Bonnie Springs

This morning we went to Bonnie Springs, which is about seven miles past Red Rock Canyon. It's an Old Nevada town with a petting zoo, restaurant... I used to go here quite a bit as a kid and have fond memories of riding the train, feeding the ducks in the pond and a good ole' gun fight showdown!



Nothing like a good hangin' for child entertainment! As I was running after Colin they thought it would be quite fun to have us come up to the platform to assist with the hanging! The funny part was Colin was trying to run off and I had the death grip on his hand while being instructed to give a good scream!!



Colin loved feeding the ducks! Nothing has changed here from when I was a child.




Colin and I going on our train ride!



Colin giving an excellent whoo whoo train sign and sound!



Here is a tumbleweed that is still growing. I can remember having to swerve and get out of the way of a rolling tumbleweed! They can get very large and can do a lot of damage to your car.



My Mother is much improved! We will be leaving our lovely 70 degree weather for cold Seattle. I see they are predicting more snow. Lovely. I should have quite a few weather complaints when I come home.

More from Las Vegas!

I took Colin to Red Rock Canyon. This is a hikers and climbers paradise and for those who don't feel like a hike you can bike or take your car on the scenic loop. This is what I would recommend especially if you are coming in hot weather. You can see I am really suffering with all of this bad weather.






We went to the Wetlands Nature Preserve today. It was beautiful and they have a nice paved path all the way around the preserve. We saw a lot of creatures, but I was too slow or they were too fast to capture a picture. I saw a roadrunner, which I haven't seen in Las Vegas for many years. We used to see them quite often. Mucht of Las Vegas is built on wetlands, down the street from my parents used to to be wetlands--swampy area with reeds and that is where we would see the roadrunners.



This is the Las Vegas Wash and the park is working on planting vegetation (reeds, grass...) so that soil will stay and not move. In 1984, during the bad flash flood, 4.25 million cubic feet of sediment went into Lake Mead! That is the amount of concrete it took to build Hoover Dam.




Unfortunately, there was a fire in the Wetlands Park just yesterday. The fire was contained in part from the concrete walking paths. They believe it may have been a human cause.




Picture of the reeds! They are beautiful.




This a fairly new community-Lake Las Vegas built on Lake Mead. The lake is one of the largest man made lakes and they flooded a town to create the lake. Scuba divers come from all over the world to go down and see it! I would say not a bad place to live. You have the lake and the mountains and the houses in this area are beautiful. Not a bad place at all.



You can see a little part of the golf course with houses in the background.



Notice that this is a floating ice skating rink on the water! After February 15th it goes back to being a stage for special events. There is a shopping village, Montelago Casino and the Lake Las Vegas Ritz Carleton.



This is one of my favorite shopping spots! If you can't find me, head out to the The District at Green Valley Ranch. I love it here! It's more of a local spot. You, generally, don't see a lot of tourists. There are beautiful condos above the stores. It's a very relaxing place.



There is also the BEST BBQ restaurant, Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ. I love it and my girlfriend and I always have to eat there every time I am in town. Treat yourself to The District next time you are in Las Vegas!



All of these places I have written about are only 20-30 minutes from the Las Vegas strip. There really is a lot more to Las Vegas than Las Vegas Boulevard. See something new next time you are here!

Where in the World am I?

Looks like Paris, but NOT quite. Las Vegas would be the place. Before any of you get too excited this is the place I am from. It's more of a living city than a party city for me.

My Mother is ill and I am trying to help, we are hoping she will be on the mend very soon, thanks for all the well wishes everyone has sent.



I met some friends at the Bellagio for lunch and they have the place decorated for Chinese New Year! It's just beautiful. This is behind the lobby desk. I think they fly the flowers in daily.



Here is the Chihuly display in the lobby. Every time I see it I am in complete awe. Yes, I do turn into one of those people I used to constantly make fun of. I just can't help but taking photos of it when I am here.



This is the observatory that is all decorated for Chinese New Year too! They were just setting up, so it probably looks even better now then when I was there.



All of the plants and flowers are the real deal. I have always loved the observatory and I could stay in there all day. If you get a chance, go and see or stay at the Bellagio. One of my favorites in Las Vegas.



There are three yarn stores in Las Vegas. Not quite the yarn mecca! Me thinks knitting is not the top of the list when visiting. I did find a wonderful yarn store--Knit Las Vegas deep in Green Valley off of Horizon Ridge for anyone visiting. Well worth the drive. From left to right-Jezebel, Noro Silk Garden Socks, DaniDo a local dyer and spinner, and Jitterbug. All lovely yarn and I can't wit to knit them up.



Okay everyone this is the REAL Las Vegas (not Vegas). This is Tule Springs now called Floyd Lamb Tule Springs park, long story. I grew up coming out here and it's as good as when I was a kid. Love this place and you should have seen Colin he was in heaven. It has everything duck, geese, peacocks (about 40), horses, fishing pond.



As kids we were totally convinced this water tower was haunted. Today I was still careful not to get too close. Why test it out?!



The pond is completely stocked with fish and there are three ponds at the park. I did enjoy finding tadpoles here. I am sure my Mom loved that!




The story of the ranch is that in the 1950's it was known as the Divorce ranch! Celebrities and Eastern socialites used to come here to get their divorce. Nevada had the easiest laws when it came to divorce. You had to have a six week residency and that was it. So people would come out to the ranch and swim, ride horses, hay rides, bbq, skeet shooting...while waiting out the time for their legal divorce. A true piece of Las Vegas history. Although I don't think they told us that when I was a kid!!




The old stagecoach and a horse to go with it.



Stay tuned and I will have more of the real Las Vegas. Folks step off the strip because there is a great city to see.