I love Vegas for the bright lights and the shows but will admit that I am no gambler, betting only $5 last year and increasing my loss by 100% to $10 this year.
That probably makes me the last person casino owners in Vegas want to see in their establishments!
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| The cast of the excellent variety show we say this year |
It was a small but pleasant gathering which included my grandson's mom, aunt, and his other grandma, who happens to be one of the greatest cooks of delicious Jamaican food that we can give thanks for.
Coincidentally, my daughter-in-law's birthday fell on Thanksgiving day this year too, so she got the opportunity to cut a cake with her son, who she does not see often enough, as he lives in Florida and she in New York.
My daughter-in-law shares my love of travel so every opportunity we get, we tour together.
One of the places I wanted to visit this year as we were only five hours away, was Los Angeles, a place I have not been to, for at least eighteen years.
I must admit that the week before we traveled to Vegas, we were both a bit concerned about the number of huge fires there, that were being widely reported in the media. In fact, if you followed the reports, you could easily get the impression that the entire place was burning down to the ground.
This news easily confused people into forgetting that Los Angeles is not only a city but also a county of over four thousand square miles in which there are in excess of 85 cities with a population of over eleven million people.
In other words, Los Angles is gigantic so it is highly unlikely that we would have gone into the fire zones anyway!
However, the huge fires were under control before we arrived in Vegas so all cause for irrational nervousness had dissipated from before Thanksgiving, so off we went.
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| Sun glowing on a huge boulder atop a section of Red Rock |
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| Hiking at Red Rock |
This is the driest desert in North America, and one of the sunniest places in the western hemisphere so I was not surprised to see two gigantic solar farms on the way.
I must have driven through that same area some forty years ago while traveling the same route, but I remembered nothing.
On leaving Nevada, I recognized sections of Red Rock though, as it is a national park in Nevada where we hiked only last year.
This time, I was really fascinated by the large sizes and shapes of the numerous sand dunes which dominate the landscape, once we passed the town of Primm, which straddles the border of California and Nevada.
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| Huge sand dunes in the desert |
Once in L.A, of course, the first place we headed for was Hollywood Blvd. This is where you find the Walk of Fame which has brass stars embedded into the sidewalk, honoring actors/actresses, directors, musicians and other persons involved in the entertainment industry.
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| A scenic section of the Mohave desert |
I must admit I was not as impressed as I was when I first saw it some forty years ago. Then the awardees were few and far between but now it appears that everyone gets a star, for instead of the stares only being engraved in the previously designated area, now the so-called walk of fame has been extended into several other streets.
With so many persons getting "stars," in my estimation, it has now lost its meaningfulness!
As I normally do, when I arrive in a big city, I get on the Hop on Hop off bus which I find provides a world of information, so when I only have short touring time, I can easily figure out where I want to visit.
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| A "bride" scene being shot on Hollywood Blvd. |
Once on the bus, I really did not see much in downtown L.A. that I wanted to inspect in greater detail apart from the world famous La Brae Tar Pits.
We got off there and it was really fascinating, a visit I would recommend to all who visit Los Angeles.
It is located in the middle of a highly populated area where natural asphalt continues to seep up from deep down in the ground to the surface, as it has done for thousands of years.
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| Replica of saber-toothed sloth in background |
This film graphically traces how many of the huge animals that roamed the earth during the Ice Age, (some 30,000 years ago,) were snared and died a terrible death, long before climate change brought the ice age to an end and totally eliminated them.
Apparently, many of these poor animals were fooled by the glare of the tar, into thinking the ponds had water, so they ventured in, only to be trapped for life.
Their bones are constantly being recovered, identified, scarped and put together, to display for the edification of modern man, which animals roamed that vicinity during that period.
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| A display of different types of street lights is at the entrance of the Art Museum |
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| The attractive automotive museum |
Even if you don't like cars as much as I do, the striking architecture of the museum will really drag you inside!
Of course, you cannot visit this region of the United States without going to Grand Canyon in nearby Arizona. This is somewhere I had visited twice before but it will always be a drawing card for me as the scenery is so awesome.
Although I knew beforehand that it was a long five-hour drive from Vegas to the canyon, I did not anticipate that some of my passengers would have wanted to detour to the huge gravity-fed Hoover Dam, the largest reservoir in the US, which is located at the border of Nevada and Arizona.
I, therefore, ended up driving for seven hours! It was, however, worth it.
Although the Hoover Dam project started in the '30s, in the early seventies when I was touring the region while driving from Toronto, Ontario to Panama, I did hear that this mammoth engineering project was still being expanded, so never visited it then.
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| A mammoth engineering feat |
Two years ago, however, while being in Vegas for Thanksgiving, we took a tour-bus there but it was still worth another visit.
The lines were long getting there but we had no regrets about taking the detour even though it meant reaching Grand Canyon only shortly before sunset.
As we moved slowly in the line to enter this wonderful Grand Canyon National Park, my grandson spied a herd of Alpaca.
These are native to Peru and I was certainly surprised to see them roaming freely in Arizona and gravely disappointed that being in a long line across the road, was unable to get any photos of these gentle animals.
Because nightfall was rapidly approaching by the time we parked, we did not get to tour the canyon as much as I would have wished, but I certainly didn't mind too much as it was freezing!
Got enough beautiful photos to share with you though, so here they are below.
