By request, below is what the neighborhood (and practically every other neighborhood) looks like.  The older parts of Vegas look different, but for the most part everything built since the 2000s(?) looks like this. 

I ventured out of the neighborhood last night when Pammy took me for a spin in the convertible down the strip. We left the house as the sun was setting around 7:30 PM.  Even at that time, it was still 100 degrees.  With the wind from an open-top vehicle, it really is like you're being blasted with a hair dryer.  Add the heat of the surrounding cars when you're actually on the strip, and it's pretty intense.

That is THE sign you hit as you enter the strip on Las Vegas Blvd.  It's surrounded by a giant median with two rows of parking beside it so people can get out and take their pictures in front of the sign.  When we left the strip around 9PM last night, there was probably a crowd of 50 or so people surrounding the sign.

It's hard with my dinky camera and bad vantage point from a moving vehicle to capture the scope of the place.  For only being a few miles long, the famed strip packs a lot in.  Or maybe it doesn't.  Maybe it's just a big array of light bulbs and sweaty people wearing tank tops and ill-fitting daisy dukes.  Whatever it is, I was enchanted.  I like that everything is gaudy, tacky, and fake.  New York is fake.  Venice is fake.  Paris is fake.  Egypt.  You name it.  The tans are fake.  The smiles are fake.  The money probably isn't fake.  

Speaking of fake Egypt, I also like the fact that while astronauts can't see any lights illuminating North Korea from space, they can see the light coming off of the Luxor.  

                                       

And speaking of fake money, at the north end of the strip, just past the closed down Riviera, there is an abandoned casino project that never got completed.  It isn't falling down, but the i-beams are rusted, and it's a stark sight to see after all of the brilliant lights.  

But back to the pretty, glitzy, tacky parts!  As I said, I loved the look of the strip and loved it so much that I couldn't wait to go back and see it during the daytime.

Pam and Dennis took me for a walk through a few of the casinos.  Our first stop was Caesar's Palace.  Yes, there are tons of slot machines and gaming tables about, but a lot of the real estate is dedicated to the malls.

While there were a lot of people about and a lot of stores about, it isn't precisely clear to me who does any of the shopping.  It was $7.50 for a plain hot dog and $6.00 for a single scoop of ice cream.   What also confused me is that the three hotels all had the same high end stores.  Gucci, Armani, Harry Winston, Hermes, Guerlain, Prada.  All the same stores repeated throughout the casinos.  Seems excessive since no one seemed to be shopping in them.  Hell, you're lucky even to get in.  Several of the stores seemed to have bouncers positioned outside to ward off unemployed mammo techs like myself.  Check out the nice black man strategically positioned to bounce people out of the Fendi store below.

Meanwhile, the check-in desk at Caesar's Palace resembled crowds I've seen at the ticket counter at the Indy airport.  Blech.  Unacceptable! 

The Bellagio mall was nice and bright.  Same stores.  Same bouncers.  

 

Same crowds at check-in.  The flowers overhead are blown glass.  Fake Chihuly or real deal?

 I guess if you're a hipster The Cosmopolitan is the place for you.  Dark with a club-like interior, its gimmick is that it boasts the world's largest crystal chandelier.  Meh.  I'm not buying it.  In the spirit of the city, I'm banking that quite a few plastic pop beads made their way into this monstrosity.

Donny and Marie Osmond are currently playing to sold-out crowds.  Britney Spears spends her evenings lip-syncing to her own music across the street at some other casino.  Something is definitely wrong out here, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

I feel kind of creepy posting pictures of where I'm boarding, but nobody's reading this blog, right?  Right!  So here we have my crash site.  I'll make the pictures small, so I won't feel as creepy.  Don't tell Pam I took a picture of her cleaning the side of the pool.

Sadly (or not), I'm not much a photographer these days.  Below are just a few pictures though from the Route 66 adventure.

New Mexico is lovely throughout.  Even the view from the hotel in Albuquerque rocked.  But really, I'm in it for the diners.  Check out Nob Hill in Albuquerque below.

Next we come to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  The North Rim is only some 15 miles away, but it takes close to 5 hours to get to it.  After driving nearly 1600 miles to get to the Grand Canyon in the first place, adding another 5 hours of driving was not high on the list.  Anyway, below you seen the Grand Canyon.  It's a large ravine with lots of people staring down into it and a few idiots doing idiotic things.  Many people choose to watch the idiots to see if they fall in or not.

Meanwhile, back on Route 66, there's grilled cheese!

