Next Door - The Bellagio

The Bellagio is the hotel/casino beside Caesar's Palace.

One thing it is known for is its seasonal displays. This is the registration desk.The conservatory is where they have their main seasonal display.
These lilies were almost neon yellow!The running mill wheel was attractive and gave a nice sound effect.
Ah, the colors!
This piano player was REALLY good. Could have listened for hours!The glass sculptures in the ceiling were stunning.
This troll is overlooking a real 900 pound pumpkin.

This talking tree was especially clever.

Standing at the Bellegio looking across at our hotel. The lines in the fountain pool are tracks for water spouts used for their water shows. We saw part of one of the shows from the bus but haven't hit the right hour yet to see the whole show yet.I tried to be subtle taking her picture but you can get a clue how tall and skinny the heels were.

Cesar's Palace, Our Hotel

Our hotel is one of the original ones in Las Vegas. Ed used to come here on business back in the early 80's and this was the hotel where he stayed and entertained customers.

Our hotel from the Front
We're on the 28th floor in that tallest tower. It's a VIP floor and we even have to use our room key card in the elevator in order to get to our floor.It's a long, long walk from the elevator to our room. That's Ed down at the end coming out of our room.There are people everywhere and this lovely weather is conducive to being out and about!
Margaritaville is right across the street and there are always mobs of people on the sidewalk there, too.

We go over to take care of Pepper in the RV every day and while we're waiting for the valet to bring our humble car, it's fun to see all the different means of transportation. This was a new one to us.....a Hummer limousine!p.s. Ed was so worried about Pepper......when we first get to the RV, she meows like crazy. After about 3 minutes of cuddling, she's all happy and goes back to her sun bath. We left the heating pad in her bed on so he felt better last night.

What a Way to Start the Day!

We called room service last night for our breakfast to be delivered at 9:00 a.m. The doorbell woke us up......for a moment I wished we had set a later time for delivery!

That thought was quickly forgotten when I came from the bedroom to the table area to this scene!

The tie was neat but the tails really put the icing on the cake.
Isn't this just the BEST??

"Click on Photo" Help

It has come to my attention that not everyone noticed or understood the statement, "Click on each photo for a larger version."

1. That means that you put your pointer on a photo and click.

2. That will open up a larger version of the small photo. Wait a moment for it to finish loading.

3. When you're finished viewing it, go the top left corner of your browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer) window and click the arrow that points to the left (the "back" arrow).

That will take you back to the blog.

Livin' THE Life in Las Vegas

You'll never guess what happened! Ed's son, Steve, called our cousin, Rene Angelil (husband of Celine Dion), and arranged an amazing week. We're staying at Caesar's Palace in a penthouse suite for 6 nights!!!

(Click on each photo for a larger view.)

I was wondering and was pleased to discover that there is a Gideon's Bible in the drawer beside the bed.


I enjoyed a nice, long bath this afternoon. It's handy to be able to watch TV while dressing. There's also an alcove with a vanity for make-up in the hallway of the dressing area. Ed has his own bathroom and we share a shower that opens from both sides.

We went to see Cher tonight. (We overheard people inquiring at the concierge's desk and they were told that the only tickets left were $420 each! Ours were about $500 for two tickets.) It was a wonderful show and it's amazing how good a gal my age can look!

We are invited to get chips to participate in the casino side of life and to eat in any restaurants in the hotel. There are about a dozen restaurants here. We can get room service for breakfast and hit 2 different restaurants each day so we can cover them all.

After the show we got something light in this Chinese restaurant. In the entry area there are fish tanks with thousands of goldfish swimming.

The walls gave a very strange, ethereal effect.

Ed, enjoying the good life!Thank you, Steve and Rene Angelil!!!

Nevada = Brown All Around

We left Reno, heading south on US95 on Friday. We drove 234 miles and stopped in the town of Tonopah, which was 6700 feet above sea level. We got the very last RV spot and were most greatful, even though the site was on a hill and behind an old, tired casino/hotel, but, such a deal...only $18 a night!

