Vegas

It was 110 degrees yesterday when we got here. It’s like walking into a blast furnace. I AM glad it’s such low humidity, but that just means it’s a blast furnace instead of a sauna.  Inside all the buildings it feels like a cool 70 degrees or so everywhere you go, and there isn’t much reason to be outside at Vegas. The hotels are mostly connected, they have trains and trams that take you from place to place, and you just don’t spend any time outside. I can’t imagine what it’s like to sustain these casinos out here in the desert like this. The air, the water, all of it. It’s mind boggling.

I sit on the top floor of the Wynn, 63rd floor, and look out over the mountains, parts of the city, and you can see where civilization ends and wildness begins. Some people only like the ocean, some the forest, some the mountains, some the cities, some the country. I like all of it with one exception. I like LOOKING at most of it, I don’t necessarily want to be IN some of it. I love watching the ocean from a balcony. I don’t care to be in the middle of it.  Same with cities. Watching them from above is pretty and interesting. Living down in the middle of one, not great. But it’s anything that is…bigger than you. The giant, craggy mountains with minimal life, the huge ocean that could swallow you without anything noticing, the miles of wilderness, the sea of skyscrapers. It’s all really pretty, and in a way shows you how insignificant you as one human really are. 

The flight here was long and uneventful for the most part. Had to stop in Pueblo, CO for fuel, as usual. Any kind of headwind and you’re not going to make it to Vegas non-stop even in the Cheyenne. I mean, we could, if we went up to 40,000’ and spent 5.5 hours in the air, but most people want to stretch their legs, pee, and not push their fuel so close that you’re at minimums and in trouble if they bring you down early, which they do sometimes. So we stop after 3 hours, get a hot dog at Pueblo, stretch our legs, top back off, and then have another 2 hours to go. 

I had to go around some weather on the way to Pueblo, took us a way out of our way, but I mostly made up for it with some short cuts after that.  All good. We got to Vegas at like 3 pm their time, right about on schedule. Got our room at the Wynn on the top floor, then Steve and I went off to The Buffet where we ate king crag legs already cut open for you, and anything else you can imagine to eat. Truffle mac and cheese, salads, breads, desserts, steaks, chicken, mexican, japanese, pizza, pasta, potatoes, chinese, every thing you can possibly imagine, it’s there. We got our money’s worth out of there and then came back to the room to crash after a long day of sitting in the plane.

Tonight we’re going to watch a show here at the Wynn called “The Awakening”, we’ll see how that goes. Had a big breakfast at a place here, probably won’t eat again until tonight. So much food. Kevin said if I keep eating like at the buffet I’ll have to wear bright tennis shoes so he can tell if I’m walking or rolling.  ;)

Tomorrow we head back out, leaving hopefully at 9 am, a 4 hour flight plus we lose 3 hours of time zones, so I get back around 4 pm, which is before Frankfort closes so I can top off on Andy’s account so I can be ready to take back off at 8 am to go pick up Ethan and family in Gunnison, CO on Monday…