Like spectacular, only better.
Archive for 11th August 2008
It is so hot here in Las Vegas. At 5pm is was 107 degrees and now at nearly midnight it isn’t much cooler.
I took the soft top of the Jeep down and took the doors off to try to cool things down, but driving provides no relief, it simply moves the hot air all around us.
Well, maybe that wording is a bit strong.
I travel to Las Vegas every spring for a trade show, and every year I’m horrified by all the parents who bring their kids there, especially those carting their exhausted kids around the casino floor at 10pm and later.
So here we are, taking Sarah Michael to dinner at the Mexican restaurant inside New York New York that Jessie and I both like, then walking to see the fountain show at the Bellagio, then walking to see the lions in MGM, me carrying SM because she’s tired from walking so far.
I have some mixed feelings about this.
I read once in Memoirs of a Geisha that some souls are made of water, some are made of wood and some are made of fire. I have always believed I am of the water sort as I am called to water.
Today as we drove through Yosemite and saw the devastation of the recent wildfires I sat in awe. It is truly amazing to see what fire can do to a forest. I have seen the after effects of wildfires but none so shortly after they have happened. As I sat watching out the window you could see where the airplanes had dropped their “red-water” it was still on the dirt. You could see where the fire crews had shoveled trenches to make their fire lines. In some cases you could actually see where it worked and where it did not. Through the burnt trees you could see where those same fire crews had chopped down various trees to try and stop the fire from spreading. I tell you what between those aircrews and the ground crews they saved a whole lot of that park.
Another thing I find absolutely amazing is what the fire itself does. I saw trees that were blacked on the front side and brown on the the back side. There were complete chunks of forest that were scorched along the bottom so all the undergrowth and the bottoms of the trees were gone but the tops of the trees were fine. Then just a ways down you would see patches where one tree would be completely gone but the trees next to it were fine. Then you would get to really steep rocky terrain areas where it must of been torture to fight the fires because everything was burnt and the trees looked like burnt out Cuban cigars poking out of the ground.
I looked desperately for animals through all of this. Because there may be portions of forest missing but there is still lots of forest still there. I saw none. I mean there were these beautiful rock cliffs that were just begging for a mountain goat… but nothing. Gorgeous Rivers running through meadows that needed Elk or Bear or something… but nothing. So I came to the conclusion that I was either looking and wanting it too much or they are still WAY to traumatized and in therapy somewhere way back in the woods.
So Thank you to those whose souls are called to wood and fire for saving a most awe inspiring place such as Yosemite.
I know what you’re asking “Why on earth would you take your five year old daughter to Las Vegas?”
The answer is as simple as it is obvious: Gambling
Actually, the answer is Cirque du Soleil.
Back in May Jessie, Sarah Michael and I went and saw Corteo performed in Redmond and Sarah Michael loved it. At the time we were putting together ideas for this trip, so we decided come to Las Vegas and see Mystere. We wanted to see O but they’re off this week.
We spent today trying to stay cool. The thermometer in the backyard of our friends’ Henderson house says 104 degrees, so we played in the pool and relaxed in the air conditioned house.
Thank you so much Eric and Chrissy for letting us stay, this is wonderful!
I remember when I was a boy taking long trips in the car and my parents taking turns to drive all night. This way us kids would awake to find ourselves already at the destination. While taxing, I’m sure it saved my parents from hours of “When are we going to be there?!”
So in an effort to pay homage to my parents’ sacrifice, as well as to take my turn continuing the proud tradition, I drove into the night.
In another homage to olden times, Jessie and I consulted our atlas and debated the various possible routes to Vegas. No matter which way we went it was too late to stop into a town for dinner, Sarah Michael was about to go to bed anyway, so we agreed to just follow the instructions from the GPS navigation system: US 395 south to Hwy 168 to Hwy 266 to US 95.
This was going fine, but I was a little bit concerned when Hwy 168 turned off from US 395 and was only two lanes, I worried it might be an old route, perhaps windy and slow. But the GPS said this was the fastest route, and the GPS knows, right?
Check this out:
Can’t be bothered? Here’s a boring static view.
I crawled over slowly up the pass and watched as my Henderson ETA went from 2am towards 2:30 and finally past 3am. Why is this so slow I kept asking? Why is the GPS so wrong?
“Oh well” was all I could say to myself in reply.
At one point I needed to stop for a scherdling when I was on a very straight, very flat, very dark section. I got out of the car, didn’t turn off the engine just in case it wouldn’t restart (not that it wouldn’t start, but this was one of those places on earth where you wouldn’t want to take the chance) but did turn off the lights. The valley was slightly illuminated by the moon and it was beautiful. There were so many stars in the sky. It was neat. View the approximate spot by opening this file in Google Earth, rotate around so you can see all sides of the valley. Then pee. That’s the experience.
As I approached the right turn onto Hwy 266 I saw emergency lights traveling south on 266. A few miles later, around midnight, I caught up with the emergency vehicles. The highway was essentially closed by a serious accident. Apparently the driver of a south-bound car fell asleep and crossed the center line running into the trailer wheels of a north-bound semi truck.
The driver was alive, though I don’t know how injured she was. They used the jaws of life to open the vehicle up and they brought her out on a rigid board then put her in an ambulance.
Turns out this section of road had a very side shoulder so we were able to get by the accident and proceed. Though I didn’t go on much further. Perhaps partly because of seeing such dramatic evidence of what driving tired can lead to, but also I know because I was getting bored, I found a good spot beside the highway to pull over and go to sleep.
I awoke about the same time as the sun and took the picture to the right. The desert is beautiful in the morning. The sky has pretty colors, it is quiet, the sun has not yet heated to air to become lethal.
Speaking of lethal, one of the things we passed was Creech Air Force Base, one of the places where pilots command drone aircraft that fly over Iraq and Afghanistan. I had the thought to stop and ask the guard at the gate if we could come have a tour, but I imagined he would not have taken kindly to the offer.
I wanted to give the Garmin GPS device a chance to redeem itself, so I when we arrived in Las Vegas asked it if there were any attractions in the area and it suggested the Neon Museum.
Turns out the Neon Museum doesn’t actually exist yet, but the boneyard is there. I peered through the fencing surrounding the old signs and snapped a few pictures.
Then we finished the drive to our friends Eric and Chrissy’s house in Henderson where we will spend the next two nights.
