OUT WEST ADVENTURES Wrapping up and coming home

We're supposed to be out of our room by 11:00 and our plane leaves at 2:30.  Sounds like a leisurely departure.  Numa, Jorge's friend,  thought he would be able to take us to the airport but that didn't work out. He recommended that we reserve a limo for all of us so that is what we did.

We checked out and met down in the lobby where people took turns sitting with the bags.  We had a bit of food left that we put in a bag to eat at the airport or on the plane.  Carrots anyone?  Betsy and Roddy tried their luck with $1.  Took 4 tries on the quarter slot to lose it.  I hadn't seen the pool area so poured some pink lemonade into my water bottle and went to check it out.  Wasn't allowed to take my water bottle in to the pool area.  Betsy was with us so she took a quick glance and then took my water bottle back to the suitcase area.  The pool seemed smaller than the pictures made it look.  If you wanted to use one of the shade places, you had to talk to them about price.  Really don't know what our $35.00 per day resort fee got us.  But that's Las Vegas.  Nick and I just went out to see the pool so we could say we had.  We lucked out on the weather as it was in the 80's when we were there and this week it is peaking at 118!

All of our luggage and all of us fit comfortably in the limo.  I got the longest ride as I was the first one in which made me the last one out.

Luckily we have plenty of time before we are scheduled to board.  Myra can't find her driver's license.  Well, you can fly without a picture ID.  You have to show some other form of ID and it takes longer to go through security.  The security person said he generally gets about 20 people a day during his shift that don't have their picture ID.  I imagine it is more common at the Vegas airport than at some others.  Myra found her driver's license once we got home.  It was in a purse that she had packed in her checked bags. 

Carrots anyone?  I have some carrots.

Nick got a barBQ plate to-go for us to eat on the plane.  Sounded like a good idea at the time.  But, as we were boarding and about to sit down, someone bumped into Nick and the to-go box went flying.  Oh, there is so much red sauce on that chicken and now it is on the seat, on the floor, on our hands.  Oh, the cole slaw is all over the floor.  The flight attendant has no idea what is going on and just says, "Please take your seats and let people through the aisle."  Wait! we have a roll of paper towels in the food bag!  Maybe I will always fly with a roll of paper towels in my carry on from now on. The brisket was safe and I brushed off one of the pieces of chicken using the 5 second rule even though it was probably more like 30 seconds.  We didn't go without lunch.  The rest of the flight was uneventful.  

Amy and Ben met us at the airport with 2 cars. Randy was on his way too but got caught in traffic.  We met him at Marietta diner and enjoyed sharing stories.  

Since we got in late, all 7 of us stayed at our house.  Paula, Jorge and Myra left the next morning.  Betsy and Roddy took a day to rest up before driving back to Tampa.  

Great Trip, Great memories!

Carrots anyone?  I think I still have a few left.

OUT WEST ADVENTURES Las Vegas

Rather than try to all stay together we decide to explore on our own.  I think everyone started with a leisurely morning, getting coffee and catching our breath.

Nick and I decided to wander down the strip. heading towards the Bellagio.  Betsy and Roddy joined us.  It is bright outside but luckily not too hot and a nice breeze.

It really is an alternate world!

I thought that the fountains at the Bellagio did their thing every hour but it turns out they don't start until 3:00.  Oh well.  We continue on to the Cosmopolitan where we go in  for lunch at a Japanese-Mexican fusion place.  It was nice and cool and a nice respite from the outside commotion.  Betsy and Roddy already had had lunch so only stayed for a little while before heading back to Treasure Island.  Nick and I enjoyed some dumplings and tacos. 

 We had cochinita tacos and they were great!  I complimented the waitress on how good and authentic they were.  Turns out she was from Yucatan.  We lamented the lack of sabutes and panuchos anywhere but Yucatan.  She said she remembered her grandmother making them when she was small.  When we left, we noticed women making the tortillas by hand.  No wonder they were so good!

Vegas is one place that everyone is a tourist taking cheesy pictures.  On our way back to the hotel, we wandered through the conservatory of the Bellagio.  

Certainly unique.....

We enjoyed stopping in at the Chihuly store.  Of course, we treated it as a museum rather than a shopping opportunity.  

