Vegas Vacation 2011

  Friday, January 28th, John and I left for Vegas to meet up with my parents and my brother who is currently temporarily deployed there from his home base in Germany.  We hadn't seen him since Christmas 2009 so it was great to spend time with him.  We spent our days off the strip and our nights on the strip.  Most of our pictures are from our daytime adventures. 

When we landed we met my parents, picked up our rental car and went out to the base to meet my brother. 

After we met up with my brother, he took us to the where the jets take off to head out into the desert to do drills.  We were able to watch jet after jet take off for an hour.  Here are some pics that I got as they were taking off. 

Friday night we walked around on the strip.  I failed to take pictures at night of the sights on the strip.

Saturday we got up early and off we went to explore the sights outside of Vegas. 

First Stop:  Hoover Dam

We went on the Dam tour which led us into the middle of the dam.  At one point we were able to look out the side of the dam out down the river.  I am glad that we spent the extra money for the dam tour versus the visitor's center tour.  Our guide was awesome! 

Recently, this bridge behind us was built for vehicle traffic so that cars, trucks and semi's wouldn't have to drive over the top of the dam.  I believe it was just finished in October 2010.  This bridge is about 900 feet above the Colorado River.  Not only do cars drive across but you can walk across it as well. 

 (See pics below)

Lake Mead--the difference between the dark and light is where the lake normally is.  Right now it is like 70 feet lower than normal, which worries many people in the area.

This plaque marks the division between Nevada and Arizona.  Bonnie is in Nevada and Craig is in Arizona.

The picture below is from when we walked out onto the bridge.  It was sooo high!  But you can get a good picture of the dam from this view. 

After Hoover Dam we set off on another adventure.  Derick told about this place he saw on the History Channel called Pioneer Saloon.  He said it was this really cool place that had a lot of history to it.  He said it was a bar that people go to when they want to leave the strip and go somewhere interesting.  I can tell you it sure was interesting.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of this place, however, I don't need them to remember this place.  Thanks again Derick for the recommendation :)

On Sunday we visited Red Rock Canyon not too far from Vegas (about 30 minutes).  It was the coldest day of the trip and really windy.  Unfortunately, we did not dress for the elements so we mostly had a auto tour of the canyon. 

Burros are run wild in the canyon.  This one was along the side of the road.

Sunday night John and I decided to try Eifel Tower Ride where you ride an elevator up to the top.  As I am afraid of heights, I was a little nervous about the experience but it was awesome!  The view was amazing.  While we were up there, the Belaggio played one of thier water shows and it was so much better looking at it from up above!  Here are so views of Vegas from the top!

We left on Monday.  Our original flight was set to arrive back in Des Moines around 4: 30.  I was excited to be able to get home, unpack, start laundry and relax before heading back to work the next day.  Well those plans changed when our flight from vegas to denver was cancelled.  We were rerouted on a later flight that went to Chicago instead.  That flight was set to land in Des Moines 9:21 pm.  Well when we were getting ready for decent into Des Moines the pilot got one to tell us that we were put in a holding pattern until the ground crew could see if they could de-ice the taxi and runways.  The flight attendants started talking to eachother about how they thought we were going to be diverted to Kansas City.  Fortunately, the were able to de-ice and land in Des Moines around 10:30 PM.  I can tell you that it was one of the worst landings I have ever experienced.  We were just grateful to make it home before the blizzard really hit.  Besides our air travel on Monday we had a wonderful vacation!  It was great to see my brother and spend time with the family!