Things I Heart About Nevada

I got tagged by Karen to write up five things I love about my state, so here goes.

1. Location. Before I came out here, I am pretty sure I thought Las Vegas was in the middle of nowhere. That is so not true. We are within a four hour drive of the California coast (LA, OC, San Diego), AZ (Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona), and southern Utah (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Cedar City). Four hours sounds like a long time to drive, but with most of it freeway driving and the speed limit set at 75 in general, the time goes by pretty quick. A seven hour radius includes Santa Barbara, Lake Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Phoenix/Tempe, and Moab (Canyonlands/Arches). Plus, the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are about half an hour from the house.

2. The weather. At least for a decent part of the year. Sure, summer gets a little monotonously hot, but lucky for us Mt. Charleston is right north of town and is a great place to go cool off on the weekend. Once fall hits and until about April/May, the weather is fantastic. The is almost always shining, meaning the car is never cold, and because of the lack of humidity, temperatures up to even 95 are not that bad. My skin gets dry, but I'd take a tether to lotion any day over the oppressive humidity back East.

3. The scenery. The valley is surrounded by mountains that rise up out of nowhere. Red Rock Canyon is right west of town and has beautiful sandstone and limestone formations. Valley of Fire (about 45 minutes north) is much larger and has stunning red rock formations. And the sky in the desert. You can see so much of it in the wide open. The scenery isn't quite as spectacular as Utah or Arizona, but it's more than you might think.

4. The hours. Going out late is not a problem. It's also easy to go out on a holiday here. It's a 24/7 kind of place -- very different from most places.

5. Entertainment. It's everywhere here. There are shows ranging from comedians to Broadway, to impersonators, to Cirque du Soleil. The Lion King is replacing Mama Mia in Mandalay Bay next year. Of course, the shows do tend to be pricey but there are often ways around the full cost. Plus, there is always local entertainment -- like shows at the Henderson Pavilion -- that is much more reasonably priced.

I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, but consider yourself tagged if you read this and want to play along. :)

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Home

JP and I are FINALLY back in Las Vegas after spending eight days on the East Coast visiting family. It was a very good Christmas week. And we brought my mom back with us.

The flight back was super long -- five hours and twenty minutes. I think it might have ended up being more. There were also a lot of bawling children because, let's face it, no one really wants to be on a plane for five hours late at night. It was a pretty uneventful flight, though, and the portable DVD player definitely helps the time pass.

Mom and I just went to the market and spent an hour stocking up the fridge with food. Tonight we are going to have appetizers and then we are going to go watch from afar the fireworks they shoot off from the casinos.

I am really happy to have my mom here and to have her see Las Vegas when it's not 100+ degrees like it's been all the other times she's visited. Anyway, I'd better go help her cook!

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Drive

Officially a neighborhood:



Every day view:



Sprawl:



The (soon to be) closest gym:



Red Rock Casino:

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Rain

Today was a rainy day in Las Vegas. It is a rare sight, to be sure. It hasn't rained for weeks and before that there was no rain for nearly five months!

It is something I don't take for granted anymore. Even when it is only in the 40s and my nose and hands are like ice cubes, I still open the door and breathe deeply. There is nothing like the scent of rain, especially in a dry valley.

Of course, all logic seems to fly out the window when it rains here, plastered to the earth and gasping for breath. The rain on dry and oil stained roads makes a slick surface, but if the people were to go slower than 55 in a 45, well, that is WORSE than dying. So there are a lot of accidents. Like, for instance, the fifteen accidents making people's 6pm commute home from work absolutely nightmarish right now.

Oh well. I will enjoy my rain while I can and stay as far away from other Las Vegans who have forgotten that in this rain stuff? They still have to exist.

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Last night JP got us free tickets to go see Game Show Spectacular at the Las Vegas Hilton, hosted today by Jamie Farr of M*A*S*H fame. JP had been wanting to go to this for some time, and the timing just happened to work out this time.

I felt fairly uncomfortable because I did not really want to be called up on stage for a game, especially after the first game where they called four women up on stage, asked them their WEIGHT (they had to guess it ALOUD), proceeded to ask the audience whether we thought it was higher or lower, and then proceeded to have them get on a scale. The woman who was closest got the money. I guess the host didn't actually say their real weight aloud, but it was pretty uncomfortable and demeaning nonetheless. I think that some man thought that that would be a funny game (or maybe a woman -- we can be pretty cruel to each other), but I just didn't get it. Especially since one of the women was completely embarrassed when she found out what the game was, even though she had been completely excited moments before in the audience.

The other games they did -- a play on Card Sharks, Name That Tune, The Newly Wed Game, and The Gong Show -- were pretty entertaining, and people were winning hundreds of dollars each game. Fortunately, one of our ticket numbers was called during the last game and JP ran up on stage along with nine other people to guess whether the card the lady assistant lifted would be red or green. He was out in the first round of guesses, but he got a $50 gift card to a store in the Hilton anyway. Just seeing him get called was worth any hesitation I felt.

We went and spent his gift card on a big box of Ethel's Chocolate. Yum!

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Random Observations

1. Wow, I cannot believe I have blogged for a whole 10 days straight. I wasn't sure I had it in me, but I didn't really let myself consider otherwise. When I go for something, I can generally be successful.

2. JP is putting together our new desk as I type. I am glad that he is semi-handy, but not so handy that he never needs my help.

3. It was 84 degrees here yesterday (that is nearly 29 for you advanced metric system people). It has usually cooled off by November, but it is still pool weather for all the Vegas visitors this week.

4. I think people have a general misconception of Vegas weather. It's not warm here year round. It actually gets kind of cold and breezy from late November-March, to the point where you have to wear jackets and wouldn't ever think about swimming outdoors.

It also gets super hot here June-September. We are talking anywhere from 105-117 f (40-47 c). It's especially important to drink plenty of water then and year round really, because we have a very dry climate. The climate means it often feels cooler than the temperature actually is.

Also, the sun shines mercilessly pretty much year round so sunscreen is a must. My pasty white skin does not fair well on its own outdoors here, I must say.

5. I wish we didn't have six dogs living right next to us in three different houses. I am glad that the occupants of two of the houses are good at keeping their dogs quiet, but the third one is not so good and leaves the dog outside with the back door closed for most of the day/night. I think they brought the dog inside last night when it would not stop barking, but last week I heard it whining and yipping all night and I felt really sorry for it. If they keep it outside all the time when it gets cold, I will consider reporting them.

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