Last Day In Vegas

   Today we spent more time driving than we meant to.  We went to Mt. Charleston (NW of Vegas) which was a pleasant but definitely  missable experience,  and a 100 mile round trip to boot.  After that we returned to Red Rocks and took a short hike -- with a real 5.1 climbing section (5') -- to look at the Black Corridor.  Another place I've climbed with David N.  The Corridor is a short slot canyon with thirty or so climbs on either side -- all of it in two hundred feet.  We also stopped at the visitor center (new -- 2000 -- and very nice) where dw took the time to tell a bronze snake who was boss.
   After that we again stopped at the Red Rocks Casino for more truffle fries and this time a plate of hummus.  We both lost $2 and then came back to the motel and our books. 
   Some incidentals:  A cell phone can erase key cards (oops).  And Wynn's casino is also a Maserati / Ferrari dealer.  For $10 you can go into the showroom (Maserati/Ferrari owners get in free) and get your picture taken with -- possibly sitting in -- a Ferrari.  I wonder if they put a rubber sheet on the seat to keep a bit of separation between the common and the Ferrari.  And finally, at the Atomic Museum one interactive exhibit featured a Geiger counter, a couple of radioactive objects and several bits of screening material (the goal was to see what things would block radioactivity).  It proved to my satisfaction that lining your hat with aluminum foil won't work, but leaded vinyl will work fine.  DA

Steve Wynn Gnashes His Teeth

   Yesterday we took a hike up Pine Creek Canyon.  It was a short hike (3+) miles and fairly flat, but not having worn our hiking boots for some time, plus the rocky trail and a bit of scrambling and bush-whacking made us realize we've each lost some of our keen-edged conditioning.   Along the way I looked at a climb David N. and I did a few years ago.  It was one of my favorite climbs and I was interested in seeing it again. 
   After the hike we spent the evening on The Strip.  We spent most of the time at Wynn's,  walking out clear winners:  $4.60 to the good.   After we left there we walked a bit along Las Vegas Boulevard and went into the Palazzo where we did little but look around.  In reality the casinos all look similar.  There are some differences in decor and color scheme but you could switch any part from one to another and few would notice.  We also looked about to see if there were any shows we want to see.  At $100+ per ticket there aren't.  This evening we got a couple of guides to entertainment to see if there are any off-strip shows we're interested in and there don't seem to be any. 
   Today (Tuesday)  after a leisurely breakfast (courtesy the motel)  --- as a side note:  unlike most motel-courtesy-breakfasts, the breakfasts here are actually worth eating --- After breakfast we went to the Atomic Test Museum.  It was very interesting -- not kid-friendly (too much reading stuff) -- and very informative.  We spent an hour and a half there, although we skimmed the last bit -- interesting but long.  And after that we continued on to The Gun Shop where we were going to shoot some guns.  ("Eat lead, dirt bag!!)  dw selected a 9mm Glock and I selected a 45 S&W.  After paying and standing in line for a bit, we realized we would be in line for an hour or so, so we got a refund and left.  We plan to return the morning of our LV departure.  (get our return-home trip off to a blazing start).  I may yet get a full-auto machine gun to shoot, but so far I've balked at the price  --

   After The Gun Shop, we drove to Hoover Dam (nee Boulder Dam) to look at and walk over the new gorge spanning bridge.  The dam is a stunning art-deco sight (the water in Lake Mead is WAY down -- 50 -  75 feet or more) and the bridge is an impressive addition.  Then back to the motel for an evening of reading.  The excitement is continuous.  DA

Big Winners In Sin City

   We arrived in Las Vegas at about 4 this afternoon.  dw found a motel (Hampton Inn) on the internet and we're staying there.  The Inn is nice and moderately priced, located on the west side of town about 10 miles from the strip.  We decided to pass on staying at one of the big casinos since their interest and entertainment value is only good for a couple of hours if you're not gambling.

   After we had rested a bit from the drive, we drove further west (attn: David N.) on Charleston Ave.  That area has really built up since I was last here (climbing with D.N.) including a big new casino -- Red Rocks Casino -- We stopped at the casino, did some gambling (dw won $9.88 and I won $1.75 !!!) had a side order of fries with truffle oil and parmesan cheese -- delicious -- and drove back to the motel, stopping at Whole Foods on the way. 
(dw:  It's warm and SUNNY)
 We're now lolling on the beds -- snacking on moderately healthy food in lieu of a dinner -- fully sated with the gambling excitement.
   The drive between Fallon and Las Vegas was moderately interesting -- desert mountain scenery.  We stopped at Hawthorne for breakfast (at Maggie's) where I  had an OK eggs/sausage/hash-browns breakfast and dw had the "worst pancake I've ever had" breakfast.  Just north of Hawthorne the road passes a large Army Munitions depot with hundreds of windowless buildings and bunkers, and just south of Hawthorne he road passes the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.  dw said something very like:  "IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE EFFING DESERT!"  DA

