has really picked up again - will keep the wind chill up....still warmer in Indiana than here. The Driver is getting more and more impatient to get on the beach in Mexico.
Just noticed in the little magazine the RV park gives us that there is a maid service for RVs - BRING THEM ON. Wonder if they do much business.