WHAT HAPPENS IN LAS VEGAS ......

.....gets put in my blog. Or at least some of it.

A friend recommended the KOA at Sam's Town.

It's about 20 minutes from the Strip but they have a free shuttle that runs until 9:30pm. I'm sure this is useless to "real" Las Vegas visitors. But for us early risers it worked out fine.

We got checked in, set up and took the 6 0'clock bus to the Strip. In my previous life I used to make it to Vegas at least once a year. Usually alone but sometimes with Mary Ann. I had told Carol that there were many places that I wanted to show her, but most of them had been torn down. I didn't know how prophetic that would be.

We got off the shuttle at the back of Harrah's.  All the casinos have greatly improved their ventilation systems and not nearly as many people smoke as used to. But the stink was still overwhelming. We hurried but it still took 20 minutes to work our way through the casino to get to the street.

Buck Shepherd - You've let a few things slip about your previous life but we didn't know you were so famous. There is a statue of you in the center of Harrah's. I guess "Winnie" was before you met your Carol.

Please click on the pictures so you can appreciate the full effect. AND to see Buck's necklace to confirm that I'm not making this stuff up.

Out on the street, I almost dragged Carol to see the Pirate Ship Battle at Treasure Island. I remember it being "over the top" Disney. It was in a lagoon right in front of the casino and crowds stood on the sidewalk to watch it.

It's gone. Management realized how valuable that sidewalk frontage was and now there is a row of shops between the very narrow sidewalk and what's left of the lagoon.

To add insult to injury, they've built a Senor Frog over what was part of the lagoon. It IS Las Vegas, of course so this might be slightly different from the other locations. I don't know for sure. The other locations might also have two "Bikini" nights a week. But I don't think the others have the "Drag Brunch Every Saturday.

We didn't take pictures of the little shops, but to give you an idea, one of them was a Starbucks.

Some of the hotels haven't gotten money hungry enough to give up their grand entrances. 

The Palazzo

The Venetian.

 Complete with Gondolas.

The Bellagio still has its large lagoon.

And its water show.

I didn't find the slots to be any fun anymore. All electronic. No chips or coins. Not even a lever to pull on most of them. Just put your money in and hit a button.

In all my trips to Vegas, I was always trying to convince someone that my gambling system was the only one that made sense. They seldom agreed. Carol was no exception. I believe that if  you go into a casino saying,, "I'm not going to risk more than x dollars, pick a number, it doesn't matter. Let's say $100.  So if I lose my hundred, I'm going to quit." That is exactly what will happen. Every time. 90% of the time, at some point before you lose your hundred, you will have been UP a hundred. But since you've already decided that you can afford to lose a hundred, you will keep playing until your down a hundred and then you will quit.

The proper attitude, in my opinion, is to look around at those luxurious surroundings, air conditioned, thick carpet, comfortable chairs, beautiful young girls bringing you free drinks and say, "These people are SO nice that I would really feel guilty taking more than $100 of their money tonight." And when you are up a hundred, pocket it and walk away. I tried to show Carol. I won a couple of times, but small amounts and I put it back into the machine. She didn't buy into my system, so after I'd lost $20 she was ready to quit. On our last night I told her, "I've got a dollar in my pocket, let me try again." I won $40. and walked away. THAT's the way it's supposed to work.

But we did spend most our time walking the Strip, enjoying the incredible buildings and watching people.

The Bellagio has a Conservatory and Botanical Garden which changes with the seasons.

One of the things I learned from 30 years in the insurance business was that it is very difficult to make good clients out of good friends. At some point you have to treat them like clients and most friends don't take that very well. But if you are Blessed, occasionally you can make good friends out of good clients. A LONG time ago, I insured a Cessna for Ann and Ralph Devers. When they retired to Las Vegas, I suggested that they change to an agent closer to them. But before that happened, they became good friends. We may only get together once in ten years, but we pick up right where we left off like we had seen each other yesterday. 

Ann prepared a feast which was wonderful. But the company was even better. To top it off, she insisted that we take leftovers back to the Airstream.  I told Ann that while we were in town, I also wanted to see Bev, a friend from completely different circles than Ann. Ann said, "She's my best friend in the world. We'll all get together." So lunch at a local's favorite place was arranged. With Bev and her husband Lynn.

Lynn, Bev, Carol, Tom, Ann, Ralph. The owner of the restaurant - well, actually, the owner's son came out and took the picture.

I looked up and saw this wifi symbol.

Is this the "cloud" that everyone is talking about?

Good times with good friends. Best of all, Carol liked them and she got lots of sympathy for being married to me from people that have known me for over 30 years.

God is Good.

Every Day.

KINGMAN, AZ - NOT AS DULL AS WE THOUGHT

We had been going pretty much full tilt for several weeks. We decided that a couple of down days would be a good idea, especially before Las Vegas.

