Vegas is weird.

No offense intended if you're from there, I was just on the strip, and it's weird there.

Before I get into that, on the trip I knitted a shetland triangle in worsted weight, Dream in Color Classy in the Embrace the Lace colorway:  Justice.  I don't know if you can see the subtleties here, but it is grey with little hints of purple in it, very pretty.

 

I did 11 pattern repeats and ended up binding off the last 8 stitches on the row below, completely and totally out of yarn.  When this yarn came last week I was in the midst of pondering a shawl for a friend who has an extremely cold office and this is the perfect fix for her.  It is heavy and pretty and it will match everything.

 

 Back to Vegas...have I ever mentioned that I'm claustrophobic?  Not in the extreme, I can generally manage it, but I avoid certain situations - especially when there are crowds involved.  I don't do the mall at Christmas, I don't like amusement parks, I prefer to stay away from anyplace where there is a crowd - I also don't like confined spaces, close places I am unfamiliar with or don't know my way out.  

 

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.  Vegas is crowded, low-ceilinged, loud, smokey, the casinos are maze-like, they intentionally make it hard to find exits, and heaven forbid you be able to see the outside while you are in any of the casinos.  Vegas made me very, very nervous.  On the surface I wonder how long it would take everyone to die from smoke inhalation if there were a fire, underneath that I just felt incredibly unsettled the whole time we were in the buildings.  Sounds fun, no?  Yeah.  I probably won't be going back.

We did see some shows, the Cirque de Soliel Beatles Love show and The Blue Man Group.  We enjoyed both of them quite a bit, so that part was fun.

And I did take a day trip to the Hoover Dam, which was pretty incredible for more than one reason.

There are building a bridge so traffic doesn't go across the top of the dam anymore.  It's HUGE.

 

I took that to prove I was there and these weren't somebody else's pictures.  (DH was at his conference for this part)

The dam is crazy high.

 

And I went to Arizona!

 
Lawyers have been here.

The scale of it is hard to capture in photographs.  We also stopped to see Lake Mead, the lake made by the dam.

It's beautiful, isn't it?  The white line around the edges is approximately 125 ft high, that is how low the water level is.  To stand in Vegas and see fountain show after fountain show...in the dessert...and then to come here and see this, so far below the normal water level...well, it really makes a person wonder.  There is this insane city in the middle of the dessert, built for nothing but entertainment, using heaven only knows how much water a day, and here sits the Colorado River, wasting away, little by little.  It makes me think back to those greek tragedies and the hubris of man.  And it worries me.  A lot.

I did ask the tour guide about the fountains and he told me the hotels recycle their water and acted like I might be a touch crazy for questioning that, but in the dessert in the summer I have a hard time believing they don't lose an awful lot of water to evaporation.  

I'm not an expert in these things and don't play one on tv, but logic tells me that if we turn off the water in Philly in our paltry fountains during a drought, shouldn't the ones in Vegas be off all the time - what with it ALWAYS being a drought there - b/c it's a dessert?     

Worrying about these things makes me feel old.  Also, all those people wandering around and no recycling bins.  None.  Just trash cans.

 

On the way back we saw some big horned rams grazing in a park, I guess they go where the eating is easy!
 

Comments

[Emily]

Very pretty shawl! that color will go with everything, I'm sure your friend will be so grateful!
I agree, Vegas is weird. Once was more than enough for me. check it off the list.

[trek]

Veags: a weird place designed to totally disconnect you from the space-time continuum.

Cirque/Blue Man Group: would love to see either/both live.

Hoover Dam: cool - and your sock matched.

[Jocelyn]

Oh, yes, we should be VERY worried about the water. It's not only Vegas that lives on the water taken from the Colorado -- all of SD does, too, and it's also a desert. Vegas totally freaks me out; I've only driven through it, but had no burning need to get out of my car (in fact, if I recall correctly, I locked the door and drove faster, heh). I'm also with you about the crowds and all (it's why I really don't like Ikea, at all at all). The shawl's gorgeous!

[Heather]

The shawl is really lovely. I am totally jealous of your knitting prowess.

That water thing coupled with the lack of recycling bins would definitely worry me. Actually, would probably freak me out. a lot.
So you aren't the odd one - you are the only sane one!

[Nancyd]

I know exactly what you mean about Vegas. It drove me nuts too--the fact that there were no windows in any of the casinos just freaked me out. I guess they want you to always think it is night and time to gamble. I had even darker thoughts about the fountains. To me, Vegas seems to celebrate all our baser instincts. Needless to say, I will not be going back either.