Yeah, that Naval Undersea Warfare Center was very weird.  Undersea?  There's no sea within a thousand miles - maybe they scuba dive in the nearby lake?  And how can you kill breakfast?  Someone did.  I didn't even eat it.  The sun here in southern Nevada makes up for all of it.  Let me say it again.  It's sunny here and that's all that matters.  Viva Las Vegas!!!!!! dw

Second Day

This time I'm going to try to get some pics in.  First -- just a roadside view south of Burns.  And from a billboard in Bend:  "Don't drive with chest pain" --  How could they have possibly known?  I consider it an invasion of privacy.  Also near Bend -- a ratty tent, tarp leanto, campfire encampment just off the road and very close to a nice faux-abobe building.  I suggested the building owner probably didn't like the tenter much but dw suggested the tenter was a second cousin from California who wasn't allowed to stay in the adobe house. 
   After the motel in Redmond,  we drove through Burns, Winnemucca, and are now in a Motel 6 in Fallon, Nevada.
   South of Burns we passed a cattle drive -- 50 cows (200 legs) three cowboys and a dog.  The West is alive and well.  In Burns we were up-close witnesses to a fender-bender between a giant red Ford pickup and a VW Beetle.  We just passed an intersection, found we were going in the wrong direction so I made a u-turn, which MIGHT have distracted the giant red pickup -- stopped at a stop sign --who pulled into the intersection and got broad-sided by the bug.  Everyone was going slow and damage was minimal.
   A noon highlight was the dead cow a mile north of Crane.  We don't really know it was dead.  We didn't stop to check it's pulse or anything, but it was either dead or was trying some sort of horizonal stiff-legged yoga trick. 
   North of Winnemucca a series of billboards advertised:  "A cold beer"  -- "A pretty lady to sit on your lap" -- "Truck access" -- "Wildhorse Saloon" --- Since we're in a small Honda 2-door sedan instead of a truck we decided not to stop.  Besides I didn't think dw would want a lady sitting on her lap, and If I have a woman sitting on my lap, I don't want her to be a lady either. 
   We  met some light snow flurries starting  at the Blue Mountain Pass (S. of Burns) and they continued through Winnemucca (with one heavy flurry)  -- in light of that we changed our planned route and have come through Fallon, instead of driving south from Winn.  to Austin and over a 7500' pass. 

   Here in Fallon we found a barber shop that could have been named for us:   And we passed an art gallery with a painting "Fortune Dreaming" that seems to be a pic of a woman getting it on with a carp.  We got some tex-mex for dinner and now we're watching "As Time Goes By" on PBS and eating an orange. DA

Road trip - again!

Yes, we are on the road again and I have been guilt tripped into blogging.  Well, it was originally my idea but that was because I wanted to keep a journal of our adventures and that was so easy when we had adventures.   Today's road trip began with an auspicious call from Vicki at work asking if I wanted the day off.  Hello.  Of course, I want the day off.  Checking in with Dennis about leaving early as we had spent the entire morning packing, organizing and cleaning he said "may as well".  We were on the road at 3pm and forty minutes later arrived at the hospital where I needed to stop before leaving town.  It wasn't as bad as I feared - the traffic, that is.  A sunny Friday afternoon is not the best time to try to get out of town.  Please note the first sun in weeks and we are leaving town!  Figures.  Let's remember the reason - upcoming 20 year anniversary of marital bliss and where better to spend it than the delights of Las Vegas?  The chosen route is through Bend, Burns, Winnemucca, Tonopah and eventually Las Vegas.  So far we've made it to Redmond, OR.   Flashy evening sun piercing the dark rain clouds off to the west was the best photo-op so far.  Audiobook is Flannery O'Connor short stories - a bit gruesome some of them but that's Flannery.  Plenty of snow at Government Camp but none of it on the roads.  Life is good.  Later, dw
   As dw said traffic out of town wasn't bad, and had totally thinned out by the time we hit Sandy.  We had looked at road cams before we left and most of the passes looked pretty bad but 26 was just wet from snow melt.  The warm afternoon did the trick.  E. Oregon is spring greenish, there's still low snow on the hills (roadside snow started at 1500') the air got chilly this evening and a few drops of rain fell.  All in all, no surprises for early April.  DA