World's record for us -- Saturday morning we left at 9:30 a.m.!

About 3 miles out of Tonopah, we saw a sign that we were entering Toiyabe National Forest. We drove for miles and didn't see one single tree. Then we started seeing these little stakes, which turned out to be cacti. Somehow, "forest" must have a different definition than I remembered -- I thought forests had trees!
This 400 miles from Reno to Las Vegas took us through an environment that neither of us have ever experienced. It's called the high desert which means that even though the temperatures may rise, it doesn't seem hot.

If I wanted to describe "nothingness that is brown", I would take you through this area. Every time we go over a hill we'd think there'd be something different but it just went on and on.

We passed the Hawthorne Army Depot, which is the largest storage site for ammunition in the world.

There were lots of buildings and some partly underground bunkers. The underground ones probably hold the bombs.

There are NO trees on these mountains.
There are a few towns and they must have phones and electricity. I cannot fathom how much wire it must have taken to get this set up.
Actually, I do like brown and there were many unusual variations.

Bath for the RV - At Last!

We'd been looking for several days for a place to get the RV washed. South of Reno, we found a truck wash. Our rig's been hand washed a few times but never through a washing facility. Another deal - only $35!!

Pepper was dubious about this but she survived just fine.

It looks much better and it's a good thing to get rid of all the salt we'd picked up during the last month on the Oregon coast.

Trip from CA, thru OR, to NV

Mt. Shasta came as a surprise as we were driving from Crescent City, California, through Grant's Pass, Oregon, on our way to Reno, Nevada.

It can be seen up to 100 miles away.Its elevation is 14,162 feet above sea level (Our elevation at home in Virginia is 1,300 feet.)

It is the second highest volcano in the United States and is located at the southern end of the Cascade Mountain Range. The Sierra Nevada mountain range starts south of the Cascades.

We didn't get to go see Mt. Ranier in the northern part of the Cascades, near Portland, so it was a treat to see such a beautiful sight.

We stayed in the city of Mt. Shasta at a KOA campground. This is the second KOA we've tried and the last. The showers had heaters but didn't work -- when the temperature gets down to 37 degrees, you need heat in the shower area! We showered in our coach but after paying a higher price because it was a KOA park, we felt we did NOT get our money's worth. Someone pointed out that they're old and it appears they don't want to spend the bucks to upgrade.

I was amused by these signs. Most of them indicated there could be cows for the next 5 miles. This is because there are cattle still being raised on the open range. Sure enough, there were no fences in those stretches. Who would have thought that would be the case in 2009? The only cattle we saw, however, were inside fences.

In Reno, we stayed in Sparks RV Marina, a new park. It's very nice and level with paved pads, 50 amp service, cable, no trees to block Ed's satellite, and nice showers.

When we drove in I wondered how in the world they kept the grass so perfect -- upon further investigation, I discovered it was astro-turf! It surely makes for a tidy, attractive environment. The next morning, it became obvious that leaves blow from their (real) trees and other debris accumulates overnight. So, it appears that they'll have to vacuum their grass!!

We're getting to the edge of a desert and the scenery is unique....a new experience for both of us.

Picnic in the Park

Tuesday was our last day in Crescent City, CA and I decided I'd like another redwood encounter. We visited redwood groves three days, plus the Trees of Mystery so our necks are almost permanently bent backwards.

We stopped by the local cheese factory and got some very sharp cheddar (aged 5 years), went to Safeway and got a bottle of wine and some French bread, hot from the oven. We went to Simpson Grove, our forest of the day, and had a picnic using a stump for a table.


I had to get a photo of this -- Ed always has a fit about guys who wear their caps backwards. As he was craning to see the trees, he found out there IS sometimes a reason to turn your cap around.

This was a special setting because it was on Walker Road. My dad was Walker May, Jr. and my nephew is Levi Walker May.This is a baby redwood (above). I wonder how long it'll take to "grow up".