2 Go Nevada

Nevada is the Desert State

Sure, most of Nevada is flat desert, but up from out of that dry landscape comes the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas. We came to Vegas to see Rich's mom, Tessa, and to meet up with friends, Doc, Lissa, Andrew, etc... who would be coming in for March Madness in Vegas.

Just outside of Las Vegas on the Arizona-Nevada border in the Black Canyon is the Hoover Dam. This engineering wonder has been declared a National Historic Landmark, a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and the fifth best construction achievement of the 20th century.

The Hoover Dam is named for Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States who was the one who said "Dam it". He strongly supported construction of a high concrete dam on the Colorado River. The dam controls the flow of the river, provides irrigation water for nearby farms and water for southern California and generates hydroelectric power. The dam was dedicated in 1935.

Here is Rich sitting on the edge of the Hoover Dam.

Las Vegas Baby

Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish. Once a desolate oasis, Vegas is now visited by 35.8 million people each year. There is so much more to Vegas than just gambling. Fourteen of the fifteen larges hotels in the world are right here in Vegas. Casinos are no longer just mobsters like Bugsy Siegel, flashing lights, slot machines and Elvis impersonators (not that there is anything wrong with that). The casinos are now more like resorts with roller coasters, IMAX films, and major productions such as O, the underwater Cirque de Soleil, Blue Man and EFX starring Rick Springfield, which we attended (I wish that I had Jessie's Girl). Most casinos now have a theme: Paris, Rio, New York New York, the Luxor (Egypt), Mandalay Bay, Aladdin and the Venetian, to name a few. Here is a question: If somebody gave you a few billion dollars to build a casino in Vegas, what theme would you use?

The Las Vegas Strip is the place to be in Vegas. We spent a lot of our time here not so much gambling, but taking in the scene of scantily dressed women, high rolling big shots, the elderly blowing all of their retirement money and nice, respectable people just admiring the most amazing spectacle on Earth. We also watched the first and second rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament. It was great to watch each game on a seperate big screen all at once with a cocktail waitress periodically bringing us free drinks. It was great to do all of this with Rich's mom and some of our greatest friends from college. GO STATE!

Rich and Andrew went to high school together in Saline, Michigan and also studied together at Michigan State University. Here they are sitting upstairs in Andrew's suite at the Venitian. We stayed with Rich's mom--which is actually very close to the strip and serves much better food.

Our friends Doc and Lissa also came out from San Diego. Here Kelly and Lissa hang out with Aladdin's genie while Rich and Doc head in to watch the game. The genie was much more interesting.

Rich, Doc and Lissa walk along Las Vegas Blvd., better known as the Strip.

Here is Lissa, Doc, Rich's mom, Tessa, and Rich enjoying some time at Tessa's free resort.

Our last day in Las Vegas, we decided to drive over the border
to California to see the famous Death Valley.

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