We also wandered through the Venetian and stopped at a bakery.  I got a cannoli which was excellent.  

We all met back up in our room so we could hop on the computer exactly 24 hours before our flight to check-in with SouthWest Airlines and plan the rest of the day.  

One of Jorge's best childhood friends, Numa, is now driving a limo in Las Vegas.  He used to sing with his brother but they found they made more money driving the limo than performing.  He invited us all over to his house to meet his family and enjoy some botanas.  What a warm, hospitable family!

It was nice to experience the human, residents side of Vegas.  

Numo took Myra, Betsy, Roddy, Nick and me back into town so we could experience Fremont Street.  We asked him what his favorite song is and he broke out singing a beautiful Spanish love song.  He has a rich, full voice that filled every cranny of the car.  Singing really is where his heart is. 

Freemont Street - Well, here is still another reality!  Numa drops us off at the Golden Nugget.  Music bombards us from the main stage, zipline riders zoom over head, young women sporting little more than pasties.  Almost everyone walking with a drink in their hand.  Street musicians - particularly liked a jazz saxophonist -- imagine that.   Then at 9:00 the lights go off or down on all the businesses and the sense of expectation is palpable.   Lights and music burst from above.  For 6 minutes  at the top of every hour is a different show.  Green Day was the featured band at the show we saw.  

After the show, Nick and I went to a restaurant named Therapy.  Appropriate.  Nice, quiet atmosphere. We had Mac and cheese croquettes and corn on the cob slathered in mayo, garlic and something else.  Then finished with a little casserole of some-mores.  A great end to the day.  We took an Ubber back to the hotel.  The driver was a fourth grade teacher during the school year and drives for Ubber in the summers.  Same challenges and frustrations in Georgia and Nevada.  

OUT WEST ADVENTURES Hoover Dam, Las Vegas

We pack up and are ready to go by 9:00!  We're getting pretty good at this.

Our first stop is an overlook with info on how bridges were built across the highway for the big horn sheep to cross safely.  This also helped the different herds to intermingle which makes them all healthier.  

Only a short distance more to Hoover Dam.  What an engineering feat! We decide on the tour that includes a movie of the making of the dam and going down into the dam to see the turbines. 

 Here we are atop one of the huge 30-foot-diameter pipes that can transport nearly 90,000 gallons of water each second from Lake Mead to the dam's hydroelectric generators.

 After taking an elevator down 500 some feet, we walk along a tunnel that was built for the construction of the dam.

We see 8 of the 17 huge generators.  The bridge across the top are actually 2 large cranes that are used to lift the generators out of their casing for maintenance.  The tour ends with an elevator back to the top to a viewing balcony.

A walk out on to the dam is next.  Cars drove across the dam until 2010 when the arch bridge opened.  

Here you can see the water intakes.  The last several years we've been using more water than is replaced and the water level of the lake is dropping about 5 feet a year.  

We load back into the van. We haven't had lunch yet so are on the look out for something quick.  A TacoBell on our side of the road.  Good enough.  This is a first for Paula.  She admits that it is better than she thought it would be.  

We get into Vegas about 4:00 and check in to Treasure Island Resort.  We are all on the same floor.  Betsy and Roddy are right across the hall from Nick and me but Paula, Jorge and Myra are about as far away as possible and still be on the same floor.  What a change from the nature that we've been immersed in for the last 10 days! Nick returns the van to the airport rental place.  When he gets back, we check to see if we can get any last minute tickets for one of the shows we want to see.  Ah! Success!  Half price tickets for Cirque du Soleil's  Mystere and it is at Treasure Island! We can make it!  The only problem is that there are only 6 tickets and there are 7 of us.  Jorge decides he will stay in the room and do some relaxing yoga.  As one would expect, a wonderful, entertaining show.  

After the show, we got some take-out pizza, brought it back to our room and enjoyed it with some beer and salad that we brought with us in the cooler.  

OUT WEST ADVENTURES Walnut canyon, Sedona, Flagstaff, Lowell Observatory

The day is loosely planned.  We'll go to Walnut Canyon, a vortex area around Sedona, get lunch somewhere and see what unfolds from there.

