Hog farm waste? Stinky. There are no words.

In other news, forgot to mention that Goose was graduated from eighth grade yesterday. Congrats! Also, I am old.

but I've finally finished unpacking the study. See, when I broke my ankle last year (a week after I moved) that was the only room that really hadn't even been started. There were files to sort, and that just kept getting worse and worse. So, I finally took the bull by the horns and finished it over the last 2 weeks. Now my house is completely clean and organized. Yay! Props to CDub for lending me the shredder.

Also, I am slowly redecorating, so LL Bean can expect some money sometime soon.

In late March, Angeler, Cdub, and I descended upon Vegas. My dad had given us a week at a timeshare (we got to choose location) to thank Cdub for taking care of me when I broke my ankle (Cdub is awesome!). Angeler came because, well, why not?

We arrived late on Sunday (checked into our room around midnight). Somehow Cdub managed to score us an upgrade to a convertible. Convertibles are highly recommended if you go to Vegas in the spring.

On Monday we headed out to the strip. We toured several of the casinos, including the Bellagio (beautiful), Caesars Palace (Forum Shops and Ro-mans!), the Venetian (you want how much for a gondola ride in a fake canal? I’m going to go watch the living statue, thanks.), and Paris (a Hilton hotel; as over the top as another Paris Hilton). Unfortunately, no one brought a camera that day, so no actual records of the events survive.

Tuesday, we did exactly what you would expect two engineers and a survey/cad tech to do while in Vegas- Hoover Dam. The dam is spectacular, an amazing sight. The story of construction, the view down to the bottom, and the view of Lake Mead are all incredible. The story of the Imperial Valley flood, boring. (Thanks for warning us, Cdub!)

After lunching (cheaply!-50s style diner) in Boulder City, we drove north along Lakeshore Drive in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. I had never seen the desert before, and was overwhelmed by the beauty. The varied colors of the sand and rocks combined with the sparse green of the desert plants coupled with occasional views of the lake made for a palette of colors not usually seen on the East Coast. We continued the drive into the Valley of Fire State Park. The red rock formations here are (so I am told) often used to simulate alien landscapes in films. That night, we checked out the Fremont Street experience. We went to The Voodoo Lounge at the Rio that night. It’s atop the casino and affords spectacular views. Also, they serve this smoking daiquiri thing, and I had a sip of some woman from Missouri’s. Hey, she offered!

On Wednesday, Angeler and I hit the outlet malls; Cdub explored the strip further. We picked her up and went to New York, New York (my favorite). At NYNY, Cdub and I played the first of many games of House of the Dead. Angeler beat me at air hockey. We ate at Nine Fine Irishmen, which I highly recommend. Awesome fish and chips, and the others liked what they had, too. We met up before dinner, and saw An Evening at La Cage at the Riviera. Good show, bad seating (perpendicular to the stage), dumpy casino. Afterward, we watched the fountains at Bellagio and checked out the Aladdin.

On Thursday, Angeler left us to go to San Francisco. There’s this story where she missed her flight, because McCarran Airport at 6 AM? Busy. Cdub and I slept in (well, I did after returning from the airport), and then went and checked out Mandalay Bay, the Luxor (saw some IMAX show). We continued on to the Mirage and saw the tigers. Well, the one tiger that was free to look at. To enter Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden was deemed too expensive ($16!), so we wandered around the casino instead. They have a large aquarium behind the registration desk. I’d want to stare at that all day rather than check the people in. We couldn’t find anyplace to eat there, so we ended up at Caesar’s again. We had lunch at the Stage Deli- yummy pickles and egg creams! Then we saw the Ro-mans again. That night we saw O (a Cirque du Soleil show) at the Bellagio. Cdub really enjoyed it. I liked it, but was upset that I couldn’t see the makeup and that there was so much going on onstage that I couldn’t figure out what to watch. Afterwards, we watched the fountains. You must see those. Go now. I’ll wait.

On Friday, we grabbed a picnic lunch and headed out to Red Rock Canyon. I can only describe it as wow. It is absolutely amazing, and was my favorite part of the trip. We took several hikes into the desert to see petroglyphs, pictographs, and a desert waterfall.

We woke up somewhat early on Saturday morning and went to Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef (you can get combo tickets for an IMAX and the reef at the Luxor). The Shark Reef is excellent. The displays were informative and well set-up. It was also the only place in Vegas where I had bad hair. Humid there. We then went to the Stratosphere to ride the rides. I ended up going on the Big Shot and X-Scream alone. Thanks Cdub! I thought the Big Shot was the scariest thing I’d ever done, and then I got on the X-Scream. (I made Cdub buy me ice cream afterwards.) I don’t actually have any need to hang off of a building that high, thank you very much. We also checked out Circus Circus that day. There was a lame circus act that we didn’t watch much of, and an indoor amusement park. We found House of the Dead I and II and played them. There was also a large arcade upstairs near the performance area; the snowmobile game rules!

Sunday we woke up, checked out of the timeshare, and went to the Rio for a champagne brunch. Very yummy. You must do that as well. Funniest conversation at the buffet line:

Random Woman: What’s that?
Watergirl: I think it’s hummus. And this is an olive tapenade.
RW: Is it good?
WG: I don’t know.
RW: Why are you getting it then?
WG: It’s a buffet. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to finish it.
RW: puzzled look

I was also one of a random grouping of strangers helping this guy enjoy his first sushi experience. Guy, I hope you liked it. Sushi yummy.

After brunch, we still had about 8 hours to kill before going to the airport. We wandered the strip some more, finally hitting the MGM Grand. They have lions! In a big glass enclosure. Also, there was a man sleeping with the lion cubs. He was curled up with them, much like the boys curl up with me when I sleep on the couch. It is however, unlikely that the boys would kill me and then eat me. They will eat me if I die of other causes, however.

While at MGM, Cdub and I participated in market research for a television pilot. Here we learned what rednecks will do if they have a lot of money. They will build a $1 Million RV which is also a boat. No, I did not make that up.

We also visited M&M World, which is four floors of M&Ms and related paraphernalia. They have M&Ms in many colors for ridiculously high prices. Skip it.

Airport. Plane. Other airport. Other plane. Home. Work. Sad.