Tag: Nevada

Viva And All That Stuff

From zion to vegas

Helaine packed before we had breakfast at the hotel. We like Springdale and like the Best Western there. I usually associate Best Western with a lesser class of hotel. It’s not true here.

Yes, the room was nice. Yes the staff was friendly and helpful. OK, it’s our third hotel in a row with bad water pressure and bad shower heads. No one’s perfect.

What sets this place apart is how it’s built for its locale. At the end of every hallway and beyond the lobby are outdoor areas for sitting and watching the mountains. The rest of the hotel just fits too.

From zion to vegas

We left for the bus stop and I started taking pictures. A nearby mountaintop, around 3,800 feet higher in elevation than the town, was snow covered! It is only mid-October.

We hopped the shuttle to the Zion National Park entrance, flashed the pass we’d bought yesterday as we passed through in our car, and hopped on the park shuttle.

Both the town and park’s shuttle are paid for by the National Park Service. It’s a great idea. The road through town and the road in the park (where virtually no other traffic is allowed) were uncongested. We never waited more than a few minutes for transportation.

From zion to vegas

Our driver in the park was Kristine. Since we had her coming and going, I can tell you she doesn’t have an incredibly deep repertoire, but she was anxious to talk about the park, its sights and its history.

With the overnight rain the ground was a little soggy. Water flowed in many, though not all, the brooks and streams we saw. Low clouds hung over the mountains.

From zion to vegas

If this was our only day at Zion, I would have been upset. However, yesterday we saw how the mountains looked in bright sunshine. Today was a contrast, a more moody look.

We took the shuttle to Weeping Rock. This was our original fair weather plan. We wanted an easy hike which would give us a nice vantage. This trail ran about 1/2 mile, though at a significant incline.

From zion to vegas

We got off the bus and looked around. We were alone in a canyon with walls thousands of feet tall. It was majestic and humbling. I can’t imagine how the first settlers, Native Americans and Caucasians, found their way here. I can understand why they loved its beauty.

I checked. No cell service. Sorry to ruin the moment.

We walked to the trail’s end, at an overhang at the edge of a sheer rockface. Water from last night’s rain came dripping from the overhang, and flowing in a few small, but long, waterfalls.

From zion to vegas

A few more pictures and we were back at the bus stop, waiting for Kristine (or someone like her). Helaine and I decided Zion National Park was the most beautiful of our stops.

From zion to vegas
From zion to vegas
From zion to vegas
From zion to vegas

Back at the hotel, Helaine checked at the front desk to make sure our directions toward Las Vegas were correct. The desk clerk told her to take the left at the first traffic light and then added, “It’s 17 miles away.”

We also got some traffic tips: They seriously enforce the speed limit in the next few towns. “They even ticket locals,” he said. I heeded his warning as we headed out through the Hurricane Valley. It’s tough to drive 40, 35 and even 20 mph in a school zone (where the kids were, after all, in class).

From zion to vegas

Moving away from Springdale, we still saw mountains alongside the road, but they just weren’t up to Zion’s standard. The bar had been set high.

From zion to vegas

We drove Route 9 through Virgin (of course we shot the sign) and Hurricane to I-15. Helaine hoped our time on twisty mountain roads was over. Not quite yet. There was still the Virgin River Gorge to transverse.

From zion to vegas

The speed limit went from 75 to 65 and finally 55 mph. There were yellow signs, signifying caution, everywhere. Steep grades – yes. Strong crosswinds – of course. Sharp curves – what then?

The mountains were bleached white, sharply formed and perilously close to the roadway. We crossed bridges marked “Virgin River” at least a half dozen times, maybe more.

Helaine gripped whatever she could find and hoped for the best. She helped me down the mountain pushing against the imaginary brake so many right seat drivers subconsciously use. Then, finally, we were out.

Utah gave way to Arizona and then Nevada. The highway settled down to a flat ribbon with desert wasteland on either side. Though Helaine was happy to be on a low straight surface, this was the most boring part of our drive.

We approached Las Vegas from the Downtown side, passed the Stratosphere Tower and got off at Spring Mountain.

We are here and ready to start this very different part of our adventure.

