Las Vegas Trip Part III: Black Canyon Float

This is the third and final installment of the Las Vegas trip in picture book style.

Somewhere in between these events we went and saw The Lion King Musical. It was a good show and the costumes were impressive.

















On our second to last day we enjoyed a float trip down Black Canyon located directly below the Hoover Dam as seen here. Apparently few people get such a view as this since it is restricted for security reasons and regular boaters can not travel this far up river or they will be shot on site and the waters are patrolled with man-eater sharks :)













If the Hoover Dam is an impressive display of human engineering than this bridge certainly makes the list as well. It will open later this year and will help take an hour or more of time off of those traveling through the area because currently everyone must drive over the dam and it gets very congested. I imagine it will also become a popular bungee-jumping destination.







Here is a couple of Cheesers not knowing what cold water and perils await.














This is our noble and seaworthy vessel used to travel down the canyon.














Here is our fearless captain demonstrating what should be done in the case of emergency. She said the life jackets were not required but anyone could have one if they so wished. Of course no one did because that would be uncool.
















These ducks came to join us while we stopped at a beach to have lunch. They definitely were not shy.













Here is a view from the bow of our ship where the waves crashed over and soaked me to the bone with cool 50 degree water while Dani clung behind me to stay dry. That is my foot in the lower part of the photo.










This was an old gauging station. Some poor fella, I forget his name, had to travel along the steep canyon and then cross it on a little cable with a small platform hanging from the bottom to reach this spot. I hope he got paid well. Of course as our captain said this was during the depression and any job was a good job.














This shows part of the little catwalk he had to go along in order to reach the station. These boards are supported by metal poles anchored into the side of the canyon wall. A tad precarious? Perhaps.










If you look at the man in the very left of this photo you will see how wet he is. For some reason we never took a picture of me after the trip but I was as soaked and numb as this poor man. But, it was worth it and a lot of fun.

This shows a group of foreigners who just sat and talked the entire time in what we think was Portuguese . They didn't even look around at the scenery which was the point of the whole trip. I am not sure why they came except to steal the towels our captain handed out which I believe should have been for the poor fella soaked to the bone and myself. Instead they took the towels and put them around their head and on their legs to protect from the wind or something. Grrr!






Last. We ended our trip with a bang! Here is seen the volcano at Mirage. Dani had never seen it and it had been years since I had. It was fun.

The whole trip was a lot of fun and much thanks goes to my parents for inviting us. Now we just hope I.F. can catch up to the warm weather soon.

Las Vegas Trip Part II: Bass Pro and Red Rock Canyon

Next up we visited the local Vegas Bass Pro Shop. This photo shows only a small portion of all its outdoor glory. Even Dani was impressed and enjoyed the store.

We decided to stop at this shooting range and test our Old West shooting skills. It is now in my top 5 best ways to spend 50 cents along with bouncy balls and Glo-sticks.

Here is Dead-eye Dani hunting for dinner. Good thing we weren't hungry. Just kidding!

Here is Pappy and me releasing our aggression on tin cans, rattlesnakes, and ground squirrels.

Have you heard of the "Rut". If you hunt I imagine you have. If not read this sign. Dani got a kick out of it.


Sure its funny and natural when bull moose do it, but when I try the same thing it suddenly becomes disgusting.

Read this with an accent: Here, the urine coated moose show an impressive display of strength and stench. All the while the female stands by ...

...and here she is. And, what is that? A coy smile on her face. It must be the "intimidation through sheer physical appearance or antler size" the brings such a smile to the young female.

You can stop the accent now. Or not.

Here we see how the human species is enticed by the opposite sex. For the male Homo sapien it is not through the smell of urine that he is enticed, thank goodness, but through a Realtree Camouflage nighty. Ohhh yeah!

When's the next holiday? Fourth of July. Perfect, nothing says Independence Day like Camo-lingerie.

Ever wonder what the last thing a gazelle or zebra or unfortunate safari tourist sees before they die?

This is a mermaid blowing kisses. She was a part of the Silverton Casino which is attached to Bass Pro. She's boring, moving on...

After a fun morning we went to Red Rock Canyon State Park. It was a nice hot day and we were able to see some wildlife. Here is an elusive female big horn sheep stopping to pose for us.