The description of the trail down to the dwellings at Walnut Canyon National Monument is strenuous.  Yet, the person in the visitor's center encouraged us to do it.  There are 185 steps down to the Island trail where one can see the cave dwellings up close and personal.  We all decide to go for it and were glad we did.
Walnut Canyon is a site where Sinagua cliff dwellers lived from about 1100 to 1250 CE.   We could see more dwellings across the canyon.

 Some rooms were used for storage of water and grains and others were used for living spaces.  They developed a system for drawing smoke from an inside fire to the outside.  There is evidence that they cultivated vegetables at the rim of the canyon and that they were quite knowledgable about medicinal plants that they grew in the area.
We did rest on the way back up to the Visitor's center.

A nice diorama in the visitor's center of a depiction of life in the canyon.

ON TO SEDONA AREA

We took the Oak Creek Canyon road to Sedona which was very beautiful and popular.  It was a Saturday and many people were parked along the sides of the road to enjoy playing and picnicking along the creek.
Nick was the only one who had been to Sedona before so we didn't know quite what to expect.  It probably would have been quite nice on a week day but on Saturday it was crawling with people and no place to park.  We drove on through town to Bell Rock which is considered to be an energy vortex spot.  People were hot and hungry and basically not into it.

We continued to the next town which would take us back towards Flagstaff for lunch.  The place that sounded good from the reviews closed 30 minutes before we got there.  Betsy wanted a milkshake and there was an ice cream, hot dog place just around the corner.  We walked there but the problem was that they didn't have anything that wasn't beef for Jorge.  The rest of us had shakes or floats and some had hot dogs.  I had noticed a local artist gallery just a block up the street.  After lunch, we went to the gallery and Jorge went across the street to get a salad at Wendy's.
A person who does batiks was there and quite talkative.  I bought a few of her note cards.

People were tired and wanting to get back to the house and cook dinner.  The plan was to take people back to the house and Nick and I would then go back to Flagstaff to go to the Lowell Observatory.  When others realized that would mean an extra 2 hours of driving, we all decided to have dinner in Flagstaff and all go to the observatory.  Betsy found a groupon for the observatory which saved us all some dollars.
Flagstaff turned out to be a pretty cool, happening place.  We planned to poke around in some galleries and then have dinner.  The only problem was that the galleries all closed at 5:00 and we got parked about 5:05.  We decided it was too hard to try to stay together so picked a meeting place for an hour and went our separate ways.  Outside the little shopping area they were setting up for some music and outside movie.  Nick and I walked through that area and found a rock and crystal shop that was open.  Myra had mentioned she might get some rocks for the grandkids so we thought we would make sure to go back there with Myra.  Then we found the coolest shop ever.  It was a store with musical instruments of a spiritual sort.  The best was a wooden chair with harp type of strings along the sides.  When I asked about it, the owner of the store invited me to sit down in it and he would demonstrate  Oh my!  Stress from the day melted away as I was transported to a place of peace.  We had to bring the others back here!

After we were all de-stressed, we went across the street for a quick Korean dinner before going to the Lowell Observatory.  Since we hadn't planned on going to the observatory, people didn't have warm jackets as the temperatures started to drop.  Luckily, it wasn't as cold as when we looked at the stars up at Cedar Breaks.   First we listened to a very enthusiastic young woman give a lecture on the planets.  Nick and I then went out to look through several of the telescopes that were set up.  

Lowell Observatory is one of the oldest observatories in the United States, built in 1894.  It is where Pluto was discovered.  One of their telescopes was the main one used to map the moon for the moon landing.  Now it is used for education rather than research.  

It was really cool to see how the structure around the telescope was engineered.  The telescope is designed to track what it is set on but the opening is stationary.  When the telescope gets to the edge of the opening, they rotate the whole dome slightly.  

We stay until about 10:00 which gets us back to the house about 11:00. After a glass of wine, everyone went to bed knowing that we would have to pack up and head out in the morning.  Nick said he would like to be on the road by 8:00 but there was a general wave of "NO WAY!"  So when, we changed it to 9:00 that sounded quite reasonable.  We were on the road just before 9:00 the next morning.  Not bad!