Two Days - Las Vegas, Henderson to Beatty

THURSDAY - (No entry yesterday because the Four Queens charged $9.00 per day for internet access - ridiculous!) Left Ely on schedule this morning, after a nice breakfast at the Silver State Restaurant, which seemed to be a hot spot. Took photos of the many murals adorning buildings on Main St, reminding us of Vail, OR. Headed south on Rt 93, continuing at elevation, going to about 7700 over a pass, absolutely no traffic - we never saw another car going in our direction for nearly 200 miles, going at 80mph! Just north of Caliente, stopped at Cathedral Gorge State Park, another one of those facilities left to us by the CCC in 1934. Arrived at Four Crowns at about 2:30; called Brother to meet tomorrow morning at his house in Henderson.

Once settled in hotel room, we headed out for a tour of the Fremont Street Experience. A walk up and down the 6 block area is wonderful for people watching. Our walk included a relaxing sit by the pool at the Golden Nugget, complete with an aquarium. We had dinner at the buffet at GN then watched a very energetic show by musician, impressionist and comedian Gordie Brown. By the tine the show was over, it was dark outside so we went back out to witness the Experience at night. WOW! Not only are there many odd, unique characters roaming about, but the ceiling & music show was awesome.  We decided that we like the Fremont Street Experience better than "The Strip". Much better for people watching and a fairly small area; it was all in good, clean fun!

FRIDAY - A walk before breakfast took me down Fremont (away from the Experience) where I discovered a unique thing: The Life Cube Project. In an empty parking lot, for the past month, artists young and old have been decorating these 4x4x4 plywood boxes. In the middle is a large, complicated structure, covered with drawings, which has a "mailbox"  into to which you write and deposit your dreams, goals and concerns. Then, tonight as it happens, the entire thing is set ablaze, sending these wishes into the sky!

After breakfast (which included Dunkin Donuts coffee and munchkins), we headed out for Henderson to meet up with Linda's brother, "Sam". We found his house in a nice subdivision where he has lived for 14 years, with his little dog Duffy. Jane had passed away about a year ago. Sam is now 82 and appears well, even though he's recovering from having part of a lung removed for cancer. This area is known as Green Valley, a Del Web project of about 2500 homes and retail parks, Its really very nice! We had a nice lunch at a local Casino/County Club. Linda and Sam must do a better job of staying in touch (I heard them promise they would!) Sam looks, sounds and moves so much like "Pop" its uncanny!

We left Sam's about 2:30 and headed west along I-215 around unbelievably sprawling Las Vegas - building everywhere! Once we got out of town, we detoured up to the Spring Mountains Recreation area and the Mt. Charleston Ski Area (who knew you could ski near Las Vegas?) there was still a bit of snow and the elevation at the base was 9,000 feet! Then back down the mountain to US 95 and on the Beatty where we checked into the Death Valley Inn (very basic motel), quick dinner at the Sourdough Saloon down the street, then back to the room to watch NCAA Basketball!

Off to Death Valley in the morning....its just about 40 miles. Our weather is perfect. Sunny and mid 70s.