And The Ancient Empty Street's to Dead for Dreaming

There are probably holier places to spend Easter weekend than Las Vegas, but that's where I am. The reasons are simple, really. Some friends asked me if I'd like to use their timeshare in Las Vegas for a couple of days and I said sure. Why not? Do you think I'm crazy? Actually, since they had to be back in L.A. for the Easter weekend, and since the timeshare was already paid for, and since they hated to see it go to waste, and since they are very nice people, well...

Here I am. Vegas baby!

Let me say right off the bat that it's nice having rich friends. Trouble is I didn't know they were rich until I got a look at this condo. Wow. They must be loaded. You should see this place. It's on the 16th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton Resort with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, washer-dryer and a big old jacuzzi next to the master bedroom. I swear I feel like Howard Hughes living up here. Maybe I should show you a picture.

Hilary Hahn always takes these shots out of her hotel room window and posts them to her journal and I always wondered why anyone would want to do that. I still don't know why except, well, it's an internet thing I guess. Anyways, as you can see I'm a block west(?) of the strip, right next to the convention center. There are no conventions going on right now so it's very, very nice here. Close to the action but quiet, with no traffic or craziness going on outside.

So, that's the view out of my hotel window.

Other than that I don't have anything really profound to say about Las Vegas. It's not really a very profund town when you come to think about it. You've got your fake Mediterranean village, your fake Paris, your fake New York, your fake Monte Carlo, and on and on and on, and it's all meant more as a distraction than anything else. It's been about 15 years or so since the last time I was here and I can't believe how big it's gotten. I'd describe it as Orange County in the desert, because that's exactly what it is. All you need to do is add Disneyland and about a dozen more freeways and bingo, you'd be in Anaheim.

Of course these Las Vegas are smart and they've been careful not to repeat the mistakes that California made when it got big.

Right.

How about housing tracts and strip malls for as far as the eye can see, and no mass transit anywhere except for a privately funded monorail system which really only serves the needs of the big hotels. I hope these Las Vegans know what they're doing. I really do. I tell ya' if they keep building like this then in another 10 years or so this place is going to be just as gridlocked and smoggy as any Southern California megalopolis. And between the smoke inside the casinos and the smog outside don't be suprised if one day this town finally chokes on it's own fumes.

But that's in the future. Right now I'll just post some pic's I took up at Red Rock Canyon. It's not nearly as scenic as some other Red Rock areas in the Southwest (like Zion or Bryce Canyon), but the weather was beautiful and it was a great day to get out the ol' camera and do a little hiking. Happy Easter from Las Vegas.















From the Visitor Center




















Ah, Sandstone. The Great Basin is full of it.






















Ever driven across Nevada. This scene will probably look familiar.





















I give up. What's that supposed to be.




















It's a waterfalls, dummy. Pretty impressive, huh? Well, for Nevada it's impressive.