Spent a day in Las Vegas in February for a conference for my gig. The wind was howling that day and pushing the clouds across the skyline. The strip has changed so much from back when Diane I first started going 15 years ago.

--Rob

One of the first things that struck me about Las Vegas, on my first trip there back in the 1990s, was the garish carpeting in all the casinos.

Apparently, I'm not the only one to have wondered about this. In fact, David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has devoted significant time to studying the psychological impact of this floor covering, as seen here: http://www.dieiscast.com/gallery/carpet-essay/

Anyway, I decided to do a little photoessay of my own, the last time we were in Vegas:

Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. (from wikipedia)

We passed through about two years ago on our way to Las Vegas for a 5-day vacation in the Luxor hotel. There was an enormous traffic jam so we jumped out of the car and shot a few pics while we were waiting. At the time, they were working on an bypass that will avoid this bottleneck.

And speaking of that bypass...it's done as of tonight:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/14/20101014arizona-hoover-dam-bypass-dedication-ON.html

--Rob

What happens in Vegas...

Once upon a time, the Easter Bunny brought our son Nick a soft brown bunny in his Easter basket. One night not long after, Nick was having trouble falling asleep. I read to him, I sang to him, I snuggled with him, but nothing was working, and I was getting exasperated. Finally, I grabbed the bunny and said, "Feel how soft your bunny is. I bet if you snuggle him, you'll fall right to sleep."

The bunny worked, and from that point on Nick would not sleep anywhere without his bunny. As a result, the ever-so-originally-named Bunny has traveled from Boston, MA to Honolulu, HI and many points in between. He is no longer very soft, and Nick--now 11--no longer needs to sleep with him, but he still goes wherever the kid goes.

Last summer we decided that we should chronicle Bunny's adventures. First stop--Las Vegas, where we stayed 4 days at the Luxor hotel and casino. Bunny really let his ears down there. After years of being slept on, drooled on, and used as a pillow, can you really blame him?

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

The morning after.

--Diane

(Luxor hotel/casino)