Click for all our Nevada pictures plus more!
Hoover Dam is just too big not to be cool. What was funny is they we're charging a fee to get in the Visitor Center - that was new for us. Since we had already taken a tour several years ago, we decided to pass this time, but I would certainly recommend it for first timers. It's especially fun to be in there and see it leaking in several places. They are also building the pictured bridge, perhaps to relieve some traffic. It's quite a bit higher than the dam as you can see.
Vegas. Well if you're a gambler, it's the place to be. If you're not, you need to see it once...especially the strip at night. The fountains at the Bellagio and the innards of Caesars Palace were some of our favorites. Some of you may remember they flirted with Vegas as a family destination in their marketing 15 years or so ago. The folks trying to force strip club brochures into your hands takes a bit of the family atmosphere away, though. It was a bit worse this time when we visited the main strip. 15 years ago, I would have told you the casinos (at least on the main, newer strip) tried to keep it classy outside. Now some have fully embraced the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" tagline.
Kids were a rarity, and it should stay that way.
What is so amazing is the massive buildings that were built on money people have lost. When I was a kid, I started a lottery among school kids for a quarter. I wrote a computer program that would select a random number on my brand new TI-99 4A personal computer to select the winner. Yeah, that got nipped in the bud...even though I offered 10% to go toward education like the states supposedly do with their lotteries.
The drive to Sparks is long and lonely, but beautiful. You'll see some pics by clicking on the link at the top. It was on this drive, we almost had our car robbed at a gas station. I saw a youth changing his route from the sidewalk toward our van. He didn't see me until I moved out so he could observe not only my burly, rugged stature, but also my itchy trigger finger near my iPhone holster. He moved back to the sidewalk, and conveniently got into a truck that drove up about 500 ft away.
Hopefully our last brush with crime.
The stories we heard at the Donate Life walk in Sparks were unbelievably touching. Hearing the people that lost loved ones on the waiting list certainly inspired us to keep trying to get people registered. So neat to talk to people wanting so much to solve the problem. Again, that's the frustration - if we could get everyone signed up as an organ donor, the problem goes away...people wouldn't have to die.
We did extensive TV interviews, Sheri giving the best one, only to see a 5 second clip make it on. The kids were bummed their interviews didn't make it.
Overall, Nevada shocked us with its beauty and mountains, and frankly that it's a state that has more than just gambling. Nevada could be so much more in some ways, but I think based on where they put their marketing, they have accepted their lot as the gambling capital of the USA.
Best Hotel: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. As you've heard before...TV in the bathroom. Nuff said.
Worst Hotel: Holiday Inn, Sparks. OK, older TV and plumbing didn't work in our first room.
Best Restaurant: In-N-Out Burger. I know it's a chainy, burger place, but it was my first time...and it was magical. Their fries and burgers ARE better than fast food, plus mysterious Bible verses and a secret menu on the web. How cool is that?
Best Memory: Meeting and talking with other transplant patients at the Donate Life walk in Sparks. It's weird, but you just automatically feel a bond with other other transplant recipients - especially my kidney/pancreas friends.
Worst Memory: While a beautiful drive, there is nothing between Las Vegas and Reno and the place we were forced to stop in Beatty (now affectionately know as "Ugly Beatty") to use the bathroom was frighteningly disgusting.
Mini-Golf Winner: Sheri
Possible state to live in: Probably not
Best Restaurant: In-N-Out Burger. I know it's a chainy, burger place, but it was my first time...and it was magical. Their fries and burgers ARE better than fast food, plus mysterious Bible verses and a secret menu on the web. How cool is that?
Best Memory: Meeting and talking with other transplant patients at the Donate Life walk in Sparks. It's weird, but you just automatically feel a bond with other other transplant recipients - especially my kidney/pancreas friends.
Worst Memory: While a beautiful drive, there is nothing between Las Vegas and Reno and the place we were forced to stop in Beatty (now affectionately know as "Ugly Beatty") to use the bathroom was frighteningly disgusting.
Mini-Golf Winner: Sheri
Possible state to live in: Probably not
-Mike, affectionately known as Dad (or just as rugged and burley)
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