There is one problem. Our room buzzes! I’ve already sent for an engineer, but so far, no help has arrived and the buzz continues.

Let the buffets begin!

Amazing Technology

My friend Farrell is moving from Washington, DC to California. Currently, he’s somewhere close to nowhere – in New Mexico, just east of Gallup. There’s a lot of nothing in New Mexico. Some of it is beautiful nothing, but it’s nothing nonetheless.

Farrell and his wife, Vered, are driving cross country. Maybe I’m getting too old. I don’t hear of friends doing that anymore, as I did when I was in my twenties.

They left DC and headed to Memphis. From there it was off to Amarillo. Who knows how far they’ll get tonight before stopping and resting.

Here’s what makes this so interesting for me. We’ve been talking for much of the trip. Sometimes it’s on the phone. Mostly it’s on Instant Messenger.

Farrell has a Blackberry (aka – Crackberry) permanently affixed to his hip. So far, reception’s been good.

Between the Blackberry and satellite radio in the car, he has all the advantages of travel without the really awful parts – horrendous local radio and no communication.

He’s probably near one of the few places I was ever stopped for speeding. It was on I-40 in Quay County, NM. I was moving from Phoenix to Philadelphia, so 1975 sounds right.

I was stopped for doing 65 mph in a 55 mph zone. Of course, before the ‘gas crisis’ of the early 70s it was a 75 mph zone! Farrell tells me it’s a 75 mph zone again.

This October, Helaine and I will also be driving through New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. My chats with Farrell have further gotten me in the mood.

I’m hoping there’s a statute of limitations, because I’m not sure I paid that speeding ticket.

How Vacations Are Born

We have plans for the fall – to go to Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta. Helaine has been there once. I’ve been there twice. Clicky (my camera) has never been there.

That makes Clicky sad.

Somehow my parents found out and said, “We’ll come too…” until they couldn’t. Something going on with their condo neighbors. I’m not totally up on my Floria happenings.

We were thinking the vacation would be Albuquerque followed by Las Vegas. We could fly to Vegas, or maybe drive. It’s a l-o-n-g drive.

Today, some modifications began to take shape. “What about Monument Valley, I said?” We could drive to Monument Valley in Southern Utah and stretch the one day drive to two.

You might not know Monument Valley, but you’ve seen it. It’s been in a zillion movies with its iconic road driving through the nothingness toward red monoliths rising from the valley’s floor.

Nothingness is the perfect description – Monument Valley is near nothing! If you zoom in far enough on Google maps, you end up with a solid colored background and nothing else.

The closest ‘real’ town is Kayenta, AZ, about a half hour’s drive away. Helaine has already made a reservation in one of their motels.

As long as we were going, she wondered, what about the other scenic stops along the way? If you check out that part of the country, there are many more National Parks and scenic outlooks than people.

We now have reservations in St. George, UT for another night.

What was going to be a point-to-point drive is now going to be two days and three nights through parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, more Arizona and Nevada. To someone raised in a Queens, NY apartment, this part of the country is as foreign as the surface of Mars.

Sometimes a wife indulges her husband. This part of the trip is much more for Geoff than Helaine. It’s not set in stone, and we’re very unsure of where to go and what to see, but it’s all coming together.

Well, at least it is in June.

Blogger’s note: My two photos are “Creative Commons” licensed and come from Flickr.com

The Borgata

The Borgata is a beautiful hotel. It is Las Vegas like. Unfortunately, it’s not in Las Vegas. Looking out my window, seeing the marshes surrounding Atlantic City and the gray, threatening skies, you know it can’t be Las Vegas.

Like the newest of the Vegas Strip hotels, The Borgata has a huge grand entrance. The lobby is bright and oversized, too. I’m surprised by how close the casino is to the common areas. I remember, in the original Atlantic City casino hotels, it was more segregated.

Unlike Nevada, in New Jersey minors cannot walk through the casino.

Our room is on the 35th floor with a view north toward Harrah’s, Trump Marina, and Brigantine. The room itself is very nice with two very comfortable beds. The bathroom has an oversized glass walled stall shower and nicely designed sink. The porcelain stuff is behind a door in a miniature room within the room – if you get my drift.

