Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

You can read Part One here.

You can read Part Two here.

You can read Part Three here.

When we saw the snow falling outside our hotel, we were a little concerned that we’d have to drive on slick roads in a car that did not have snow tires. That’s one of the downsides to renting a vehicle in a wamer climate (Vegas) and driving it to places that may have bad weather.

Luckily, the roads weren’t holding the snow, and most of it melted when it hit the asphalt. However, everything else was quickly turning white with the dusting of snowflakes.

We had 180 miles to travel to Vegas (about 3.5 hours), which wasn’t too bad, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Pioneer Lodge Restaurant in Springdale. Although they advertise a breakfast buffet on window signs and in their menu, we found out that they don’t have the buffet in the off season.  A traditional breakfast of bacon and eggs for me, and an omelet for Steve, was enough to fortify us for the drive ahead.

Several friends had recommended a stop at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, so we deviated from the highway in Moapa to take in this geological wonder.

(Information found online): Valley of Fire is Nevada’s oldest and largest state park, dedicated 1935.  Entrance fees (self pay kiosk when we were there) are $6/car. The park is open all year.

The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape. Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates.

Prehistoric users of the Valley of Fire included the Basket Maker people and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley. The span of approximate occupation has been dated from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D. Their visits probably involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies, although scarcity of water would have limited the length of their stay. Fine examples of rock art left by these ancient peoples can be found at several sites within the park.

The rough floor and jagged walls of the park contain brilliant formations of eroded sandstone and sand dunes more than 150 million years old. These features, which are the centerpiece of the park’s attractions, often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun’s rays. There is a lot of comprehensive information about Valley of Fire SP at this website.

While it wasn’t snowing any longer, it was still slightly overcast and breezy.

Here are some photos from Valley of Fire:

These three cabins were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) soon after the Valley of Fire became a state park in 1935. They are constructed of native sandstone and were used for many years to shelter campers and travelers visiting the park. The cabins are now being preserved as a reminder of the work accomplished by the C.C.C. throughout Nevada under the able direction of Col. Thomas W. Miller, Nevada’s first State Park Commission Chairman.

WHAT ARE PETROGLYPHS?

A petroglyph is a mark made into a stone surface by humans to represent some object. This is contrasted to what is often referred to as “rock painting”, which is a design or image painted or drawn on to the surface of the rock. Those are called pictographs. Petroglyphs images are pecked, scratched or ground into the surface of the rock. In some areas the authors used a hammerstone and a pebble as a chisel.

In Southwestern deserts, petroglyphs are found on canyon walls, rocks, on cliff sides where time and weather and the unique chemistry of the rock, adds a color to the rock surface. This coating usually consists of iron and manganese dioxides mixed with other things such as the by products lichens. This is called a ‘desert varnish’ or patina. With a patina or varnish the rock surfaces often appear shiny or wet. There are several areas in Valley of Fire State Park, where petroglyphs are visible.

Here are some more views in this amazing park:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

TWO NIGHTS IN LAS VEGAS

Our trip was coming to an end, and we spent the last two nights at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. We were both a little sad to be leaving the pretty canyonlands behind, but decided to enjoy our final stay in Vegas by exploring the casinos we didn’t get to see on the first day, enjoying romantic dinners, indulging in cocktails with fancy names (and pricetags to match), as well as relaxing in preparation for our flight back to Fairbanks a few days later.

We hit rain - heavy at times - not long after leaving Valley of Fire State Park. If anything, we were happy that the bad weather waited until the end of our trip.  By the time we neared Las Vegas, the rain was only spitting, but skies were very overcast.

When we got closer to our exit off the highway (thank goodness for the Garmin that our friend Gip loaned us for this trip), we saw an emergency billboard on the highway warning us of an accident on the off ramp that we needed. This meant altering our direction, and fighting our way across several lanes of traffic to get off at the nearest ramp. Traffic was bumper to bumper and not going anywhere fast.

