Last week we went to Vegas for a mini vacation. We left
early Thursday morning and went to the Hoover Dam where we met up with my twin
sister’s family. I haven’t been to the dam since before the bridge was built,
back in 2005. When we got there around 12:30 it was already 106 outside. By the
end of the tour it was pushing 112. Needless to say we didn’t get to take the
extended tour. We went into the power station, walked from the Nevada side to
the Arizona side, then left and drove over to the bridge. The water is
extremely low right now.
Last time I went it was low but now it’s even lower. I think
they said it’s now 68 feet below average and you can see the white line across
the lake. A couple years ago there was an article posted about how the water
was dropping so fast that they would stop producing electricity there by 2015
and then they got 30 feet of water in the winter of 2011. I read an article
criticizing this article and pointing out the fact that they have had worse
droughts, longer droughts in the past, and then after these droughts the
spillways overflowed in 1983. Just goes to show, global warming isn’t a lie,
weather isn’t consistent, scientists don’t know the future. Anyways, enough of
the political rant.
After the dam we went over to Jeff’s cousin’s house and then
we stayed with my sister in law just South East of Vegas. The next day we had a
really late start to our day and we went to a really expensive buffet at the M
Casino. It sucked. I could have gone to Texas Brazil for what I spent at this
place and I wouldn’t have had to wait nearly two hours to get in.
After spending two hours at the buffet trying to get our
money’s worth we finally hit the strip. We parked at the Venetian and started
to walk. The temperature peaked around 115 this day but the sun was going down
so it wasn’t so bad. We decided we would tackle everything north of the
Venetian and head to the Stratosphere. I had never been there before. This is
when we learned that my sister in law is really bad at gauging time. A 20
minute walk turned into nearly 2 hours, with stops of course. After a two hour
walk we got to the Stratosphere and got to experience the frustration of trying
to follow poorly marked signs to get to the top. I think it took 6 different
elevators to get there because we kept being told to get on the wrong one.
At the top we took a couple pictures and then went to the
rides. Natalie and Jasmine went on their own while I rode on the “Big Shot”,
the tower that shoots you up at the top. I was expecting it to be a lot
scarier. I really wasn’t that impressed, especially for the price. Supreme
Scream at Knott’s Berry Farm is a lot faster and scarier.
By the time we were done and got back out of the
Stratosphere it was late. Probably pushing 10:30, so we decided to take a bus
back. Right next to the bus stop there was a guy begging for money. When people
gave him money instead of saying thank you he would reply “You got a 20?” I
started laughing and said out loud, “This guy has some balls”. Guess who ended
up next to us on the bus?
The next day we went to Lake Mead. This was supposed to be a
record breaking day for heat. Forecast for Willow Beach, 121 degrees. I don’t
know what the max was where we were at but it did break 120 that afternoon on
the lake. Vegas was supposed to tie their all time high of 117, which they did.
Needless to say it was hell getting all our stuff to the boat. The water wasn’t
cold but it defiantly provided relief. We spent a couple hours tubing and then
I decided to water ski. Keep in mind it’s been close to 15 years since I last
water skied. I remember when I was a teenager I got up and water skied Lake
Perris for close to an hour straight. I was expecting the same thing today.
Haha. It took a couple tries to get up. At first Jeff wasn’t giving the boat
enough gas. It took 4-5 tries until he finally just hit it as hard as he could
and I got up and by that time I was already getting tired. I had a little fun
trying to make rooster tails and after probably only 5-10 minutes I learned
that I’m not 16 anymore. I go to the gym, I do my cardio, I’m in pretty decent
shape but after maybe 30 minutes, including all the tiring failed attempts, wipe
outs, and getting back up, I was pretty tired and had to let go of the rope. I
came to the conclusion that when I was 16 I was super human.
We parked the boat on the beach for a while and everyone had
lunch. I don’t like to eat in the heat though(heat is an appetite suppressant
for me) so I took a up the dunes to
where the shoreline used to be. I found an old boat that was full of rocks.
Looks like someone tried to sink it but I couldn’t find a body in it. After 15
minutes of walking in sandals with burning sand hitting the tops of my feet I
headed back to the beach. I took one more attempt at water skiing before we
heading back to the docks.
I would regret the water skiing the next week. I should have
picked the knee board. Monday-Wednesday I could hardly walk my legs were so
sore. The good news is that my back survived though, something that I often
worry about since I’m changing careers and going to have to go to a pretty
intense 4 month training soon and if I don’t survive I’m out of a job. This gives
me hope.
After leaving the lake we had dinner at my twin’s timeshare
and then hit the strip again. We took the kids to see the water show at the
Belagio and then to the Mirage to see the volcano. The walk down the strip
wasn’t fun. It wasn’t the 111 degrees at 9PM that was annoying, it was all the
porn on the sidewalks and trying to keep the kids from looking at it. By the
time we got to the Mirage Adri was pretty tired, sitting on my shoulders, and putting her head on mine.
Twice she jumped up scared during the volcano show but I think she really liked
the show.
The next day would be our last day in Vegas. We met up in
the early afternoon, parked at the Excaliber, and walked to the M&M store.
It was 117, a tie record for hottest day in Vegas, and it felt like it. We
spent an hour or so in the M&M store and the souvenir shop next to it and
then headed back around 5. By then the heat didn’t seem as bad, probably the
same temperature but lower sun.
I took two of my nieces back with me to Arizona. About 30 minutes
south of the dam I had to hit the brakes because everyone in front of me
stopped. I looked over and there was a flipped car and it looked like someone
got ejected. There was about a dozen cars already pulled over, people looking
in the car, and others running away from it. I decided that since so many
people already stopped there was no need for me to. Plus the people running
away from the car made me think maybe it was going to explode. Twenty minutes
later I looked in my rear view mirror and saw smoke. I don’t know if it was
from that car but it’s a possibility.
The drive back sucks. Slow, dark, winding roads for five
hours. We passed two fires on the way back. Both were big but not anything that
seemed overly impressive to me being how I grew up in SoCal and the fires in
2003 were massive. The next morning I heard that 19 firefighters died that
night fighting the second one we passed, the Yarnell fire, which was the most
firefighters lost in an incident since 9-11 and the most lost from a fire in over
80 years. We got back late, around 11, and I went to bed at 12. I had to be up
at 3 the next morning for work. Work hard, play harder. That has been my life
since moving to Arizona. Working 50 hour weeks, leaving the state for long
weekends, and getting home three hours before work.
About 20 minutes before we got to the Hoover Dam.
Adriana stretching out over two states.
This girl was drunk off her butt walking down the strip. My brother in law got her to take a picture with him, with her knee up to his chest.
At the top of the Stratosphere.
Wipeout
This was at the Mirage. Being that tired it's no surprised the volcano explosions scared her twice.
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