Vegas 2010
We took another trip to Vegas in Feb 2010 ... this time we went completely casual, just jeans and comfortable clothing ... Greg's sister Deb and her husband Norman traveled out from Iowa to meet us, and they joined us on a couple of field trips which accounted for most of the photos we took during the week ...
First, here are some photos taken on the flight into Vegas ... it was a nice day, but it was nearing sunset so the lighting was a bit low ...
Here are some shots from our initial hike in Red Rock Canyon ... a trail called Calico Tanks, which is not considered to be a particularly difficult trail, but was plenty difficult enough for us on this day ... but the view at the top (11th photo, blown up in the 12th photo to better show the city) was definitely worth the effort ... the final photo is of the hikers sticking the dismount (in case you were curious) ...
And here are some pics from the Lost Creek trail, a much shorter hike back into an area with a very cool seasonal waterfall ...
We also took a trip to Hoover Dam to check out the new bridge being built ... quite an impressive project ... the 5th and 6th shots are of workers out in the middle of the span ... the 13th and 14th photos are of the massive "drain" in one of the overflows beside the Dam ... the final shot was taken from a scenic overlook above Lake Mead ...
We took no photos of Vegas proper (except for a video taken downtown, which we may edit and post on youtube), but we figure that there are plenty of photos on-line that are better than any we could take anyway ...
Here are a few notes from the rest of the week (in no particular order):
 | City Center is amazing (although still under construction) ... |
| Downtown is still great fun ... |
| Uncle Angelo's is still our favorite place to eat in Vegas ... (see list below for other places we visited) |
| We attended a Las Vegas Wranglers hockey game and had great fun ... they were down 0-4 after two, scored 30s into the fourth, tied the game in the last couple of minutes and won in a shootout over the Idaho Steelheads (how could they not name that team "The Taters"?) ... |
| We stayed at the Carriage House, which is not a fancy place, but was clean, quiet, confortable, and close to the strip ... we made good use of the whirlpool after our hikes ... chances are good that we will stay there again in the future ... |
| We love Red Rock Canyon ... we will almost certainly go hiking there on future trips as well ... (we didn't go up onto Mt Charleston because it was February, but I'm sure we'll go up there again sometime, especially during the warmer months) ... |
| Greg had a lousy record deciding when to second-guess the GPS this week ... |
Where we ate:
| NY-NY food court - Sunday night |
| Uncle Angelo's (of course) - Monday night |
| Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill - Tuesday night |
| Buffets at Mainstreet Casino downtown (Wednesday night) and the Orleans (Thursday night) |
| Capriotti's (amazing subs) - Friday lunch |
| P.F. Chang's - Friday night |