Day . . who knows - they all blend together

OK Where do I begin.

Wednesday we awoke to clouds. This was not unexpected as the local News was all a buzz over a 20% chance of thunderstorms. It was the first thing they were talking about. So when we took that very first peak outside and saw heavy overcast it was not a surprise.

In fact it was ALMOST welcome. 111 degrees is fun for one day in it’s uniqueness but we have been over 95 for 5 days. One day in the low 90's is welcome.

After another great breakfast DJ and I went our separate ways. She went to see the Dolphins Habitat and the White Lions Secret Garden. I went back to O’Sheas to play craps.

Of course the Craps table did not open until 12:00. I called DJ and said I was coming back to the Mirage. As I headed to the front of the casino I saw that it was POURING out. Raining sideways. So I hung out and played Video Poker and won $20 and waited for the rain to stop.

I got a call from DJ saying she was coming over. We met and she said she had some great photos using the Nikon but it stopped working. Upon further investigation it was deemed that the flash card WITH ALL the photos had died. One day too early as I was going to switch cards THE NEXT DAY. Yea - I should have downloaded them on the computer but . . . .I NEVER had a problem before. Lesson learned.

The craps table opened up and I lost $50 before my chips even hit the tray. Cold dice and I didn’t like the guys at the table (Greasy, fat, unsmiling used car salesmen types). We stopped but, were trapped by another storm. This one was big and flooded The Strip.

One cool thing is when it did stop raining you can smell sewer gas everywhere. It stank where ever you went. I guess the sewers are not meant for downpours.

We went back to the Mirage and I found a $5 single deck BJ table. As you know single deck is GREAT. Lost $50.

We then went to the Guggenheim Museum and did a tour of Peter Paul Rubbens. Not my favorite artist but still pretty interesting.

Nothing else to do so we just went for a walk around the strip. A L O N G walk. Each block has to be a quarter mile long. By that time we’re wiped out. After a rest period it was down to Fremont Street.

I tell ya - the area between Downtown Fremont street and the Stip is WAY scary. Pawn shops, sex places, Chapels by the dozens, just not a nice place. Not dangerous but not a place I would feel comfortable walking.

Saw the sites downtown, ate the food drove back. Saw several woman going to “work”.

Then ANOTHER mistake. Left the camera in the car, no photos until we would be leaving.

Got back to the room and DJ crashed. I gave her hurting back a back rub and went down to the casino. Everything was packed with an hour waiting line for poker so I continued my search for a good Video poker machine. Even on the strip there HAS to be one full pay machine. Every casino has at least ONE. I had been looking 2 days now and I FINALLY found it.

All by itself with nobody playing it. I won $60 from that puppy.

Gambling total - DJ down $50, and I lost $10 for the three days.

Thursday was take off day and we said goodbye to the Mirage. REALLY liked the Mirage and will be going back. Oddly it was more tropical then St. John in the Virgin Islands.

We get on the road for hour 4 hour drive to Sedona.

If anybody ever wants to move to Las Vegas . . don’t. Move to Henderson nearby. Much better place. Still - I would not move to the area. It lacks the color green. Honestly, if you grow up with green grass and green trees, you will miss it. Brown, dusty, like a desert (which it is). Do you really want to live in a desert?

Went over Boulder Dam. Most people call it Hoover Dam but you will never hear anybody that worked on it call it Hoover. Nobody liked that name but, he was the President and liked the sound of Hoover. The workers HATE Hoover.

You really can not see it that well when you are driving across it. They were filming a movie in the middle so it was pretty slow going. What I found amazing is what they are building over the Dam. About 200 feet ABOVE the Dam they are building a four lane highway. You can see the partially build legs of the bridge in the upper left area.

This is going to be amazingly high above the water. Another thing to note in the photo is the high water line. You can see it in the rocks and a little on the side of the dam.

Then once we were over the dam we on the way to Sedona.

Thunderstorms with cloud to ground lightning were every where. I bet we saw 15 and the photo is of a big storm. We were next to Route 66 in Seligman when everybody was pulling off the road and taking cover at an A&W. I took this photo on the fly. I ran out of the car with tumble weeds rolling across the road with 30 mph winds. Took the photo and ran inside. It was much darker but the camera compensated.

Then we took off again and the scenery changed from rocks to pine trees. Took a right at Flagstaff and drove into the Oak Creek Canyon.

I have to say that this trip is sort of numbing us to beauty. What would have been awe inspiring 6 days ago is now . . pretty. NOT complaining but TO MUCH BEAUTY.

This photo is on top of the Canyon and you can see the road on the left as we snake down to the bottom. The road on the lower left is NOT the bottom as you travel another 10 miles going down hill.

We emerge from the Canyon into red rock land of Sedona.

I have one photo and we’re going on a jeep tour on Friday along with renewing our vows in front of the worlds #1 most professionally photographed object. Cathedral Rock.

That’s it for now. We found a laundry THANK GOD. The temp is going to be 92 so it will be somewhat cool.

More photos tomorrow.

Rod and DJ.