Viva Las Vegas!

Does Las Vegas, Nevada hold any charms for the person who isn't interested in the gaming tables or slot machines, doesn't drink (alcoholic beverages, that is), isn't interested in securing the services of a prostitute and doesn't want to watch a triple X rated show?  Yes, it does, as a matter of fact!  Brent and I spent a few days in Vegas with Mike and Lucia (my brother and his wife, from Canada) and had an absolutely great time  without indulging in any of the aforementioned vices!  

We spent a great afternoon at the beautiful Las Vegas LDS temple,

enjoyed looking at the glass flower ceiling in the Bellagio hotel, done by the famous glass artist, Chihuly,

explored Red Rock canyon with all of it's colorful and interesting rock formations,

photographed some of the local wildlife (not in the casinos),

 checked out the starkly beautiful desert scenery,

 
 walked across the new Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman memorial bridge and checked out . . .

 this view of Boulder Dam.

 View of the bridge from the dam.

 We enjoyed the beautiful Bellagio fountains.  Water cannons send the water way up in the air in many intricate patterns, synchronized to a variety of different tunes.

We ate brunch almost every day at the local Whole Foods store.  So much great food to choose from.

This was part of a display in a large sun room in the Bellagio hotel.  They change the display for every season.  

As part of the seasonal display, they had a huge "landscape portrait" made entirely of plants and flowers that was modeled after Claude Monet's painting called "Fisherman's Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengeville".  Look at the sky and the clouds . . . they're made of different colored hydrangeas!

They had an art exhibit of various French impressionistic painters, at the Bellagio.  We saw some beautiful
paintings at that exhibit.  The picture, below, is of the largest chocolate fountain in the world!  I can't remember how many hundreds of pounds of chocolate run continually to make this fountain but it's an impressive amount.  This is also at the Bellagio.  We also fit in some shopping at the big outlet stores, went to some great shows (thanks to Mike asking, we were able to see The Jersey Boys from about eight rows, dead center from the front.  I guess in Vegas, all you have to do is ask for an upgrade on your seats and they'll usually accommodate you) and played some wicked games of Hearts.  I actually shot the moon twice in the few days that we were there.  A true miracle.  I loved our time in Las Vegas with Mike and Lucia. Thanks for the invite, you guys.  Til next time . . .