Thanks to a wonderful and very giving friend of Kris', we got to go to Las Vegas for a few days last weekend. Tremayne has a time share out there that he wasn't going to be able to use before the end of the year so he offered it to us. Kris has talked in the past of wanting to go to Las Vegas, but I have never been that interested. I am not into gambling and hey, it IS "Sin City." Not really my cup of tea. BUT, Kris and I really needed some time away together, just the two of us, and when Tremayne called me to try to convince me to go, I decided that maybe we should do it. Afterall, there is more to do there than gambling and the like.
So, last Friday my parents came up to stay with the kids. Dad and I picked Kris up at work about noon and then Dad took us to the airport. After a long day of travel, we finally got to Vegas around 8:00 p.m. Vegas time. We had heard that a couple of the guys from Duck Dynasty were going to be at the Vegas Barnes & Noble from 6:00 to 8:00. We wanted so bad to get in our rental car and head over, but due to a delayed flight out of Denver, we just couldn't get there on time. Bummer! That would have topped off our trip! We love Duck Dynasty!
Anyway, Vegas is SO different from Arkansas. We stepped out of the plane to slot machines. They were pretty much everywhere we went. This is the only picture you will see of them on this blog though! Not one cent of my money went to these things--and I am proud of it. :)
We decided to drive down the Strip just to see it and hopefully find something to eat. However, it took awhile and we couldn't find anywhere to park. Because it was so late and we were so hungry, we ended up at I-Hop (not my fav). Thought this was kind of funny because it was not where we imagined ourselves eating. Oh well.
The next morning we got up and around and headed to Hoover Dam which was about a 45 minute or so drive away. We were so impressed by the landscape around us. I couldn't stop snapping pictures. The mountains were amazing.
Kris was looking forward to seeing Hoover Dam probably more than anything on this trip, so he was really excited. Once we got down there, my interest was peaked as well. It was amazing! This is a picture of the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge across the Colorado River that opened in 2010. It was really impressive to see from the ground. We went up on it later and took pictures.
There were lots of power lines everywhere due to the fact that the Dam supplies so much energy to the surrounding areas.
This picture was taken from the parking garage.
This was a memorial for all those that lost their lives while constructing the Dam.
It was crazy to think that it only took 4 years to complete it--way back in the 30's too.
A couple of the intake towers.
This was looking down to the Powerplant at the base of the Dam.
A little bit about the Dam. I never realized it was on of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Pretty cool.
We took a tour down inside the Dam. It is amazing to imagine the brain(s) it took to come up with all the details that we saw. The first thing we did was went down an elevator 530 feet to the Penstock Viewing Platform.
This was from the platform. It looks out at one of the four diversion tunnels that they built through the canyon walls to divert the river in order to build the dam and power plant. Now, two of these tunnels each transport 90,000 gallons of water each second from Lake Mead to the dam's hydroelectric generators. Crazy!
Another elevator ride took us to see some of the huge generators.
More tunnels.
This was looking at one of the four air circulation areas about 500 feet down from the top of the dam.
Here you can see the four vents. We were in the top left one.
A zoomed in shot of it.
Along these walls were marks made in the 40's where inspectors labeled stress fractures in the walls made due to the concrete curing. What was so amazing was that the dam was built in rows and columns of concrete blocks. It would have taken 100 years for all the concrete to cool, so refrigerated water was pumped through the blocks into pipes in order to cool it. Then, the pipes were filled in creating one solid structure. It really was interesting. Kris was just amazed. He kept saying how much his dad would have enjoyed seeing it (he was an engineer).
This was the view from the bridge. It was awesome!
After finishing up at the dam, we went back and spent several hours shopping at one of the outlet malls. It was super fun to actually get to shop for us and not kiddos. We really enjoyed it because we don't get to do it very easily very often.
We decided to just snack instead of eat lunch because we needed to eat an early dinner in order to make our 7:30 show. We went to a Mexican restaurant located on the Strip and had some yummy fajitas. Our show was a Cirque Du Soleil show called O. It was soooooo good! I just loved it. Here is a description of it:
Cirque du Soleil paints an aquatic masterpiece of surrealism and theatrical romance in the timeless production, "O." The international cast of world-class acrobats, synchronized swimmers, divers and aerialists perform in, on, and above water, creating a seamless and ever-changing canvas of tableaus.
We were kind of awed by it actually. I wish we could have taken pictures. The floor of the stage was water but it changed depths throughout the show. Then, there were all the acrobats who would dive into the water from way up high. The synchronized swimmers were amazing too. It was super expensive, but worth it to me!
It was in the Bellagio Casino/Hotel which was beautiful from the outside.
This was the ceiling in the lobby. Gorgeous.
Someone had told me about this cute little gelato shop inside the Bellagio, so we stopped there after the show for a little snack.
Then, we walked around a bit taking in all the scenery.
We heard that we had to check out the Bellagio's fountain too. It went off to music and was neat to see.
That ended our first day. More Vegas trip to come...
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