Thanksgiving bonus

We decided to go on a little road trip to celebrate the holiday, and at the same time forget, for a little while, the pandemic. Starting at the South end of Las Vegas Boulevard, we set out to see firsthand what might be new in Vegas. While not new, the crowd at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign was a bit unsettling.

Our next stop was outside the New York New York Casino. We had heard that the Statue of Liberty had been clothed in a gigantic Las Vegas Golden Knights jersey, but we had never actually seen it for ourselves. Well, now our Vegas experience is complete. It was interesting to see that Lady Liberty was in compliance with Governor Sisolak’s statewide mask mandate!

We wanted to see how the progress was going on Resorts World. Finally, the old Stardust Casino site is destined to see the newest and bestest that Vegas has to offer. After being mothballed when the real estate market crashed in 2008. Now scheduled to open next summer, this place really looks to be top notch. The 100,000 square foot LED screen that covers an entire side of one of the resort towers is one of the biggest in the world!

Coming into view now is the new gateway to downtown Las Vegas. This $6.5 million arch over Las Vegas Boulevard at the foot of the Stratosphere Tower seems a fitting feature in this town. Since the traffic in town is mostly nonexistent due to the Virus, the city has taken this opportunity to do massive street construction and refurbishing that in normal traffic times would have been a disaster. We liked the new look!

It was also comforting to know that the President of the United States of America was maintaining his constant watch of our community. It is pretty obvious that he is working hard to make sure that Vegas is safe, sound, and economically healthy!

Since it was, after all, a major holiday, we decided to take advantage of our free time and booked a reservation to do the scenic drive through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The BLM has decided that limiting the number of people in Red Rock Canyon was needed, so they have instituted a policy of requiring online reservations to drive the loop – limited to the number per day they feel appropriate. Who would argue with the BLM – except maybe another Nevadan, Cliven Bundy.

We enjoyed our drive, and even got to discover a place we had not explored before. Calico Basin We don’t know exactly how this community exists within the borders of the Conservation Area, but maybe it is because they were already there when it was established in 1967. Anyway, we explored this small community at the base of these majestic rock formations.

Talking to you soon!