Today was one of the "points" of making this whole trip. Some years ago, Jody had come to...somewhere out here...and had gone into the desert, found a place that sold Indian-made turquoise jewelry, found a few pieces she liked...but didn't buy any. Years later, she regretted her decision. So on this trip, she hoped to make a similar journey, but this time...find something she liked and buy it.
So we packed into the van and headed into the desert on a Russell trip.
We left via the west side of Vegas, drove north, then turned and headed into the Valley of Fire state park.
This is a very nice park filled with, well.....desert. Miles and miles of desert. The girls were OK with it, but a little bored after the first, oh, 750 miles of sand, sand, sand, and more sand. Russ was captivated. Damian less so. Garry, even less so...
Our first stop in the park was the "beehives," clumps of...get ready for it...rock....that looked like beehives. We got out to snap a few pics.
Russ snapped a few hundred pics. Every clump, from every conceivable angle. He stood on tippy-toe, he crouched down, he...
...Hey! Garry! Get off the scenery!
Back in the car, our next stop was the petrified logs.
<snark on> Ooooo...fascinating...<snark off>
Then we found the visitor's center, conveniently located amid a bunch more rocks and...
Hey...Maggie! Get off the scenery!
More driving, more stops. Eventually we arrived at "Elephant Rock." A rock formation that looks exactly like an elephant.
...um yea. I don't see it either.
Ok...so I'm grousing a bit. But the girls liked seeing the desert and Russ adored it, so it wasn't all bad. They enjoyed it and that's what mattered.
We then left the park and headed toward Hoover Dam. It was only 46 miles away...but seemed to be about 746 due to being stuck behind a boat (in the desert?) with no driver....
Eventually we arrived at the dam.
The outside air was a pleasant temperature...
(BTW, yes, the "dam" jokes were prolific at this location...) We had our "dam" lunch at a cute little "dam" cafe. Russ and the girls went on the "dam" tour, while Garry and I took a "dam" nap in the "dam" van in the "dam" parking lot.
Eventually they came back to the van and we left the "dam" dam and headed back to Vegas. We drove through a little town and saw a sign for "Authentic Indian Jewelry" so pulled in. The girls shopped and Jody found a very nice piece that she loved and bought. The smile was worth the trip. Maggie also found a treasure, and Garry picked up a couple of items for his folks.
Finally we returned to Vegas down the east side, which was only 21 miles. We went to Harrah's where we had tickets for a dinner buffet and a show.
We went to the buffet and everyone ate heartily. Then, with a couple of hours before the show we decided to walk across the street to the Venetian.
As we crossed the outside canals, we passed the entrance to Madam's Trousseau's (spelling?) Wax Museum. Outside, they had statues of Whoopie Goldberg and Harrison Ford and....
Hey! Jody! Get off the scenery!
We walked through the Venetian and the girls were entranced with the idea of canals--complete with gondola ride--on the third floor oof a building!
Then on the way back to Harrah's for show, a giggle-fest occurred...
Jody had gone to the bathroom and on the way out saw a bunch of cutsey-girls all checking out their heinies in the mirrors. One after the other, they all checked. So Jody did too...
...then she asked what they were looking for...
She found out they were checking for panty-lines. She came out and told us. "I've never checked out my behind before, but everyone else was looking at their's so I figured, I'd better do it too!" Hilarity ensued.
We looked at our clocks and found it time for the Mirage volcano to erupt, so we camped out at the balcony and watched.
Even though it's a fountain it does a pretty good job of simulating a volcano and lava...
Mirage Volcano from Damian Hart on Vimeo.
It was a good show. The girls had a good time. Afterward, they posed with Elvis. He asked where they were from and they told him "West Plains, MO". They were rather startled when he said, "Oh yea, I know that place. I'm from Lee's Summit, MO!
We retreated to the room. The girls hit the hottub to soak their legs.
The night was done.