Kingman, AZ seemed like a good half way spot to chill. We found  Zuni Village RV Park, a quiet campground with mostly permanent residents that was cheap and easy to get to off of I-40. We booked two nights planning zero activity. Well, except that Carol wanted to do laundry and I had a couple of things to fix on the Airstream including replacing the propane hoses and try to catch up on my blog. So we added two days. Carol awarded them the "best RV laundry room ever award". This was a good thing because the wifi didn't work at our spot. The owners gave me the code to their office account but their office and the laundry room were the only places where it worked.

The closest RV shop didn't have the length hoses I needed but they were happy to order them for me, to be delivered the next day. I was a little shocked at the $38.00 each price but our park brochure had a 10% discount coupon so it didn't hurt quite as bad. They did not call us the next day as promised but we were driving right by there so we stopped. "Oh. We're sorry. The supplier we ordered from was out of stock so we had to order from another place. They'll be in next week." I explained that we wouldn't be here next week and got a refund. The park manager said to go to True Value Hardware. We did. The hoses were half the price but they didn't have the length I needed either. Oh well I'm sure Vegas has RV stores.

Downtown Kingman was strange. Almost every parking space in town was taken but there were NO people on the streets. It's the County seat so I guess everyone was working. It has an interesting history and we took the walking tour. Of course the big thing for me was Historic Route 66.

My Big Red Truck isn't a Corvette, but it does have luggage space! And, thank you Lord, Carol and I don't have to look for odd jobs to be able to travel.

The town isn't old by Spanish standards but has some history to it. "Possibly the oldest living thing in Kingman" - I don't think the "possibly" was necessary - is a mesquite tree over 200 years old. It's just about the last one of a forest that was here when Kingman was founded. It's so big they have to help it by bracing one of the largest limbs.

Almost all of the buildings in the downtown area are listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Including St. Mary's Catholic Church which was built in 1907. They built a new one in 1967 but kept the old building as a museum and gift shop.

We attended Mass there. The new church is beautiful also.

Laundry done, propane fixed for now, got a little done on the blog.

ON TO VEGAS.

THE SOUTH RIM OF THE GRAND CANYON

We drove the 22 miles to the East Park Entrance and went through before the gate was attended. Our first stop was at the Indian Watchtower at Desert View.

This was one of several buildings designed by Mary Colter  who was the head architect for the Fred Harvey Company from 1902 to 1948. Fred Harvey was the prime developer of tourism at the Grand Canyon and his Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel still offer a unique way to visit in old fashioned style.

Ms. Colter designed several structures on the South Rim and her plan for all was to make them look like they had been there for centuries. Or just grew out of the landscape.


The views here as the sun light hit the canyon walls was well worth the early rising and departure from Cameron.

We stopped at several more overlooks on our way to Hermit's Rest which is another Mary Colter building at the west end of the south rim scenic road.

Hermit's Rest. Mary Colter wanted it to look like "an old shanty a mountain man put up." But it had to be nice enough for the well heeled travelers who took a rest break here before hiking or riding mules down the Bright Angel Trail 9 miles to the river and Phantom Ranch, which she also designed.

The "Mountain Man" was mighty strong or had a bunch of helpers.

There is almost no mortar in this arch.

I don't know how our Federal government has allowed these signs to stay, but there are several in the park.

The fireplace is at the back of this half dome room.  The arch is amazing.

Even the interior doorways have similar arches.

We took the shuttle back to Grand Canyon Village where there are several more Colter designed buildings.

Kolb Studio was one of the few historic buildings on the rim that Colter did not design. It was the home and photographic studio of pioneers Emery and Ellsworth Kolb. They built it in 1904. It now houses a gallery showcasing local artists' work.

A beautiful mountain lion in bronze. The artist probably didn't know he was sculpting the Nittany Lion.

This plaque was at the entrance to "Lookout Studio", another Colter creation.

She really did hang this one on the rim.

Colter's Bright Angel Lodge.

We took the shuttle back to the Visitor's Center and then drove east to very close to our starting point. We were looking for the best location to catch the rays of the setting sun on the canyon walls.

Several people suggested Lipan Point so that's where we went.

Again low clouds on the western horizon kept the light from being what we had hoped for. But Carol got a couple of spectacular pictures anyway. 

 

The guy with the fancy camera and lens got some better ones as the light was fading. But he was shooting something like ISO8600. Back in the 1970's I remember the great feeling of accomplishment when we pushed black and white to ISO1200. The pictures were terribly grainy but we had done it ! When Carol complimented him on the setup he said, "Do you want to buy it? I'll sell it to you for the $3,000. I've got in it." She asked, "Then what would you do?" He said, "Buy a more expensive one."

The clouds kept the canyon from really shining but they also gave us one of the best sunsets of our trip. 

Our next "tourist stop" is Las Vegas but we're putting in a couple of days of R&R in Kingman, AZ first.