Vegas, baby!
So a week and a half ago we were in the midst of digging out from the biggest snow storm to hit Columbus in years, and this week we're in warm, sunny Las Vegas! Sure, our house might be flooded from all the runoff and saturated ground, but
stinky_monky and I don't care because we're thousands of miles away in warm, sunny Las Vegas! Just in case you missed it: warm, sunny Las Vegas!
First, some proof about the warmth and sunniness of Las Vegas!
At first, I was pretty worried when we woke up the morning after our arrival and it had snowed on the mountains down the road:
Snow in Las Vegas?!? Oh, come on!
Sunday, 3/16 - Natural History Museum Day:
Look out - lion attack!
Look out - Homo Habilus attack!
Look out - um, dinosaur attack!
Monday, 3/17 - Hoover Dam Day:
The dam is about 40 miles southeast of the city, but it took us about two hours to get through the crack security blockade in the desert, which consisted of a couple cops sitting under a tent waving everybody along. Once there, after we sat through a documentary on the dam's construction that was propagandistic in a way that I didn't think was in vogue anymore ("Herbert Hoover: politician, humanitarian, philanthropist"; without Hoover Dam, the American Southwest would be uninhabitable; environmental degradation?!? What environmental degradation?), and we joined the tour that led us to the power generators, water diversion pipes, and some random maintenance tunnels and air vents.
On our way there, we stopped off in Boulder City and found a store that sells dead cows:
These are the power generators on the Nevada side of the dam:
Exactly two of the seven generators were online when we were there, but all seven of the generators on the Arizona side were operating, which led some provincial tour members to ask our guide whether Arizona was thus getting more electricity than Nevada and, if so, why was that allowed?!? The guide reminded them (in the strangest Indiana accent that I've ever heard) that the dam is a federal facility and, don't worry, they can trust the Bureau of Reclamation to properly allocate the power generated here. The Bureau can do no wrong!
This is a vertical tunnel inside the dam that presumably drops straight to hell:
This is a horizontal maintenance tunnel inside the dam that presumably leads straight to Arizona:
The United States Department of the Interior and the United States Reclamation Bureau kindly suggest that claustrophobics avoid Hoover Dam.
At one point I almost got into the Arizona powerplant but the tour guide turned us back. But I did find proof that perhaps Transformers was more documentary than fiction: collusion between the dam and the producers:
Tuesday, 3/18 - Red Rock Canyon Day:
The weather finally cooperated on Tuesday so we went hiking/driving in Red Rock Canyon, which is pretty much the other side of the snowy mountain I photographed a couple days earlier.
This trip has made me realize how much I miss mountains.
Wednesday, 3/19 - Laughlin Day:
We decided to try to find a ghost town south of Vegas and after 90 miles we ended up in scenic Laughlin, Nevada, which is not a ghost town but has a casino shaped like a riverboat!
Thursday, 3/20 - Lounging Day
On Tuesday, we bought Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. We watched a few episodes Tuesday and Wednesday but devoted much of today to plowing through the rest of it so we can start watching Season 4 next month. It might sound pathetic that we spent a day watching TV on DVD, but don't judge us! We finally decided to relax, two days before we head home.
But don't worry: we've been doing the normal Vegas stuff too, usually in the evenings after the day trips. We're slowly making our way down the strip each night, and tomorrow we will probably go to Fremont Street. Currently we are down about $20 on penny and nickel machines, but I'm sure we'll more than make up for it when we hit a jackpot before we leave.
stinky_monky and I don't care because we're thousands of miles away in warm, sunny Las Vegas! Just in case you missed it: warm, sunny Las Vegas!
First, some proof about the warmth and sunniness of Las Vegas!
At first, I was pretty worried when we woke up the morning after our arrival and it had snowed on the mountains down the road:
Snow in Las Vegas?!? Oh, come on!
Sunday, 3/16 - Natural History Museum Day:
Look out - lion attack!
Look out - Homo Habilus attack!
Look out - um, dinosaur attack!
Monday, 3/17 - Hoover Dam Day:
The dam is about 40 miles southeast of the city, but it took us about two hours to get through the crack security blockade in the desert, which consisted of a couple cops sitting under a tent waving everybody along. Once there, after we sat through a documentary on the dam's construction that was propagandistic in a way that I didn't think was in vogue anymore ("Herbert Hoover: politician, humanitarian, philanthropist"; without Hoover Dam, the American Southwest would be uninhabitable; environmental degradation?!? What environmental degradation?), and we joined the tour that led us to the power generators, water diversion pipes, and some random maintenance tunnels and air vents.
On our way there, we stopped off in Boulder City and found a store that sells dead cows:
These are the power generators on the Nevada side of the dam:
Exactly two of the seven generators were online when we were there, but all seven of the generators on the Arizona side were operating, which led some provincial tour members to ask our guide whether Arizona was thus getting more electricity than Nevada and, if so, why was that allowed?!? The guide reminded them (in the strangest Indiana accent that I've ever heard) that the dam is a federal facility and, don't worry, they can trust the Bureau of Reclamation to properly allocate the power generated here. The Bureau can do no wrong!
This is a vertical tunnel inside the dam that presumably drops straight to hell:
This is a horizontal maintenance tunnel inside the dam that presumably leads straight to Arizona:
The United States Department of the Interior and the United States Reclamation Bureau kindly suggest that claustrophobics avoid Hoover Dam.
At one point I almost got into the Arizona powerplant but the tour guide turned us back. But I did find proof that perhaps Transformers was more documentary than fiction: collusion between the dam and the producers:
Tuesday, 3/18 - Red Rock Canyon Day:
The weather finally cooperated on Tuesday so we went hiking/driving in Red Rock Canyon, which is pretty much the other side of the snowy mountain I photographed a couple days earlier.
This trip has made me realize how much I miss mountains.
Wednesday, 3/19 - Laughlin Day:
We decided to try to find a ghost town south of Vegas and after 90 miles we ended up in scenic Laughlin, Nevada, which is not a ghost town but has a casino shaped like a riverboat!
Thursday, 3/20 - Lounging Day
On Tuesday, we bought Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. We watched a few episodes Tuesday and Wednesday but devoted much of today to plowing through the rest of it so we can start watching Season 4 next month. It might sound pathetic that we spent a day watching TV on DVD, but don't judge us! We finally decided to relax, two days before we head home.
But don't worry: we've been doing the normal Vegas stuff too, usually in the evenings after the day trips. We're slowly making our way down the strip each night, and tomorrow we will probably go to Fremont Street. Currently we are down about $20 on penny and nickel machines, but I'm sure we'll more than make up for it when we hit a jackpot before we leave.