Grand, Grander, Grandest!!!

Well, let me start by saying that NONE of these pictures were taken by me but are pretty identical to pictures I did take. The reason I couldn't use my own (and some of mine were better!) is that I managed to lose my beloved camera on my sleep deprived arrival in Atlanta. That put quite a damper on an otherwise fantastic 4 day vacation in Las Vegas and the surrounding area!



This is a picture of the snail all done up in flowers in the Conservatory at the Bellagio, my very favorite of all the mega resorts out there on the Strip. The gardens were beautiful with all sorts of huge glass poppies hanging from the top to accent the flowers which were beautiful. The lobby was filled with vases of flowers as well. It was a lovely place!!



This is a picture of the incredible water show that is done every half hour at the Bellagio all day and evening. I was there and had pictures for both day and night -- stunning!! A real high point of the trip for me. This is looking toward the Bellagio (although I never saw this view at night only during the day).


This is the view that I had of the evening show. The Eiffel Tower is across the street at Paris and is beautiful all lit up and as a backdrop for the wonderful light and water show.
This is a duplicate of one of my shots from Hoover Dam looking up at Lake Mead. The white line along the canyon wall (the Black Canyon, by the way) is where the high point of the water was. It is in a severe drought (we saw that when we stayed there last summer) and the water is down more than 100 feet. The water was blue and green in the very foreground. These are two of the intake towers. We took the whole power plant tour as well and walked over the Dam. Beautiful area!!




This is the Grand Canyon at Mathers Point and also a duplicate of a shot I took. After I lost my camera my neighbor said that he was sure a million people had taken my shots as well from the same place which is why I have included these wonderful anonymous shots found on Picasa!

A real highlight of the trip for me was a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon!! I had never been on a helicopter before and it was wonderful -- not the least bit scary. Of course after I signed up I was a bit apprehensive!! What fun!!!

In addition to all the touring we managed to get in a Cirque Du Soleil show (Mystere) which was beyond fantastic!!! We were in the second row and were part of the show several times as the performers come out in the audience. The athletes are beyond belief and the choreography is wonderful. Definitely worth the price!! We also managed to FINALLY see the Bodies show which we just kept missing at several other cities (including Rochester).

Any typos should be blamed on the very little sleep I have gotten in the last 24 hours.