Grand Canyon

We made a trip to the Grand Canyon as well and it was breathtaking!

This was the view as we drove up the mountain side.

I'm amazed by the giant hole in the ground that is the Grand Canyon!

This place covers miles and miles!

We paid the extra to do the Skywalk.  This is a clear sidewalk that juts out over the canyon.  When a person looks down it is 2000 feet below before you see the canyon floor!

I couldn't go too close to the edge.  Patrick was so much braver and it made me anxious.  I wasn't ready to go back home as a widow cause he fell.  Not like that was going to happen but it made me nervous.

It was pretty cool as the temperatures kept getting colder the higher the elevation. Before we left it was a lot warmer.  

The Colorado river runs through the base of the canyon.

It snowed the night before and I liked how the cacti looked topped with the white stuff.  

We climbed the highest point so we could get a really great look around.  Going up was easier than coming down.  It was a bit muddy and the mud was clay so it was slick.  We took our time descending.  

 

The Rat Pack

The third show we saw was a reenactment of the Rat Pack.  Although it was amusing, sometimes it was a bit racy.  I'm guessing Sinatra, Martin and Davis probably were like that.  

The music was really great though.  

My least favorite was the Frank Sinatra guy.  He could sing but I just wasn't into his character. 

The Dean Martin character was quite good. 

The premise was that they were celebrating Sinatra's birthday.  Dean Martin came out at Batman as he said it was a costume party.

Not to be outdone, Sammy Davis, Jr. was Robin!

A person can tell there was a bit of raunchiness in the show based on his costume.

He sang Candyman and it was fantastic. 

This was the one show where I was very happy to be sitting off to the side and not in the front center like every other show we attended.  They did a lot of interacting with the audience and there were plenty of people who didn't mind being the butt of their jokes.  That's not my jam!

 

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam was one of our day trips while we were in Vegas.  We learned all about the how and why of this edifice.

It was built to manage the water coming down the Colorado river.  In this way it could be meted out more fairly.

We took a tour inside the dam.  I didn't know that one side of the dam is in Nevada and the other side in in Arizona.  

There are many turbines inside the dam.  While we were there, only one of them was being used.  Later in the day when there's more electrical usage, more of them will be running. It was not built for creating electricity but as long as it was being built, why not?

These are the original stairs going up inside the dam.  I feel like it would be similar to climbing the stairs in Kingston at the ski jump.  

Here are the steps going down.  

Here's the water coming into the dam.  Above is the bridge spanning the river. 

It is interesting that when they created this structure, they also thought about making it earthquake proof.  The dam is not anchored into the walls of the canyon.  The concrete it is made of is heavy enough to keep in place.  There are earthquake sensors inside.

This long tunnel is an airshaft leading to the outside.

We were able to walk down that airshaft and have our picture taken in front of the grate.

This large tube was one of four that were built to divert the water so the structure could be built.

The bridge is a memorial to these two guys.  

There are great views from on top.

It was a good day.  I learned a lot of things.

 

Mandalay Bay Shark Reef

We went over to the Mandalay Bay just to visit the shark reef.  

First we watched this Comodo dragon.  

The photo I have of the Green Sawfish is not great as it was too dark but it was really cool seeing the snout that had "teeth" like a saw.

The rays were very colorful and the patterns so interesting.

The jellies!  So many different kinds.  I like watching them "swim."

We were allowed to put a finger in the water and touch the rays on their backs.  That's nothing compared to being able to swim with them and having them swim past your legs.

This critter was the most amazing thing to me.  Part ray, part shark!

It didn't even look real to me. 

There was a guard by the piranha tank as people are not smart and actually put their hands in the water.  

The last thing was walking through a tunnel where the fish and sharks could swim over the top of you.  It was good seeing that Shark/ray's underside.

Once we left that part of the shark reef, we made our way to the theatre.  This backdrop was available to take a photo.  Little Henry loves this picture.  

In the theatre we did a virtual reality show about humpback whales.  It made me a little dizzy at first so I closed my eyes for a moment and then got my bearings.  It was a short film but so interesting and fun.

 

The Venetian

The Venetian is where we walked through to get to the wax museum.  We took our time strolling back through it.  So many shops and people trying to get you to try/buy their wares.

This is where you could pay to ride on the gondola.  See that line of people?  I wasn't waiting and didn't want to spend that kind of money to do it either.  Perhaps in Venice, but not here. 

I found Batman and Catwoman looking down on us.

This is the ceiling inside the Venetian.  It looks so real!  You can see the Batman and Catwoman in the background.  We stopped and listened to some live music and ate expensive ice cream.  Every one of these hotels has a theme and they go all out to make it look like the original place.