Can you guess where we are? Yep. We are in Las Vegas. Greg has a tax conference that started yesterday and goes through tomorrow morning. I tagged along. Here's just about everything I've seen. :-)
Our room is on the 35 floor. The elevator moves so fast, I feel the need for a safety harness - you know like "Tower of Terror"! It kind of makes me dizzy. (the elevator ride not the view)
This is a sculpture made from canoes and row boats - by Nancy Rubins.
Dizzyingly tall buildings.
This is an all chocolate display. The dragon stands as tall as me.
There is a tram there to the middle right. The tram is free and goes between The Monte Carlo, Aria, and Bellagio hotels.
I rode back and forth and spent some time at the Bellagio. It's a hoppin' place - lots of people, crowded even. But fun things to see including this chocolate fountain. The Largest Chocolate Fountain in the world!
Bellagio has a Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Right now they are celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Pretty mosaic floors.
Good Fortune.
This money tree seems appropriate for Las Vegas but read the sign - not sure it really jives with the Las Vegas vibe.
This ceiling is covered in Chihuly glass work.
Fountains of Bellagio - cue "The Star-Spangled Banner"
People coming and going - it was like a very well orchestrated traffic jam - cars arriving on the right, cars leaving on the left. I've never seen so many taxis and limos in one place.
Some of the limos have artists' names for vanity plates.
The window in our room is dirty but looking at that window washer up there I'm thinking it is OK.
That chair is the shape of a bird - not a great shot but I did sit there for awhile and just watch cars and people pass. The water feature behind is very wide and the water changes flow and runs over a textured surface - the sound reminded me of the tide.
One of Greg's co-workers, Matt, is at the conference as well.
Dinner was at Tetsu teppan grill - dinner was prepared in front of us.
The chef squirted down these lines of some sort of batter (looked like pancake batter to us) to keep the various oils from mixing. When he finished different dishes he'd scrape off the batter.
Thyme and garlic for my rib eye, Garlic and rosemary for Greg's lobster, Matt's baby back ribs.
Kale on the lobster.
The lobster and the ribs were steamed under their own lids.
The finished products were all so beautiful - I don't understand why I didn't pause to take pictures. I guess I was too interested in eating. Almost all gone, I did snap a shot of this purple rice though. Black and white rice soak together in preparation, the dark color turns the white rice purple. It was so delicious!
Fun to have the room with this view.
When I was little we would go to San Francisco and visit Golden Gate Park. We'd stop at the Japanese Tea Garden and we'd walk around the area where the museums are - the De Young and the Steinhart Aquarium, the Academy of Sciences. Several years ago they were both remodeled. I've been to the De Young a few times but hadn't had chance to go to the Academy. I was so excited to go. I went with friend Wrendy and her son and his friend. The new academy is nice. There are still some old favorites and probably the bones are all the same but it's lovely and modern. I would like to go again.
There is a rainforest in a type of biosphere. There are lots of butterflies and birds flying around.
There are also lots of big spiders. All of them are not behind glass. We think they must have escaped when they were babies.
You walk up to the top of the canopy on a walkway that spirals up to the top and then ride an elevator down to below the forest to the aquarium - part of which is a big plexiglass tube that lets you walk under/through one of the fish tanks.
There's still a planetarium - modernized - looks very cool from the outside.
Remember this?
The alligator tank! You can look down on it. I have this recollection of being able to walk up to it and it was a tropical display with a bridge of sorts you could walk over. Maybe a different place? Anyway, this tank you can look down on but also view it from ground/water level.
They still have the pedulum.
The top of the building is covered with a living roof. You can use stairs or an elevator.
That's the De Young. Why does it remind me of something out of Star Wars? :-)