Here is a group of male big horn sheep chasing the previous female. Actually I don't thing they were chasing her. Supposedly it was not breeding season. But, you never know. Throw a little urine behind the horns and she may be whistling a different tune.

Here is some more wildlife posing in front of a petrified sand dune. Who knew?

You could save 15% or more on car insurance by switching to Geico.

Dani was not fond of this little fella, though I was. He let me get real close for a good photo and then scurried away very quickly. This of course sent Dani scurrying towards me for protection which I did not mind.

Stay tuned for the final installment. Las Vegas Trip Part III: Black Canyon Float Trip.

Las Vegas Trip Part I: The Grand Canyon

Last week Dani and I were able to enjoy a vacation with my parents and travel to Las Vegas for some much needed warm weather. Due to the variety of activities and pictures, which centered more on the outdoors than the glittering lights of the city, I have decided to make this post in picture book style and divide it into three parts.

First, we traveled to Grand Canyon National Park. It was a grand day but there was a lot of grand wind as well. Here you can see the true grandness of said canyon. From the Grand North Rim to the Grand South Rim. Isn't it just grand? You can't see it but the grand Colorado River is flowing grandly somewhere down there.

Some have said The Canyon could never be made more grand. We found it was quite easy to improve the landscapes grandeur as seen here.

This little fella is known as Brighty. He is a sculpture of a once very real burro who inhabited the area in years past at Grand Canyon Lodge. I am rubbing his nose because it is supposed to bring good luck as the plaque behind me reads. It is also known as a great way to infect thousands of travelers with swine flu.

Not sure what type of bird this is but he sure was pretty. The next couple of pictures show a sequence of him stealing a potato chip that blew off of our picnic table. (We did not deliberately feed this bird as that is against park policy) Keep the wild wild, so they say.

Here he snatches the chip in his beak and gives a little pose for the cameras, we were beginning to think this was not the first time this "wild" bird had consumed processed food...











...and here he takes off to feast on a very natural diet of vegetable oil fried potato covered in salt. I am sure these can be found in the wild. I believe they come from the Potato Chip Plant Fritos layus.











After a fun but short day at the Canyon of Grandness we headed for Las Vegas. Last for this post is a picture of the Vegas nightlife as seen from our hotel. This is a picture of the new City Center. It is one heck of a hotel/condo/mall with refreshing and hip names such as Aria and Vdara. And this picture only shows about half of it.



More fun and adventure to come in Las Vegas Trip Parts II and III.
Next up: Bass Pro Shop and Red Rock Canyon.

Four Years Baby!

Happy Anniversary to us!!

What's in Your Wallet?

Brandt got me a new purse for Christmas (what I mean by that is I bought it, he wrapped it, and I acted all surprised and excited when I opened it and praised him for his good taste). My old purse always seemed to be overflowing with who knows what, so I figured the solution to that was to buy a bigger purse (duh - Great Scott I'm a genius!!)! And it has been a great purchase, although lately it seems to just keep getting heavier and heavier. So I figured it was time to actually open her up and clean her out. And this is what I found:

Intense! Let's pick these items apart shall we? I'm sure there is a perfectly valid reason for everything in here:

*Apple and carrots. For Thursdays and Fridays when we work straight through with no lunch break (mind you, this particular apple is now verging on rotten and the carrots are so dried out there's no way a human would eat them - they've been in here for over a month). Lovely. Moving on:



*My dental hygiene supplies: an end-tufted brush (for in the future when I get my braces, I'll be all set!); not one, but TWO tubes of toothpaste (you can never have enough toothpaste apparently - although surprisingly, I have no toothbrush in here to apply it with); and lastly FLUORIDE (cherry flavor)!! (just in case I get the tingling that a cavity may be coming on (or I get a craving for cherries), NO WORRIES - I can just shove some fluoride on the tooth and I'll be all set! Phew, emergency diverted!




*The essentials: gum, pills, feminine hygiene products (that sounds so dainty doesn't it?), extra contacts, etc.








