Las Vegas Temple

Before coming home we had to go to the temple and at least walk the grounds.  It was closed for two weeks for the deep cleaning.

I loved the trees and native plants.

I really liked these trees that as they are trimmed back, look like giant pineapples. 

A beautiful clear, blue sky on our last day here.  Only to come back to having to clean the snow off of our car when we got back to Appleton.

It felt like spring when I saw these beauties planted.

A closer look at my pineapple tree. 

Moroni was gleaming in the bright sunlight. 

I wished the temple would have been open for us to go and worship there, but it was good just to walk the grounds and feel the serenity of that holy place.  In a city where there is so much hustle and bustle and gambling, it is nice to know there is a place where you can get away from the city.

 

Go Carting

There was no place to park at our hotel when we got back so we went across the street and did some indoor go-carting.  

I thought it was being over protective that we had to wear the helmets and sign a waiver, but after taking some of the corners faster than I anticipated, I thought it would be easy for people to crash.

Signed waivers, helmets and seatbelts and a WIN for me!

 

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.