Great A.R.T. Part IV: Dam it!

Procrastination is evil. I’ll try not to do it anymore ‘kay? This is a short one.

After we left Vegas we headed to the Hoover Dam. It was a winding and somewhat nervous road. They are building a new bridge that will make it somewhat less windy. It will be cool. I have no good pictures though.

So at the Dam, we opted out of the Dam Tour. We said “lady, you can keep your Dam Tour”. Not really, but I wanted too. Instead we took the Powerplant Tour. Which was still cool.



Did you know that the Hoover Dam is a fallout shelter? I did not see any giant robots though. That was disappointing.


After the tour we walked around on the Dam. It really is very big. Huuuuuge!


There are two of these odd things here. They look very. I’m not sure what word I’m looking for. Monumental? Anyway, you are supposed to rub their toes for luck, so the toes are a bright polished brass color.



So we didn’t hang around very long there. It was very hot. It was time to go through the desert on a horse with no name. Or a car named Isabel.

We stopped when we got to Kingman Arizona on the famous Route 66. We decided this was probably a good place to eat. It certainly was. If you are ever in Kingman Arizona, eat here.



And then we were in the desert again. The funniest part was, when we passed through Yuma, Arizona; which according to Guinness is the “sunniest place on earth”, it was raining. Go figure. That was the most rain we got until we returned to Alberta.



We didn’t see sand dunes though until we got to California. They were cool.

he sang a good song

Ow my head.

I drove to Champion and back today. The family reunion was fun, but my head hurts now. So no continuation today. Maybe tomorrow.

A guy like me doesn't get many dates

Great A.R.T. Part III: Viva Las Vegas!

I should be packing, but I’m gonna try to get this up anyway.
So we were in Vegas. I had booked our room that morning at the Stratosphere and check in wasn’t much of a problem. Finding our room was only slightly complicated. But we did find it. It was an okay room. The view was of a stairwell, but we didn’t come for the view.



We walked down the strip for a bit before we realised that the Strat is pretty far awy from any of the cool hotels. We decided to call it a night. In the morning I got up early and went to the temple. I think that gave me some small measure of protection against the city.

When I got back we decided to use our complimentary tickets to the top of the tower. This is somewhat different from the Calgary tower because the Strat, at 108 stories, is actually alot taller than any of the nearby buildings.


We decided to have lunch while were up there. It was a pretty nice restaurant so I felt a little underdressed, but whatever. The food was good.



We bought tickets to take ‘The Deuce’ around the strip all day. This was important because the temperature in the shade was 110F (43C). But it was a dry heat, which just meant you had to drink alot, and stay indoors as much as possible. I wanted to jump in here, but the water was probably gross. We saw many casinos. Went shopping at a number of places, and ate, I don’t remember where.


So figuring we had to see at least one show while in Vegas, we decided that “the Blue Man Group” was the most interesting. They have Arrested Development at least in part to thank for our decision. The bonus was that the tickets came with admission to the Wax Museum.

That is my Hat on the wax figure of Patrick Stewart. Sonja was excited that she also had that hat on her head.

Ryan Seacrest looked more real than the one on TV. Hmm. And I think Simon really liked me. Look at him – he’s almost smiling.

Blueman Group was awesome. If you ever get a chance – go. I obviously couldn’t take pictures of the show (on threat of ejector seat). But I took this after. I don’t know who that other guy is.

We also tried to catch the free show at Treasure Island. But it was cancelled. Now what happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, but what happened after might be called a mob. And I may have given someone a black eye, and I may have had to jump off a platform to escape. We’ll leave it at that.


We went back to the Strat. To fulfill a promise I fed $1 into a slot machine. It ate it. It was very anticlimactic.


The next morning as we headed out of town, we stopped to look at the rest of the Strip. It was mostly uninteresting.

I’m careless and I’m cruel