We had a very nice Christmas in Phoenix with Max's mom, brother and sister-in-law. We were there for almost a week. Their house was all decked out for the holidays, and it was beautiful. I felt pretty spoiled to be able to enjoy the holiday decorations without all the work of putting up and taking down! "The boys" and their mom watched football, we shopped, cooked, ate and in general just enjoyed the time together.
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| Mom! |
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| Lemon tree in their backyard. So pretty. |
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| And an orange tree. That baby was loaded down! |
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Danny got a new toy since we were there last. They and their immediate neighbors
have about a mile of dirt road in front of their houses before they get to the pavement,
and their neighbors are loving his new toy, too. |
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Mary and her youngest son Charlie. I had never met him
before, and Max hadn't seen him since he was about 5 years old.
He's grown up a bit since then. |
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One of our Christmas traditions has always been to purchase a Hallmark ornament--
the ones that have the year on them--for our decoration collection. This year
we went with something a little different to commemorate our adventures
over the last few months. It doesn't look exactly like the back of our Turtle,
but it still gets the message across. We love it! |
On our way home from Phoenix, we made a swing through Las Vegas and stayed a couple of days. Our route took us right by Hoover Dam. What an incredible site!
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| Highway 93 to Hoover Dam. Some pretty scenery. |
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As we got close to the dam, we began to see the massive electrical grid
that it supplies--an average of 4.2 billion kilowatt hours
per year. |
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| And then the dam itself. |
The dam was constructed between 1931 and 1936. Thousands of workers were involved in the effort. Such a large concrete structure had never before been built, and some of the building techniques were unproven. Over 100 lives were lost during its construction.
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| The four intake towers on the Lake Mead side. |
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A WWII "pillbox", built by the military to guard the dam.
There were originally six of them, but this is the last one remaining.
Some stories say it was manned again right after 9/11. |
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A view upriver from the dam. Obviously the water level has
drastically changed over the years. |
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| A monument to the builders of the dam. |
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| The bypass bridge. |
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| Lake Mead. And some pretty cool clouds! |
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| The Mr. and the Mrs. |
I remember Dad talking about visiting Hoover Dam when he was stationed in Las Vegas while in the Marines in the early '50's. He was so fascinated with it, which is not a surprise if you knew my dad. He was one of those people who could build and fix almost anything. And to think that the dam was only about 20 years old when he was there!
Then it was off to Las Vegas! We stayed at the Paris.
It was our first time to stay at that particular hotel. With it being the holidays, it was CROWDED. All of Vegas was crowded, for that matter. It really wasn't until the (early) morning that we left, when most people were still in bed, that we were able to truly enjoy the beauty of the hotel. Up until then, we spent most of the time just trying to push our way through the crowds. :( The views outside were beautiful, though, and we had a lot of fun with our new camera up and down the Strip.
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Inside the New York New York, the Statute of Liberty, made of Jelly Belly's.
I know some kiddos in Indian Creek that would have
gotten quite a kick out of this. |
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| We were right across from the Bellagio's and really enjoyed their water show. |
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| A view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. |
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| Christmas decorations in the Bellagio. |
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Always love the Coca-Cola bear! This was also inside
the Bellagio. |
Our very special treat was a Doobie Brothers / Steve Miller Band concert at the Hard Rock. The Doobie Brothers were awesome. We weren't so much into the Steve Miller Band, but they were interesting to see. One of the most interesting things about the concert was just looking around at all those old rockers. :) And the young ones, too. There was a group of four teenagers sitting directly in front of us, and they were jamming out, baby!
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| The Doobie Brothers, getting DOWN. |
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| Steve Miller Band. Interesting backdrop. Yes, those are ears. |
Then it was back here to California for the New Year's. We rocked in the New Year's here at the resort with a party and a live band, good friends, good food, and even a bit of dancing.
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| Bonnie and Bob |
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The lady in the green shirt was the belle of the ball.
She's in her 80's, has had triple bi-pass surgery,
and is loving life. The expressions on her face were hilarious! |
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| Maria and Doug |
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| Michael |
And last but not least...
Happy New Year, y'all! Until next time,
Max and Paula
