Vegas week one

Vegas ...Week One

      Well, it was sprinkling and cold when we arrived. About 30 degrees under normal...stayed that way pretty much all week.

    Had some trouble with our      reservation, apparently they double booked our grassy area site and we had to have a plain spot for our first two nights. It was plain cement but really close to the dog park, so wasn’t too bad.

   (Funny thing---there are two small birds that must have a nest in the tree beside the dog park, because every time we go they dive bomb Buffy.  I had a video but it wouldn't post here.)

    

     Then, two days after they moved us to our reserved site, a security guard knocked on the door and told me I wasn’t supposed to be there.  Luckily, I still had my reservation confirmation email and my reservation number. The girl at the RV desk was different from the ones we’d worked with before and was on the phone with the front desk still trying to get us to move...she asked me in a pissy voice if I wanted to ‘talk to the manager’ and I said ‘I absolutely want to talk to the manger.” About ten seconds later we got the okay to stay at our site.

   We’d already had to find a new RV park for our last three nights because at the last minute they decided to close down for a week to repave the RV park...and that overlapped our reservation by three nights. So, I was already a bit disinclined to be agreeable. 

    There was some kind of giant outdoor event concert going on next door.  For our first two days, people in weird clothes (weirder than normal) have been walking up and down the strip.  Most in fish net and sequins (even the guys).  I usually had my hands full or just wasn't in a good position to get photos.  I got this one but it's by far not the strangest.  I almost got a shot of a guy in a black net dress and silver platforms but the people behind him blocked everything except the shoes.      There is also a new indoor Beach Club at the Wynn Encore.  It was kind of funny to see people in bikinis and beach wear walking toward it down the strip in 50 degree weather.  I'd hate to think how cold they will be walking back to their hotel wet.

      Bob played golf two days so far..it 

was way too windy to play the other days (and chilly). I did get a lot of 

walking in, ten miles just the first day counting the dog walks.  

 I walked to the Stratosphere for the very first time ever, it was too far from where we always stayed before and for some reason it didn't occur to me last year to walk over (maybe a half mile or a little more). I took Buffy with me the first time...I took her stroller along so she could go inside (and in the gift shop on the way) with me.  I liked the way it looked so I took her back to the RV and walked back to play the slots a little.  I had one of the only good hits so far this week there.

    I’ve walked most of the strip, one side at a time, although I still have a few casinos to hit that I bypassed before... I also, only got one visit in at the Coke store so far, but,I'll be back.

I did get in to the Bellagio to see the indoor garden. Its been better, but it's still pretty cool. 

I really love just walking around the casinos, maybe play a few dollars here and there. It's fun, plus, I got lots of exercise because dozens of  the escalators and moving walkways are down. It seemed that at least one was out in almost every hotel...the Excalibur alone had four walkways (including the really long one at the entrance) and one escalator out...

    Today is supposed to be the last day of cold weather, looks like at least the seventies tomorrow so hopefully it will be more pleasanter out for walking...

     

We paid a visit to the Headzup Studio. They have around fifty art works...most 3D...all designed for taking fun photos...I’ll put one or two here and the rest in a special page of their own.

Over half of them came out blurry which was sad, but I added effects to them and it helped some...

  Want to spend a little more time exploring the Circus Circus hotel...spent very little time inside last year...there’s really a lot to see and do...

They have free circus arts going under the big top off and on all day...there’s a stadium or you can see them from parts of the casino...more later...

     

New Mexico and Arizona

New Mexico

Just two quick stops on our way to Vegas. We stopped  outside Albuquerque at a RV park called High Desert. It was between The Hopi reservation and the painted desert, very pretty country.
The various views along side the road never get old.


The RV park was nice...it didn’t have any grass (well, you know, desert) but it had three really nice dog runs.  We didn’t even bother to unhook the car.
And surprise! No rain. It did get chilly enough to run the heater though.

Arizona 

 We left bright and early the next day heading for Flagstaff. We stayed at the KOA in Coconino National Forest.  If I had done my research, I’d have realized how close we were to the Grand Canyon and stayed a couple of days. We got there, thanks in part to the time change, about 1:30 in the afternoon. We’d passed a mall about a mile up the road so as soon as we got settled I walked over. (didn’t think it
was worth unhooking the car for such a short trip).
        On the walk back, about halfway, I discovered a trail-head for several trails into the forest and up the mountain...so I went back to the RV got water and Buffy and hit the trail...serendipity! 




We both enjoyed it very much...except for the part where I slipped and landed on my knee...☹️ I actually had my camera set on timer and have a picture of it, but I think I'll pass on sharing it. 

Tomorrow morning we will be off and be in Vegas by the afternoon.   

Amarillo

Amarillo, TX

Made it safe and sound....we only have one full day here, but there’s lots I want to do, so it will be a full day. It's a very nice RV park. Amarillo Big Texas RV Park.  It had nice doggy runs, an indoor pool, and a hot tub. 

When we checked in they offered us a free limo (standard practice here, we weren’t special) to the Big Texas Steak House. We made reservations for pick up, then set everything at the site up. 
The Limo picked us and another couple up at 7:00. 
It was a pretty

nice place,  it had a giant, two story restaurant with a big gift shop, game room, ice-cream and candy shop...

Would have liked to have gone to the local drive-in movie theater, but it was too late by the time we got back from dinner.

Got up bright and early on our only full day here...dropped Bob off at the golf course. It was really crowded but they got him out with a couple of local people.  It took him about 5 hours to play, it was so busy.

The golf course was next door to the zoo (hoping it would makeup for missing the Ft. Worth zoo).  It was half price Monday and with my senior discount I paid $1.50 to get in...it was too much, very sad zoo ...many exhibits were empty (the first thing inside is a broken down, empty monkey island...beside an empty Macaw cage. There were lots of farm animals, steer, donkey, buffalo, pony, turkeys...but not many zoo 

type animals they had nothing like monkeys or zebras/giraffes. They did have two each of lions and tigers but the caged areas were so small it made me sad.  They had one large turtle in a glass box so small he could barely turn around..it was bad...the only decent environment I saw was for the old black bear they had, but I couldn’t get a good photo of her through the glass cage.

There were lots of peacocks running around which I loved, but no peahens so the

   males didn’t want to show off their tails.

   I left soon and went to the botanical gardens...that was better, I wasn't very big, but I managed to find lots of things to take pictures.

I really love the flowers and animals everywhere.

Then down the highway to the edge of town for the Cadillac Ranch. What a disgrace!  First, the guidance system took me right past it and away (apparently, I should have listened to it, and missed it).

Then you park on the side of the road and walk close to a quarter mile to get there on a dirt road.  Once there, there are several old car bodies, stuck in the mud straight up...all covered with graffiti. Which I thought
sounded cool,   but there’s no drainage, so it was a mud pit and the graffiti was kindergarten, and the ‘artists’ were too cool to take their spray cans back with them and they were laying in the mud and grass all over the place.  

          I did find a nice quilt shop and the biggest Hobby Lobby I’ve ever seen in my life so that was cool..

I      Then it was time to go and pick up Bob. It was getting late so we went straight to the RV Travel Museum. It was pretty cool.  Not only did it have RV's but it had a large selection of antique motercycles.  And a cabinet of antique cameras and a very cool old filling stationMany of the campers were fit out so well that they would still be useful today.  I had no idea campers especially teardrop campers were made such a long time ago.
 

I want to say I'm sorry for the sorry state of this blog post.  I've tried three devices and three operating systems and spent hours trying to get it straight and it just does whatever it wants.