I’m now at the airport waiting to board the plane for LA.  Vegas airport is efficient.  Yesterday Beverly took me to where she used to live and it was really nice.  We stopped at a casino off the strip to lose more money, but the smaller casinos are great fun.  The we returned to the strip and went to the Stratosphere for another scenic view.  It was really quiet there.  Many crazy thrill rides.  You can jump off the top!  Then we made our way to Planet Hollywood for a show (really good) and then we had dinner.  We got home about 11pm – we had to get up early to return the car and get to the airport. 

  
   

We slept in – jet lag and late hous had taken their toll.  We then jumped in the car to head to Mount Charleston for lunch.  It is about 40 miles from Vegas in the mountains and a ski area. The ride was beautiful. We stopped in the parking lot of one of the lodges for a photo op then continued on to the Mt Charleston Lodge for lunch.  I had an elk burger – delicious.  After lunch we took another route to return to Vegas.  The scenery is stunning.  Vast valleys and you can see forever.  The pics may not reflect how beautiful it is because it was a bit hazy.  We returned to the hotel because they had a really nice dinner for us.  After dinner-it was about 8pm- we decided to stay in.  Beverly’s foot was hurting and my hip is killing me, so we took the night off. The bright side is we saved some money. 

  
      
    
 

 

 
    The lake is extremely low.  It was kind of frightening to see how much the water level has dropped in recent years.
We went back to Vegas and set out for the Bellagio to see the waters and the conservatory.  The theme was Chinese New Year.  The pictures are pretty dark and they were hard to take because of the amount of people visiting to conservatory. 

   
   

  

I hope you can tell that the conservatory is stunning.  It’s really great in person.  We stayed at the Bellagio until 11 and then returned home. We need our beauty sleep to be tourists tomorrow.

 

Here are more pictures after we went inside. 

 

 

  
 The following picture was taken from the ventilation shaft that is 270 feet from the top of the dam.  It looks like a shield when you look at the front of the dam.

 

    
 
 

We started the day by meeting some of Beverly’s friends for breakfast in Green Valley.  This worked out well because Green Valley is on the way to Hoover Dam.  Lots of winding steep roads to get to the Dam.  The Dam is awesome!  It’s only 34 miles from Vegas and well worth the trip.  I suggest the Dam tour which takes you into the center of the dam.  Only one problem – the gift shop had no Dam t-shirts!  Lots of pictures of tunnels.