One of the things I liked about Route 66 is its complete faith in the fact that you can't have too many gift shops selling Route 66 key chains.

Meanwhile, there are those diners!

Like I said, I didn't take too many pictures.  You'll just have to follow me out here and see for you yourself.

Come all ye pumpkin heads

Well, it's that time of the year again. The Great Pumpkin approaches with his bag of toys as he flies across the most sincere of all pumpkin patches. In his honor, I carved up a couple of pumpkins. Leave your triangle eyes and snaggle-tooth smiles at home--this was the year of the tableau scene.

First to be carved was my Indiana Jones pumpkin. In this stunning rendition, we see Indiana Jones crouching down in order to retrieve a fabulous jewel. But watch out behind--a mummy looms on the back of the pumpkin. (I'm having to explain this because Baba thought the pumpkin was indecipherable and interpreted in a highly original and inaccurate fashion. Maybe I should call this my Rorschach Pumpkin.)



Next came The Executioner Pumpkin. I'm very partial to this particular young man, who seems so ready and willing to lop off a head at my command. The entryway to his dungeon is carved on the back of the pumpkin.


Spooky, yet delightfully artistic, no?

Where in the world is Lauren Sandiego?

So the public has spoken, and this Exclusive Reclusive intends to respond. I've been abroad, or at least to Wisconsin and North Carolina, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it.

First off, I drove my friend's car, which has no driver's side mirror, through downtown Chicago. I discovered that Chicago drivers are testy and use their horns a lot. I'm sure this had nothing to do with my erratic and uninformed lane changes.


Eventually we arrived in Spring Green (pop. 643) in southwest Wisconsin. Somehow, when you're in Wisconsin, you just know.


The main attraction in Spring Green is The House on the Rock. Unfortunately, the house is nearly impossible to photograph. (And trust me, I have 200 failed photographic attempts to prove it.) The place is just too huge and too bizarre. It's a sixteen building (not room, but building) mansion that features a whale the size of the statue of liberty, a city block from the 1900s, over a dozen automated orchestras, the world's largest carousel, and about six "pipe organs" that have tortuous pipes stretching throughout seven stories. These are just a few of the oddities that are impossible to describe and even more difficult to capture. You'd just have to see it to believe it.

Easier to describe and photograph was the nearby Cave of the Blue Mounds. It was a friendly, damp little cave that came complete with "cave kisses." When you get a big waterdrop full of cave sediment dripping on you, you can consider yourself kissed.


In the end, Wisconsin was a fabulous time. I was delighted by it's stunning array of cheese and beer, and thus resolved to return.

And in May, I did! Hello Milwaukee! The funny winged building below is the art museum, and you can see downtown Milwaukee in the background. The place is gorgeous, the lake was gorgeous, and I do believe even I was gorgeous.


Ostensibly, my supervisor and I went there for some additional ultrasound training. We managed to do a bit more than that though. We saw the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Milwaukee Public Museum, toured the Pabst Mansion (the house that beer built), went to a funny little bar called The Safe House (which you access by means of a back alley and get to via a series of secret passages), and visited their impressive botanical gardens, of which there are actually three but I could only get two in at a time.


Yet again, I was impressed by Milwaukee's stellar array of grilled cheese sandwiches and of course their endless supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon. There was also some kick-ass local beers made by the New Glarus Brewing Company. May I recommend a Spotted Cow? Prefer something heavier--try Moon Man. If you're feeling more mainstream, walk down to Waukesha's House of Guiness. Did I mention that Milwaukee is a Miller town? What? What did you say? Ultrasound? What did I learn? *hiccup*

The weekend following my Milwaukee adventure, I hit the road again. Destination: Biltmore in Asheville, NC. What can I say? You've seen the place. Yeah, it was pretty.


Yes, the grounds, gardens and conservatory were lovely.


But at the end of the day, it is what it is. I can appreciate that it is an amazingly beautiful place, but at the same time it lacked the culture and refinement inherent in an ice cold bottle of PBR. Still, if you are so inclined to go back, I highly recommend the highly-overpriced rooftop tour.



I'm back home now, spending my evenings studying for my breast ultrasound boards. You know, that subject I was supposed to learn something about somewhere along the way. Oh well.

I suddenly have a Chevy for sale.

We caught a truck in our front yard! Yay! Remember, possession is 90% of ownership.

It's less calories this way...

Bab says this is the year of the pie crust, but thus far her energies have been devoted to her patented scones with cinnamon smear. For those of you playing along at home, these scones were constructed using a biscuit cutter and nestled delectably within a 9" round pan. Check them out.