On The Road Again

   We're getting ready for a short (one week) road trip.  Probably we'll drive to Las Vegas, perhaps attend a show, certainly do some desert hikes and then come home.  Mostly it's a trip to get away from Portland rain and gloom. (and also to celebrate our 20th anniversary -- it doesn't seem that long)   dw is working today so I tended to stopping the mail and newspaper, confirming the house sitter, getting some books on tape and car snacks, etc. etc.  (I went to the gym this morning -- rode my bike) And still have had plenty of time to do the errands.  Prep for traveling is routine by now. 
   The local Eagles Lodge is having their annual fund-raising carnival.  It's a modest affair with four or five rides, a fun house, corn dogs and cotton candy.  A four booth arcade completes the event.  All unremarkable except they have it every year at this time.  It's always cold and wet (but the neon lights on the rides and booths make nice reflections in the puddles and are nicely blurred by the rain) and I don't understand how they make enough money to make it worth while.  And of course the carnival (Clark Shows Northwest) takes their cut off the top.  It's a mystery.  Perhaps they're running a very subtle money laundering scheme.  Perhaps they're in cahoots with the next door Fabic Wod.  
   (Fabic Wod is a fabric store four blocks from our house.  It has been up and running for more than 20 years and yet we NEVER see anyone shopping there.  dw thinks they are laundering money.  Maybe as much as a couple of hundred a month.  Over the years their original sign, "Fabric World" lost several letters and became "Fabic Wod")
   I had a minor -- read the label -- wake-up call a few days ago.  I've been taking Metamucil three times a day for several months.  It's supposed to help reduce cholesterol and the Metamucil plus oatmeal and the statin drugs all have done their job -- my cholesterol levels are excellent.  (re: this topic, on another time I'll toss in a few fart jokes -- always welcome in moderation)   Back to the point -- Metamucil is HALF SUGAR -- glucose to be precise.  Glucose, fructose, sucrose, etc. they're ALL SUGAR.  So this supposedly healthful product is half sugar.  There's nothing wrong with sugar -- in it's place -- I enjoy the occasional candy bar -- I just had one three hours ago -- But making your colon-blow 50% sugar is over the top.  I've switched to a different brand. 
   I'm reading "The Science of Fear" by Daniel Gardner.  It's about how advertisers, politicians, etc promote and encourage fear to sell, or to get your vote, or to make you hate someone.  And I finished "I Am The Only Running Footman" by Martha Grimes.  I enjoy her books, she's not quite a cozy mystery writer and she generally suits my mood.  Actually, I read the book some time ago but I didn't recognize it until I was 2/3's of the way done.  Mysteries are good that way (for me).  I only need a half dozen or so because I never remember them.  On a six month cycle six novels will see me through a couple of years DA

Facebook

    I'm inching my way into the 21st century.  I have a cell phone, and I opened a Facebook page.  I'm considering Twitter.  I'm also sympathetic to the position of my friend Bob D. who refuses any of the above (except for the cell phone) because he fears that if he starts he'll spend all day tweeting and blogging.  Now that I have the Facebook page I think I should do something with it -- get more friends, post comments, post pictures and comment on comments -- and keep up with this blog. -- whew! connecting is a lot of work!  Particularly for someone who's basically asocial.  Everyone else has hundreds of friends and I have six.  My next step will be to get seven friends, then I'll stop and see how it's working out. 
   Yesterday I had another doctor's appointment.  It was primarily just a physical  (the internal medicine guy insists on that silliness before he'll renew my gout prescription -- He might  know me too well)  I don't have the lab work back yet but it'll probably be fine.  Nothing stood out during the hands on part of the event.  I rode my bike to the dr.'s office.  About 20 blocks from the office I had a flat tire.  A loud pop, and the tire came partly off the rim.  (I suspect the guy who fixed the rim the other day didn't re-mount the tire properly)
Anyway I didn't have time to fix the tire, so I walked the last 20 blocks.  I wasn't wearing my knee brace and the walk got pretty uncomfortable, and I had some words to say (mostly to myself) about the the world and the bicycle guy .  I was generally quiet with my comments (I didn't want to frighten the horses or the women and children) but I must say I was emphatic.
   This evening dw and I watched "Midnight Run"  from the library.  A fun movie (Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin)  25 years old (smoking on an airplane).  And I just finished reading "Operation Mincemeat" by Ben Macintyre -- It's about a WWII allied spy operation designed to fool the Germans prior to the invasion of Sicily (it worked).  There was a previous book (The Man Who Never Was) as well as a movie but this book is more complete.  An interesting read.    DA