Living Statues

My videos of the living statues at The Venetian / Palazzo Hotel (I'm not sure which one this section is technically in - it seems to be between the two hotels) weren't very good, but I found this one at YouTube which was taken from the main floor and will give you a much better idea of what a cool performance this is. It's a little wobbly at times, but the videographer was much closer than I was up on the second tier. It's really cool how the water seems to come out of the hands of the "statues".



Next time I'm in Vegas, I wouldn't mind going back to see this again and try to get better video of it.

Linda

Las Vegas Slideshow

I'm still playing catch up since getting home on Sunday, but I did manage to get some of my photos uploaded to my Picasa Web Album, so I'm embedding a slide show here. Unfortunately, my captions aren't included. I'll try to get a detailed trip report posted in the next couple of days.

Linda

My Town Monday: Las Vegas Edition

My parents and I once lived in Las Vegas for about two months, the summer before I started high school, so I guess I can claim Vegas as one of my home towns.

My half-brother, Mac, who is fourteen years older than I am, was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas when his tour ended, and he never left. The summer between 7th and 8th grades, my parents decided to take a long family vacation from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas to visit my brother and his wife Pat.

Las Vegas was a real eye-opener to a kid from staid old Pittsburgh. I'd never seen so many neon signs in my life, and my brother treated us to a couple of shows on the Strip. I was underage, but allowed in the showroom. We went to the old Desert Inn and saw Flower Drum Song, starring the legendary Jack Soo and another time Frankie Laine, one of my parents's favorite singers. The vacation was a lot of fun. We took side trips to Death Valley (in the summer - what were we thinking?) and to Anaheim to visit Disneyland. The Little Church of the West, the wedding chapel where Mac and Pat were married is still here, though the location has moved several times.

After a couple of weeks, we returned to Pittsburgh, but when school ended the next June, we moved west to Las Vegas. By then my brother and Pat had adopted my nephew Steve and it was fun to see them again and meet the little guy for the first time. (He's well over six feet tall now.) In the evening we'd drive down Charleston Boulevard and the Strip to stare at the lights. Steve's favorite was Howdy Pardner, a huge sign depicting a cowboy that didn't just blink at you, it talked to you.

My dad loved the desert, but my mom and I hated the extreme heat. Dad had been stationed in Utah for a time when he was in the Army during World War II, and he fell in love with the blue skies and wide open spaces. Who could blame him? At the time, Pittsburgh was shrouded in coal soot.

Shortly after arriving in Vegas, we drove into California to visit with a friend of my dad's who had moved to Azusa, a town outside Los Angeles. The weather was typical for June in Southern California: overcast. What we call June gloom. My mom and I were just happy to be cooler, but dad missed the sunshine. On the way back to Vegas, he casually said, "I don't think California is so great. We'll stay in Vegas." My mom and I looked at each other and we both burst into tears. Dad cussed for a few minutes, then agreed that we'd give California another try. We returned a few weeks later to warm, sunny weather, and the decision was made to move to Azusa. It was a decision we never regretted, though we made frequent trips over the years to visit Mac and his family. Of late, the visits have been few and far between. Luckily, he's more likely to visit me in California.

Linda

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

Desert picture: © Maxfx | Dreamstime.com

It's Vegas, Baby!

Yesterday, my friend and fellow author, Janet Quinn, and I drove to Lake Las Vegas for EPICon2009. It's about a 4-5 hour drive. I've got a laptop with me and hope to drop in here from time to time.

We had a good drive yesterday, with very little traffic until we arrived in Henderson, and that wasn't bad. It was raining in Orange County, but we soon drove out of it and by the time we got to the high desert, the skies were clear and sunny, though it was windy.

The conference is at the lovely Montelago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas. The resort includes two hotels, a casino, a marina and a small Tuscan-style village of shops and restaurants. As you can see from the picture below, the Montelago is quite lovely. Our first room lacked a working internet connection, so the staff kindly offered to move us to another room, and in the process we were upgraded from a one-bedroom suite to a two bedroom. We each have out own bathroom, not to mention a working internet connection.



Today Janet and I have free time until EPICon Registration opens at 4PM, so we're going to sightsee Las Vegas with my brother and his lady friend. I'm hoping to visit some of the newer hotels (which for me is most of them) and get some photos.

More to come!

Linda

My Town Monday: The Sin Express?

I hadn't heard of the "Sin Express", i.e. the proposed high-speed train from Disneyland to Las Vegas, until it was mentioned by Governor Bobby Jindal in his response to President Obama's address to Congress last Tuesday. Since we live about a mile from Disneyland, I was naturally intrigued and decided to check it out.

At first, my husband and I thought it might be part of the California High-Speed Rail system approved by the voters last November. When completed the system will link the Bay Area and Sacramento to Los Angeles and San Diego, but there's no planned route to Las Vegas. I voted against it since it was a fairly hefty bond issue, and given the already large budget deficit, I didn't think it was a good time for California to take on more bonded indebtedness. I'm also of the opinion that this state doesn't have long distance transportation problems so much as short distance transportation problems. The high speed rail duplicates some existing corridors, including AMTRAK service and Metrolink trains. There's a cool map route at the website.

So I did some Googling and found a good analysis of the mass transit construction provisions in the stimulus plan at CBS News website. Apparently funds have been set aside for rail service, but nothing was specified in the bill. I doubt the "Sin Express" will be included, not only because of the bad publicity generated by Jindal's reference, but primarily because it's nowhere near shovel ready, though supporters say it could be by the deadline specified in the bill. Supporters of the bill include Harry Reid, the Democratic Senator from Nevada, and Anaheim's Mayor Curt Pringle, a Republican, so I guess that makes it a bipartisan issue, after all.

Last June, the Las Vegas Sun reported that President Bush signed legislation authorizing $45 million to study the environmental impact of the first section of the proposed rail system from Las Vegas to Primm Boulevard, near the California border. The plan was first proposed twenty years ago and is estimated to cost over $12 billion dollars. You can read the article here.

I don't know about you, but several thoughts come to my mind. One, there is no longer any AMTRAK service along this corridor, so that's a plus. On the other hand, a link between "Sin City" and the family-oriented Disneyland seems a bit odd. Yes, they're both tourist destinations, but do they attract the same customers? Not necessarily, though Vegas is more kid-friendly than it used to be. Lastly, I'm not sure this is something we need to be spending tax dollars on right now. There's no guarantee it will draw enough passengers to pay for the cost of construction. Being of a practical mind, I'd rather see money go to upgrades, maintenance and expansion of existing rail systems, esp. those of use to commuters. Anything that reduces the congestion on our highways and conserves fuel sounds much better to me than a Sin Express.

I'll be driving to Las Vegas on Wednesday to attend the annual EPICon Conference and I may have changed my mind by the time I get home. I took AMTRAK to Vegas once years ago and really enjoyed the trip. Too bad that route was dropped.

What do you think?

Linda

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

Note: Photo of Matterhorn was taken by yours truly and the picture of New York, New York is from a collection of Art Explosion stock photos I purchased.