Las Vegas (click once on any photo to display full image)
2/25/2012 thru 2/28/2012

Las Vegas Winter Weekend Getaway

In addition to a couple of spectacular shows (we witnessed the magic of David Copperfield and the aquatic acrobats of Cirque du Soleil “O”), our winter weekend getaway to Vegas with my Dad in February included a visit to Red Rock Canyon and a tour of Hoover Dam. Don't forget that you can click on any photo to display a larger image.

The Vegas Strip

While everyone is familiar with the lavish Las Vegas strip, where each uniquely themed hotel is more exotic than the next, you can’t fully appreciate the extravagance of it until you see it in person, especially at night when all of the lights amplify the already incredulous display. The photos below feature the night scene outside the New York hotel and Chinese New Year displays inside the Bellagio hotel.

Red Rock Canyon

Although small in comparison to national parks, the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is still worth the one hour drive, with short hikes to Turtlehead Peak (photo on left) and Calico Tanks (photo on right) providing a panoramic view of the surrounding park, and a great view of Las Vegas when the air is clear.

Hoover Dam

The grand tour, which included both the inside and outside of Hoover Dam, was also well worth a day’s visit to be inspired by this enormous engineering marvel which stands at 726.4 feet high, is 1244 feet long, has a thickness of 45 feet at the top and 660 feet at the bottom, and took 5 years to build.

Water from the dam spins generator turbines to produce electricity (photo on left) and tunnels extending the width of the dam provide maintenance access (photo on right).