Lessons Learned

I came to appreciate geology far more than ever before as we traveled through Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.  Then we drove through Death Valley, and it drove the message home.  I used to think geology was boring, but no longer.  I expected Death Valley to be monochrome, a bland desert.  Wrong!!  It is an amazing assemblage of colors and textures, indicative of a violent past (and present?), of upheavals, chasms, occasional volcanic activity, and minerals of all kinds.

We traveled through Death Valley in November of 2012, with our home base being Pahrump, Nevada.  Our first clue to Death Valley's potential was this mountain, just before we entered the park from the east.  The stark contrast between the light and dark colors was arresting.

On the south side of the road we next saw black mountains, made of volcanic rock:

Once we entered the park, the geology became even more interesting:

Since pictures speak louder then words, here are more photos of the mountains, taken from the floor of Death Valley as we drove along:

Look at the reds in these mountains!

The clouds in the sky provided interest as well:

Evidence of erosion was wide-spread:

More colors!

Death Valley is best known for the salt flats in the basin, but there is so much more to it!

The lowest point, below sea level!

As I said, Death Valley is so much more than the lowest point in North America.  It was impossible for me to stop taking pictures.

The colors and formations are of endless variety!

We came to a place that one could compare to an artist's palette.  These are not Photoshopped!  The colors, of course, come from various minerals.

And then more colors:

 

We took a hike through a yellow canyon:

Does this look at all familiar??  It was in this canyon that the little sand people of Star Wars were filmed!!

Here are a couple of parting shots, taken as the sun was setting as we left the park in the evening.

Home at last?

Lee and I have been in Petaluma for a couple of weeks now.  The moving truck from Pennsylvania arrived yesterday, the final day of November.  It was raining cats and dogs, but the guys worked hard, and the sun came out just as they finished moving the last box.

By the way, just so you know, our items did not fill the truck.  We were the fifth of six loads to be dropped off.  The driver told us he drove over the Donner Pass on I-80 to reach us, and since it was snowing had to put on snow chains.  Fun, fun.  Thank you, Mr. Driver!   

I didn't realize that the Sebastopol area could be so wet.  With some exploration, I discovered that Sebastopol receives, on average, 40" of rain a year.  Philadelphia receives 42-25" a year, not much more.  Who knew??  Most of California is much drier than the northern coastal regions.

Thank you all for following Lee and I on our journey!  Please keep in touch or, better yet, come visit some day.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

 

 

Las Vegas

Hi, all.  Las Vegas was not on my bucket list, but we were in the area and decided it was worth probably one visit to see what it was all about. 

It isn't quite what I imagined, in that the casino resorts are much closer and more crowded than I anticipated.  They are all scrunched together.  At the same time, the resorts are humongous, each taking up a full city block that in the average city would be four city blocks.  The first two days we walked with energy, but on the third and fourth days we really slowed down.  The strip itself is over 4 miles long, and when you weave in and out of all there is to see, it's easy to double the mileage.  Whew!

I found the strip to be very much like a canyon.  The buildings are high on the strip, but the rest of Las Vegas is low and flat.  Interesting place. 

Each casino resort includes the casino and hotel, but also several restaurants and bars, swimming pools, and frequently a shopping mall.  Huge!  The themes are pure fantasy, although some of the hotels carry out the fantasies better than others.  Below is the Venetian, based on Venice.  You might recognize the Rialto Bridge in the center, and the tower of the Piazza San Marco on the right.

Below is the Mirage, where water is the theme, inside and out:

The Flamingo, the oldest casino on the strip (although it has been rebuilt), included a wildlife habitat with a pelican, many species of ducks, koi, and an albino catfish.

My favorite was Paris.  I had a delicious dinner crepe there:

New York, New York was pretty cool too.  It includes Coney Island's roller coaster:

The buildings and Statue of Liberty were smaller than their real counterparts:

Caesar Palace was the most opulent, in my estimation.  The Bellagio, next door, has a seasonal display that included a talking tree for autumn:

Everyone knows about Luxor, the Egyptian Pyramid, right?  The inside is all things Egyptian, while balconies look down from above.  Very cool:

As you can see, the Las Vegas strip is opulent and well over-the-top.  But it has its place, I guess.  As a vacation destination, it allows people to live in a different reality for a few days.

I should add that Lee and I aren't big gamblers, so didn't spend much time at the slots.  We did walk a LOT, however.  Good exercise!  We had nice weather while we were here, but in the summer months you would want to stay indoors more.

Everything was more expensive than I expected.  I remember the days when casinos subsidized buffet meals and hotel rooms, but they don't anymore.  Perhaps this is because there is now so much more than the casinos - there are shows and roller coasters and shopping malls... Overhead costs are much higher than ever before.

Here is another interesting tidbit.  MGM owns most of the hotels on the strip, which surprised me.  MGM owns, amongst others, MGM Grand, Bellagio, Luxor, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, New York-New York, Monte Carlo, Circus Circus, Mandarin Oriental, Mirage, and Aria.  That is a lot of acreage.