A whirlwind trip

Beth attended a conference last week in Las Vegas, NV and I decided to tag along for the ride. The main reason that I wanted to go was to visit with my sister over in Los Alamos, NM, but I’ve also never been to Vegas and was more than a bit curious to see this infamous city.

Beth and I are not much into gambling, usually setting a $100 limit - which, just as usually, is gone in the first hour. I think that this time around I kept my losses to under $50 and the time with my ass in a chair at less than an hour. I spent most of my time in Vegas out walking around and checking out the various themed casinos.

New York, New York

Paris

Caesar's Palace

Luxor

You get the idea, so here is a final picture to put it all into perspective.

The Strip

As anyone who knows the slightest thing about me, you can imagine how quickly I became bored with this scene. The individual casinos were pretty well done and kind of interesting to explore, but the overall vibe was not at all for me.

So on day two I rented a car and headed into the surrounding desert for some sight seeing. It was a beautiful day and I found some great hiking in the mountains and canyons of nearby Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It was a lot different than pancake flat and grassy green Holland. On my two hour hike, I saw...

...funky plants

...funky rocks

....and funky petroglyphs

...on my way up a narrow box canyon to this spectacular payoff view.

I also did a side trip over to Hoover dam. It was worth a quick stop to see what makes all the Vegas thing possible in this barren landscape. It was impossible to capture the scale of this dam and this photo does not do it justice. Those are cars at the bottom…it was freaking enormous!

Hoover Dam

Beth had the last night in Vegas off so we caught a show over at Mandaly Bay. We have been wanting to see Mama Mia for some time now so we were glad to see that the production was in town. It was a great show!

We then headed over to New Mexico, via Los Angeles, to visit with my sister. They have been hammered with snow this year, giving the desert and mountains a beautiful blanket of white.

Los Alamos with ski hill in background.

High desert canyon.

Our hosts...Sue, Tom and Sydney

For Beth, the biggest attraction was the massage chair that Tom had. Look at that book vibrate!

Overall a great trip! But as always, it’s good to be back home in Holland.

Espania

Our good friends Frank, Natasja, Eva, and Rosie invited us for a short New Year's holiday in Spain to help break up the long, dark winter here in Holland.

.

From the uncrowded beaches of Oliva....

...to the concrete jungle of Benidorm, we had nothing but warm sunny days of relaxation.

One day on the way to the beach near Denia to walk Rosie, we stopped at this colorful roadside fruit stand run by the local Gypsie clan. We were all a bit afraid to get out of the car and take a photo without buying anything, but Frank stayed behind the wheel in case we needed a quick escape while Natasja and I jumped out for the photo's. We all came away unscathed and apparently uncursed...we'll have to wait a while to be sure.

Enjoying the Balcon del Mediterraneo in Benidorm. Sunset, sepia, and wine...does it get any better?

Busy shopping street in the old quarter of Benidorm.

Beth and I also spent a day in Valencia. It is Spain's third largest city and has a great combination of old and new architecture. The oranges were ripe...and delicious!

The main square of old Valencia.

Exploring one of the many shops around the central market in Valencia. I didn't realize until we got home that I didn't get any pictures of the market itself which is a real shame because the covered markets of Spanish cities are some of our favorites to explore. They carry just about any sort of fresh produce that you can imagine, from whole pig's heads to fresh truffels. A truly unique experience!



Modern Valencia was also very cool. They have diverted the main river that used to run through the city and use the old river bed as a massive green belt park. It is awsome! They are building a whole series of new museums, aquariums, concert halls, and entertainment venues on the edges of the park. It gives the city a perfect blend of old and new.



We thought that Katie and Jody would enjoy this picture. It's a giant playground in the middle of the park. We were very tempted to go down and test out some of the slides for ourselves, but there was a park attendant to keep the skateboarders out and we weren't sure how well two old-fart American tourists would be accepted playing amongst the Spanish children.


No post seems complete without a look at the local dog culture. In Spain, it's not so good. I won't comment on the way the Spanish treat animals (I guess I just did), but this guy seemed to be enjoying his time out on the terrace near the beach at Valencia.

A quiet pennisula near Cullera...

...where we enjoyed another quiet sunset.


Wishing everyone the best in 2007! Stay in front of each and every day. Keep it fun and never forget that with life, there is no free trial!


Cheers - Dan and Beth