Bright Lights ... BIG city

High Roller Wheel

Busy, busy busy. Settled in, making new friends and hanging out with old ones.  Last week we rode the High Roller, the world's tallest observation wheel with my sister and brother-in-law. Lots of fun. (With our new Nevada licenses we even got discount tickets.)  At the top you are 550 feet in the air. The wheel moves continuously taking about a half hour for one revolution. Each cabin holds about 40 passengers.  It wasn't very busy the night we were there so there were only about 20 people on with us. It was tricky taking photos through the curved glass.

Looking up from the ticket window!

Our cabin approaches.

Virtual tour guide.

A couple of nights later we had more visitors from Vermont; Dan's classmate, Dawn Groseclose Pelkey, her husband, Phil and friends David and Linda Parsons. After dinner at BJ's we headed down to the Fremont Street Experience. Picture Church Street in Burlington, VT on neon steroids! You can shop, eat, gamble, dance and drink.  We just love people watching.

Dawn 

Free show!

The guy in the blue was being rescued.

I think our son might want to try the Slotzilla zipline.

There are two ziplines on Fremont Street. One is 77 feet above the street and the other, called the Zoomline, is 114 feet. Pretty cool.

Show time on the world's largest video screen.

There is an awesome sound system as well.

We didn't know it at the time but our next Vermont visitors were on Fremont Street at the same time we were there.  We caught up with Sally and Everett Small from Morrisville, Vermont on Saturday. We picked them up near their hotel, the 4 Queens and brought them up to see Summerlin.  They got a quick tour of our home.  (I think Sally wants to move in!)  We headed to the buffet at Red Rock Casino. There was a big line of hungry people. (We won't go there again on a Saturday at the end of the month when they are about to give away Cadillacs!) 

With full tummies we headed over to Red Rock Canyon for a quick drive through. 

Sally and Everett

The highlight of our day was a stop at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.  Just beautiful! The ranch, fed by mountain springs, is over 500 acres and located just 28 miles from the Strip!  Many people were there enjoying family time. "The working cattle ranch was established in 1876 by Sergeant James B. Wilson and George Anderson. Over time it transformed from the working ranch to a retreat. Later owners included; Chester Lauck (1948), Vera Krupp (1955) and Howard Hughes." (Wikipedia) 

Howard Hughes' getaway.
(Our neighbor says rumor has it Howard never actually stayed there.)

Original homestead.

Lake Harriet (man-made in the 1950's)

A rare sighting.

Boulder Dam Jr.  lol

Red Rock Canyon in the distance.

As we were touring the area we kept hearing what sounded like canon shots.  Turns out there was a Civil War reenactment going on.  It was just a little advertisement for the much larger encampment scheduled for the first weekend in November.  I was thinking, "was Nevada even a state during the Civil War?"  Yup they joined the Union in 1864. Nevada Day is October 31!

Dan and I did attend a couple of events at the Order of the Eastern Star, Nevada Grand Chapter session. Met some more people and made plans to attend a few local meetings.  We have the choice of five or six chapters all less than an hour's drive from our home.  

Past Grand Matrons and Patrons of Nevada.

That's all for now.  I think I am caught up.  Our next adventure will be on Saturday when we head to Pahrump Valley Winery for Grape Stomp. Desert wine ... who would have thought!

It's all about the journey.  Have a great weekend!

Nancy and Dan