Somehow we ended up getting turned around and on the wrong cross street. Do you know how frustrating it is to SEE the hotel you need to get to, but not be able to find your way to it? Finally, through some miracle, we found ourselves turning into the valet parking lane and were very happy to hand our keys over to the valet, and our baggage over to the bellhop.

Once we were checked in and our bags were brought up to our room, we freshened up, and changed out of our casual clothes, and went back down to the lobby so that I could spend more time admiring the Chihuly glass ceiling. I also wanted to take a walk through the Conservatory.

The hotel casino was loud and energetic. Steve and I are not gamblers and this is a good thing, as I can certainly see how the bells and bright colors and energy could easily entice a person to part with their hard earned money.

The Bellagio is the ultimate in elegance. Not only was there glass on the ceiling, but also pieces throughout the hotel. The Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, a short walk from the lobby, was beautifully decorated for the holidays. The plants, flowers, and trees are changed out each season and, at this time of year, it was like walking through a Christmas fantasy.

There was a high flying sleigh with Santa and reindeer, a gingerbread house adorned with thousands of carnations, huge ornaments, polar bears, fountains, miniature trains, and a towering 45′ Shasta Fir tree flanked by 15′ toy soldiers. I didn’t take very many photos, preferring instead to just enjoy the festive ambiance.

Steve and I decided to have dinner at the Cafe Bellagio, right next to the Conservatory. We were seated quickly and had a very attentive waiter. We splurged a bit on drinks, trying the holiday pomegranate martini, which was very good but also pricey. In fact all of the liquor on the Las Vegas strip is pricey - unless you buy it in a liquor store and enjoy it in your room.

Steve started off with a crock of French Onion Soup and then Chicken Piccata. He raved about the meal, and especially loved the lemon butter caper sauce. I opted for a light ‘hearts of romaine’ salad, and my plate was brought out with three whole hearts of romaine, that I had to cut apart to eat.  The salad fixings were also on the plate, but needed to be mixed in with the greens. That made me do a double take, but also showed that the salad wasn’t pre-mixed ahead of time. I didn’t mind the extra work that went into assembling my meal and everything was very fresh and crisp.

After dinner, we walked around the hotel (it is massive!) checking out all the shops and galleries. When we passed some windows overlooking the fountains, we could see them lit up and dancing.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a way to get out to them, as many of the doors were emergency exits only, or locked. That was very aggravating.  By the time we found a way to actually get outside, the show was already over. Because the show is every 15 minutes in the evening, we stood outside waiting for it to start again.

It was raining, but we stood under the entrance overhang with several other folks and stayed dry. It was a little chilly, but not as cold as Grand Canyon and Bryce were. And frankly, I was happy to be outside as the hotel was stifling hot inside. In fact, all of the hotels had the heat cranked up!

We keep our house at 64F in the dead of winter. Being in hotels with the heat set at 75F on a 50 degree day  was absolute torture! Our room was also very hot, and even though we set the thermostat to 60F, the room never cooled off below 67F. Too bad you can’t open the windows, or we would have had ours open all night long. It was not pleasant at all.

Steve and I didn’t even have jackets on and we were comfortable. We saw people wearing heavy winter coats, and made a game out of guessing where they were from. One lady was wearing a parka-like coat, with the hood up and tied, and I joked that she must be from Florida. I suppose 50F does feel like 20F when you’re from a warm place.

Soon, the music coming through the speakers stopped (a nice mix of pop songs from all eras), and we saw the fountain heads raise up from the water.  The song that the fountains danced to, was “Simple Gifts” performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. We didn’t record the show, but you can see it HERE on YouTube, recorded by someone last year. The Bellagio has a list of songs the fountain performs to (http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/fountains-of-bellagio.aspx), and if you’re interested, just go to YouTube and search the song and “Bellagio Fountain” and you can see videos that other people have recorded of the various shows.