*Essentials número dos: lip gloss, lotion, perfume, compact, nail file, and of course Tide to Go...just in case (side note: I actually used to use the Tide frequently when I was at work and I got a blood splatter or pumice on my scrubs...but I've stopped caring about that - pure laziness really - I just throw 'em in the wash when I get home and it's all good; But the Tide to Go really does work in case you're wondering :)




*Wallet, checkbook, change for the bus (just kidding, I don't ride the bus), pens, highlighter for church. This stuff actually makes sense.





*A bunch of receipts, check stubs, and notepads. You can never have too many notepads.








*Broken cell phones. Yeah, they don't work. Why they are still in here is beyond my comprehension.








*Garbage. My purse is a gold mine if you are a raccoon.








Needless to say, I had some cleaning out to do. And the funny thing is, it took less than two minutes to clear out all the junk and my purse feels ten pounds lighter.

So...I'm curious...am I the only pack rat out there?

What's in YOUR wallet?

Dear Kirby...

Welcome to our home! You've been with us for about a month now, and I just wanted to let you know how awesome you are. The salesman didn't lie...you are a MACHINE! I've always thought that someday I would be a proud Kirby owner, but I never thought that day would come so soon. But, being the great bargainers that we are, we were able to talk the Kirby man into giving you to us for a sweet deal. And I'm pretty sure you were worth every penny.

I know it took me a few days to use you, but I ask your forgiveness in that. You see, after listening to the Kirby man for FOUR SOLID HOURS about how wonderful you were, watching him show us how filthy our carpets were (apparently they weren't as clean as we thought when we moved in), negotiating price, and finally forking over the dough, I didn't want to look at you for awhile. Basically I had had enough Kirby to last me awhile. And another reason for not using you sooner, as you know, Brandt has this thing with new toys, and I figured since he used you EVERY SINGLE DAY for a solid week, you deserved a break. So I hope there are no hard feelings. But I've got to admit, when I did finally pull you out of the closet to vacuum, it was an amazing experience, other than the fact that I forgot to put you in 'drive' mode and vacuumed the entire house in 'neutral' (at first I thought you had gained some weight sitting there in the closet, until Brandt pointed out my stupidity, grrrr). My floors are so clean and the Dyson has been cowering in the corner every since (side note: you should become friends with him while you're sitting together in the closet, I think Dyson feels ashamed of himself right now).

I love that you brought a lifetime warranty with you. The Kirby man told us stories about other proud Kirby owners who have had their own Kirby for over 50 years. And I sure hope you plan on sticking with us for that long. You'll fit right in with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, Febreze, and Scentsy.

Thanks again for all of your hard work so far. I have a feeling you and I are going to be great friends!

Sincerely,

Dani

Jon Schmidt Concert

Last week Brandt and I got to see Jon Schmidt in concert. My cousin, Jill, introduced me to his music just last year. For those of you unfamiliar with Schmidt, he is an awesome pianist/composer and describes his style as "New Age Classical." This was one of the funnest things we've done in a long time. He really has an amazing talent at the piano and it was so fun to watch his fingers literally fly across the keys (and he really can play the piano upside down like he's doing in the picture above). Not only that, but he has a great personality and was very entertaining. His parents were in the audience and at one point he brought his dad on stage and had him do a stand-up comedy bit for a few minutes; it was hilarious. After the concert, we waited in line for him to sign our CD and get a picture with him. I was a little bummed it turned out so blurry...but I guess that's what happens when you are crammed in there with the masses trying to get close to him and the teenager we had snapped the picture so fast. Oh well...what do you do.

This concert was Jon's first time playing with a full orchestra (the Teton Chamber Orchestra) and it was so cool. The video below is of him playing "Love Story Meets Viva la Vida;" it's a neat video, but I have to say seeing him perform it live with a full orchestra was AMAZING! He explained that they are still working with Taylor Swift's and Cold Play's labels in order for him to market the song, so in order for him to play it for us legally, he had to stop near the end of "Love Story" and say, "And we will now play 'Viva La Vida' by Coldplay...with a special introduction" and then he kept going. You had to be there, but trust me, it was funny. :)

**On a side note, Brandt found out yesterday that he was accepted to the Master's program at University of Idaho! He's been very nervous waiting to learn his fate, but I just knew he'd get in. Congrats babe! So proud of you!! :)