Water show at the Bellaggio

 The calm pool before the show.

 The show gets started!

WOW!  I LOVED it!

Vegas afternoon

Our last night in Vegas, we spent the afternoon walking up and down Las Vegas Blvd. until we were so tired we couldn't take another step.  Our daughter wanted a t-shirt from the Nine Fine Irishmen store, so we had to find that.  It was inside the casino, along with several other stores!  I bought one for myself, a gray one...

Then, hubby was tired and cranky, so we stopped at the Bobby Flay burger place.  He had a blue cheese burger and I had a blue cheese turkey burger (the BEST turkey burger I've EVER HAD!).  We split an order of fries:  half regular and half sweet potato fries...again, BEST I've had!

We hit the street again and had to go up and down and up and down steps because Vegas has these walkways above the streets.  OYE VEI!  My knees were SCREAMING!  Especially after all the walking we had done the previous two days!!!  At one point I had to sit down and rest for a few minutes before continuing on...

We waited about 15 minutes for the water show at the Bellagio (this was about 3:30pm) and IT was well worth the wait!  Then we had to walk up another block to cross over, once again, Las Vegas Blvd to get to the Eiffel Tower on the other side and back to our hotel.  We were both EXHAUSTED, but some cheese and a bottle of Ridge's Three Valley zinfandel helped us relax for the evening!

Here are some pics from our walk.  I'll do a separate post on the Bellagio water show.

 Nine Fine Irishmen pub...

 For ONCE, hubby wasn't checking out the scantily clad girls in black leather bikinis!

 Cool music!

 Caesar's Palace...

Eiffel Tower replica, which is half the size of the original.

Spring Mountain Ranch state park

Yesterday morning we drove out to Red Rock Canyon, but instead of heading directly to the scenic drive there, we stopped at the state park, Spring mountain Ranch.  There is a $9.00 fee for non-Nevada residents, so I slipped our money into the envelope, tore off my part of the receipt, and off we went.  Neither one of us had ever been there fore.  What a treat!

We went to the end of the road, at the ranch, parked, and hiked up the 1/4 mile trail.  Along the way, there is a pond with ducks and then you angle down into the ranch.  It felt SO GOOD to get out and hike again!  There are steps going up to the top of a little mesa (we did have to stop and get our breath!), but once on top, the walking was easy.  And, the views were fantastic!  Clouds were gathering overhead and off in the distance we could see rain, and it did get dark at several spots.  It was also 50 degrees and WINDY!  I kept my sweatshirt on all day.

Here are some photos I took from the Spring Mountain state park:

 Driving up to the ranch...

 Hiking the trail to the top of the mesa...

 Those colored boulders were at the top, so it wasn't a hard hike...good for us "old folks"!

 From the top, you angle down to their pond.  Very peaceful there.

 The pond...

 Walking through the old ranch buildings.

 Wouldn't you LOVE to live here?  I would!

Leaving the ranch...I LOVED stopping here!

Las Vegas-late afternoon and early morning

 Late afternoon our first night.

 The next morning...

 Sun is rising...

 Lots of morning sun on the buildings...

Nice, warm early morning colors!  

Valley of Fire, Nevada state park

The Valley of Fire is a state park in Nevada.  I believe we spent $9.00 to drive into the park.  It is well worth it!  They have nice, clean facilities and the rocks are breathtaking!  We were there 2 1/2 hours yesterday and I'd go back again any day!  There is a place where you can see petroglyphs and I'll post more about that later.

These are the stairs one climbs to view the petroglyphs at the top.

On to Las Vegas! Part 1

Hubby gets to spend 2 nights in Las Vegas for a trade show, so I got to tag along.  We left Monday morning.  I wanted to go through Oatman, AZ and see the burros there in town.  They wander up and down the main street begging for food and attention!  Then, we angled up through Bullhead City, Henderson, and finally Las Vegas.

 Along the Colorado River...

 Parker Dam...

 The wildlife preserve above Parker Dam...

 You know you are near Oatman when you see this sign!  

 Friendly burro.

I'm not sure, but I think Oatman has more burros than cars!

Yuma territorial prison late afternoon

We arrived in Yuma too late to tour the Yuma territorial prison (YES, the one from the movie 3:10 to Yuma...).  It sits up on a bluff right above the Colorado River and there is a bridge for trains right next to it.  Oh, and only ONE way in & out of the prison!  It's well fortified, too.  Tomorrow I'll post photos of it from our tour ($6.00 each).  At least we got some nice late afternoon photos!

 Guard tower ...

 Railroad bridge over the Colorado River...

Arizona's sunsets are much prettier than ours!  Of course, we have a 10,000 foot mountain to the west of us!