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“Pic of the Week”, April 27, 2018: “Big Edge”, Las Vegas
Situated in the heart of Las Vegas’ City Center, in the middle of many beautifully designed skyscrapers, is a fascinating piece of street-art. It’s crafted by Nancy Rubins and is known as “Big Edge”. Like something you might imagine seeing at the bottom of a waterfall that has surprised dozens of boaters.
“Big Edge” is situated in front of the Vdara Hotel and Spa, between the Aria and Bellagio casinos, and is best seen from its elevated circular drive (its not visible from The Strip). Two hundred boats, many canoes but with some flat bottom boats and rowboats, are incorporated into this unusual piece. Given the strong desert winds, this seemingly haphazard arrangement of boats actually has to be firmly …
Apr 26, 2018
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“Pic of the Week”, March 16, 2018: Descent into Las Vegas
One of my favorite places to enjoy the views from a window seat is when flying over the beautiful desert scenery of Utah and Nevada. Recently while on approach and descending into Las Vegas McCarran Airport, just before sunset, I enjoyed some beautiful scenes of the Mojave Desert. Colorful shades of red, tan and brown, ending with the now filled reservoir that is Lake Mead. And ending with views of the Las Vegas Strip as our plane was about to land.
The last few minutes of I flight I found most memorable.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance)
Mar 15, 2018
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“Pic of the Week”, March 2, 2018: School of Fish, Sparks, Nevada
One of our stops during a recent visit to the Reno area was the Outlets at Sparks. The store selection and shopping experience left a bit to be desired, but there were some clever pieces of public art including this one, which I really liked. Anyone who’s ever watched a school of sardines swim know how the individual fish merge into a collective organism, and that idea was brilliantly captured in this piece.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance slideshow)
Mar 1, 2018
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.All Trips / Nevada / North America / Southwestern USA
St. Mary’s in the Mountain, Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is an interesting destination, being one of the best preserved “Wild West” towns I’ve ever visited. Once a prosperous mining city, it was one of the largest communities in northwestern Nevada during the late 19th century. Thousands of people flocked here when silver and gold were discovered in the Comstock, including many Irish Catholic immigrants. Those of you who remember the popular television series, Bonanza, will remember that the Cartwrights frequently visited Virginia City to conduct their business. They were not alone, as Virginia City provided services to local miners, ranchers and timber men. There’s lots to see in this old town, still a center of commerce but now catering mostly to tourists rather than locals.
I thought the …
Tagged catholic, church, Virginia City
.All Trips / Car Culture / Nevada / North America / Southwestern USA
Cruise Night, Carson City
I spotted this collection of classic cars while recently visiting the Reno area. We were driving down the main road in Carson City (S. Carson St) when we saw dozens of beautiful cars in this lot and, of course, had to turn off and see what was going on.
Turns out this was the weekly Cruise Night gathering of a local car club. I’d long known that the favorable climate of Nevada helped prevent the deterioration of cars and that certainly was on display.
There were lots of beautiful cars and many people stopped to study and enjoy them. Here’s a part of what we saw that day:
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance slideshow)
Tagged cars, Carson City, collectible cars
.All Trips / Food / Nevada / North America / Southwestern USA
In ‘n Out — That’s what a Hamburger is all about
Many of my Canadian friends find it difficult to understand why someone would want to move away from California. There were good reasons to stay and, in our case, better reasons to leave, but there are definitely things about California that I miss. Foremost among these are dear friends, the meyer lemon and fuyu persimmon trees in my yard, and the beautiful winter weather (summers I wasn’t too crazy about — blasted hot). And …
Tagged cheeseburgers, food, fries, hamburgers, In n Out
.All Trips / Food / Nevada / North America / Southwestern USA / Travel Talk
Breakfast at Mary’s Hash House, Las Vegas, Nevada
Anyone who stumbled onto this blog searching for “hashish” might as well leave, because that’s not what this post is about. It’s about good food, not good weed.
The Las Vegas food scene has changed a lot since I first visited the city many years ago. Vegas used to be a place that catered mostly to hard-core gamblers (a description that in no way describes me). Food was cheap, often not that great, and used to lure gamblers into an establishment. For example, I recall “all you can eat” breakfast buffets for $0.99, lunch buffets for $1.99 and dinner buffets for $3.99. Foot long hot dogs or large shrimp cocktail — $0.99. Those prices were hard to beat!
Fast forward three decades …
Tagged food, Las Vegas, Mary's Hash House, restaurant
“Pic of the Week”, November 27, 2015. The Cabins, Valley of Fire State Park
These are “The Cabins” in Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park. Three small rooms were built from the local sandstone in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), who did a lot of similar work in the parks and remote regions of the country during the Great Depression (‘make work’ projects, like trail and road construction). These cabins were used by travelers for camping stays in Valley of the Fire, but have been abandoned. I couldn’t find any good information on how long they were used, but it’s clear when you visit that they’ve not been inhabited for some time. While the setting is beautiful, I think the summer heat would have been unbearable to many — …
Nov 26, 2015
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