A few friends told me that when they’ve seen the fountains dance, it’s brought tears to their eyes. I’m glad they warned me, because I can be such a sap. They were right… I did get teary eyed while watching the show. It was hard to take photos, because I didn’t want to miss a thing (and I was looking through blurry eyes).

Here are some more photos we took after the fountain show:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, we decided to try the Bellagio Buffet for breakfast, as we had heard nothing but good things about it from people who have eaten there. I was pleased with the food and the experience and I didn’t think that $14.95/pp was too terrible a price. (We’re used to $12 breakfasts - with juice - up here) While I stuck to typical breakfast fare -eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruit, toast, and then dessert, Steve enjoyed specialty items like eggs florentine, potatoes and onions, etc. We enjoyed it so much, that we decided we’d go to the breakfast buffet on our last day in town too.

Later that afternoon, after walking the strip and checking out Caesars Palace, the Venetian, the Flamingo, and other hotels on that end of the strip, we hobbled back to the hotel with aching feet and growling stomachs. We walked past the Bellagio Buffet ($27.95/pp for dinner) to see what the line looked like (it’s really long at 7pm at night), and there were only about 20 people ahead of us. It was only 5pm - rather early for the Vegas dinner crowd, so we took advantage of the situation and had dinner. Again, we were quite pleased with the choices. Steve enjoyed sushi, shashimi, Chilean sea bass, swordfish, prime rib, all sorts of veggies, and filled his plate at least three times.

I stuck to safer choices, as I’m the picky eater: pasta, soup, turkey, and the most delicious pumpkin squash ravioli. I’ve never had pumpkin squash ravioli, and the taste was out of this world. It was a bit on the sweet side, and tossed in a butter-sage mixture. Mmmmmm! I need to try to make it at home.

We both went crazy with the desserts; trying just about everything they had to offer. Feeling full and fat, we went up to our room and figured out how to pack our bags to keep our pottery safe, as well as our checked bags under 50lbs. It was a good day.

Here we are in front of the Bellagio Hotel. A young lady graciously offered to take our photo.

(I don’t know why Steve has his tongue out. He was probably licking his lips because we both had such chapped lips from the dry air and cold.)

And here’s a photo of another Chihuly glass piece in one of the lounges where we stopped to have a drink on our last afternoon in town:

The next morning, we had the breakfast buffet again before making our way to the airport. We weren’t looking forward to our long trip home, but we were looking forward to actually getting home. As much fun as we had, and as much beauty as we saw during the week… there’s still no place like home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It’s nearly 10pm here. In a little more than 2 hours I will official turn 50 years old. I was born at 12:01am, just missing the 13th of December.

It doesn’t seem real that I am 50 years old. I don’t feel 50. I don’t feel *old*. I remember when I was a lot younger (20s and even 30s), I thought of 50 as being so much older. Now I’m here, and I don’t feel very much older than I did at 30… or 40.

Of course things have changed over the past two decades. I lost my girlish figure a long time ago. I need reading glasses to enjoy the newspaper, books and magazines. And I swear the product information on the back of packaging is half the size of what it used to be! *grin*

I don’t get out of bed as easily as I used to. It takes a few steps to loosen up my muscles and bones. If I sit for too long, I feel stiff.

The lines on my face are more pronounced. Laugh lines - as my mother called them - are around my eyes now. My neck isn’t as firm as it used to be. Gray hair is taking over the red, which means I have an appointment with Lady Clairol every 6 weeks or so.

I have to worry about my health now. I have to watch my diet. I don’t have the stamina I used to. It all sounds so terrible when I write it down, but in reality, I’m perfectly OK with aging. (It’s better than the alternative, right?)

It’s just so surreal to think “I am 50″. FIFTY! How did it get here so quickly?! How did 10, 20, 30 years pass by in the blink of an eye?

FIFTY.

Can’t I just tell everyone I’m forty-ten instead?

Until next time…