The common areas, like the hallways, are modern and bright in appearance. The elevator (at least yesterday) had one very strange quirk. At the rear of the car is a video screen. All day yesterday it was playing scenes from “Rear Window,” Hitchcock’s thriller with James Stewart.

We had dinner at Metropolitan, the 24/7 coffee shop. I had a very good, very large bowl of clam chowder. My Chicken Caesar wrap was dry. I didn’t think the actual wrap was particularly tasty.

Helaine and Steffie went to see Rick Springfield at the Music Box. They said his show was great – though they’ve never said otherwise, and probably never will. They were able to finagle their tickets to 2nd row, center.

While they watched, I played poker. Actually, I played twice – before and after dinner. In the early session, playing $6/$12 Hold’em, I won $96. After dinner I won $5. So far, so good.

The players seemed younger than any casino poker room I’d ever played in. This might be as much due to poker on TV than anything else, though I believe Borgata aims for a younger crowd.

The poker room, in a basement area, but nicely designed and appointed, was very computer dependent. That’s really unusual. The lists for each level of game were displayed on huge plasma screen TVs (and, unfortunately, plasma suffers from burn-in). The floor people walked around the room with some sort of wireless PDA and wireless microphones. On the corner of the podium where table sign ups took place were 4 802.11b antennas with the name TELEX in them.

As the night wore on, the disco upstairs opened. As soon as it did the poker room vibrated to the bass line from upstairs. It was really loud. But, other than that, the room was very nice with lots of drink service and decent action.

On a more somber note, while Helaine and Steffie went out for a while this early afternoon, I settled in and took a test in my Radar Meteorology class. Not the way I want to spend a vacation day, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

Economies of (My Bathroom) Scale

When I diet (and as an actual grown-up this has become more frequent), I like to weigh myself. Given my druthers, I’d look at my weight the same way some people watch CNBC.

Eat an almond. Up 2oz. Uh oh. Better be more careful.

Of course, that sort of data flow would be unmanageable and people would look at me as some sort of whack job. Well, more than they already do.

As it is, Helaine thinks I weigh myself too much and hasn’t been shy in telling me.

I no longer weigh myself while she’s trying to sleep.

My biggest problem with the whole thing is our scale. It’s a Health-o-meter HDL-901, if you’re keeping score at home. I have attached a photo from Health-o-meter’s website.

I mention that in case you think there’s a chance I weigh 135.

The problem with the scale is I have to get on three times, at least, for the correct reading. Seriously. The first two times are always low. It could be two pounds (most common error) or as much as 10 pounds.

I get on the first time and the scale is probably thinking, “What would he like to see?” Doubting it, I get off, allow it to reset, and get back on. Same number. Then, in disbelief I’m back on a third time.

Oops – now it’s the right weight… or there’s a new way to put on two pounds in 45 seconds.

In case you’re wondering, the scale is on a solid marble floor. It is in the ‘outer’ bathroom, where it’s not affected by the high moisture content of the shower.

I think it’s under warranty. But, with so much else in life, the warranty really isn’t worth that much. I’d have to pay to ship it to Health-o-meter land, and I’d have to do without the scale while it was gone.

Are you kidding? Not until they pull the scale from my dead, lifeless fingers!

So, for the time being I’ll remain somewhat up-in-the-air over my weight. The good news is, I’ve lost just about everything I gained during the “Fox Family Buffet Tour of Nevada.”

One More Brief Adventure Update

Tonight, while minding my own business, a friend came on IM. Had I gotten the email he had sent me? No.

He had been reading along in my dispute with Adventure Balloons of Las Vegas. He is an attorney, and some of what he saw got him to thinking. He began to read the Nevada law.

As it turns out, the money for the certificates never reverts to Adventure. At some point, prescribed by law, it gets turned over to the state and they send it to me! Hello!

Not only that, this applies to anyone else in a similar situation.

God bless the Internet.

I’ve attached it to the link below

Continue reading “One More Brief Adventure Update”

Hot Air Dispute – II

A few days ago I wrote about Adventure Balloons, who had taken our money but hadn’t taken us ballooning. They say my money is non-refundable.

Very frustrating. What can you do? They’re in Nevada and I’m in Connecticut.

I told Adventure I would complain to ‘the authorities’, and I have. Then, earlier today, I posted on a Las Vegas bulletin board.

At last check my entry had been read by 565 others, and that number will grow. Later this weekend I will post comments elsewhere.

I am trying very hard to be honest in what I say. There is no need to exaggerate. This is a dispute over their business practice. It is up to others to decide whether Adventure’s non-refundable ticket policy is fair or not.

Interestingly enough, after my post on the Las Vegas board, the chief pilot for Adventure gave his side of the story. That was followed by a small chorus of disapproval by other readers.

I still think I’ll get my money back. It’s just a question of how long until it happens – and the ball’s not in my court. But even when I get the money back, I suspect it will be a victory without much satisfaction for anyone.

I Almost Forgot

As always, I’ve been snapping lots of photos here in Las Vegas. Some have been posted to my gallery.

Because this laptop is much slower than usual, I haven’t done the ‘sprucing up’ I’d usually do. So some photos are a little dark, or would look better if they were cropped. I’ll fix it when I get home.

Also, these entries from Nevada have their own blog category, so you can read from the trip’s beginning by clicking here.

It’s All About the Water Pressure

About this time in every vacation, though I say I will keep the blog up, I start to fall a little behind. That’s bad, because I want to stay current. It’s good because it means we’ve been busy.

My sister and brother-in-law remain sort of AWOL on this trip. They have been making sales calls for their business, meaning they haven’t been around. Other than 2 minutes when we first got here, we haven’t seen them. They have been busy with sales calls for their business, which is a good thing – so it’s certainly defensible.

I think I’ve already established that I love this hotel. There are many reasons… well known reasons, and at least one more esoteric reason – water pressure in the shower. I believe every hotel can be fairly judged by the pressure of the shower water and the size of the towels. That’s how Mirage became a 5-star hotel to me.

We had heard about the $12-$13 million rebuild of the buffet, now know as Cravings. This was our night to try it.

I’d been a fan of the original Mirage Buffet, and one night years ago when I saw Steve Winn (then the owner) sitting there with his family, went and told him so. I still like the buffet, but I’m not sure it’s with the same passion.

There is no way to know that this buffet was even built in the same space. There’s nothing left from the position of the food stations to the shape of the room. The dining area itself is immense. The old room was more segmented and split up. This is wide open.

Lighting is diffused and comes in through gold colored louvered fixtures on the ceiling. They’re very pretty.

The food was excellent. There was sushi, shrimp, prime rib, pizza – anything you can think of. And there’s the desert section which has cakes and pies and other baked goods.

After dinner, Helaine, my parents and I went to see David Brenner. He’s playing as the ‘house act’ in the David Brenner Theater at the Westin Hotel on Flamingo. The hotel is low key and subdued which is a weird juxtaposition against the small casino which sits in the center of the entry area. In design, it’s tough to have a casino look right without having over-the-top decorations. That doesn’t necessarily mean garish – though garish usually works.

Brenner was great. Helaine and I had seen him before. He’s very bright, very much in control and confident on stage. He worked a solid hour and a half and had the audience every step of the way.

It’s a small theater, and even then it was less than half full. He made a reference about 100 people, which sounded about right. With promotion and good word of mouth, this guy should be packing them in. It’s a shame. I’d see him again in a second.

We headed back to Mirage and I sat down to play poker. I spent about 5 minutes at $3-$6 until a seat opened up at $6-$12. It was a good table. I recognized one player from earlier trips, and she was doing well. I did well too.

If you’re a poker player you’ll recognize these hands, otherwise feign excitement. I flopped a straight flush and I flopped a full house. The full house didn’t win me much but the straight flush was very nice. I ended up +$162. So, I’m pretty close to even now at poker, which is fine.

This morning, we were supposed to go ballooning over the Nevada desert, but the winds weren’t cooperating. It will have to be rescheduled later. It’s a shame… except for the fact that the phone didn’t ring at 4:00 AM