Las Vegas Photos

I stayed at the Imperial Palace.  I love it's location, mid-Strip, and the price for a clean and comfortable room is hard to beat.  I also like the size of the IP - I don't have to walk a mile to get out of the place, I like the mix of reasonably priced shops, I like the fact that there aren't too many of them, and I like the cozy feel of the casino's human scale.  I actually feel like I'm in the classic Las Vegas of yesteryear when I stay at the IP.  The staff is great, too.  Here are a couple of photos of my room - nice king-size bed.  It occurred to me later that I should have taken the photos after housekeeping paid a visit.  LOL!  You really can't see it very well, but on the nightstand is a plastic cup holding two white roses that Michelle picked for me from their garden.  Those roses were still going strong the day I left to return home.

The weather was crappy by Las Vegas standards; on April 20th it was in the 80s and sun sun sun. Isis emailed me that she had spent most of the day in her garden, getting things fine-tuned for my visit.  The next day, when I arrived, the LV natives were in their winter coats (no kidding).  It was overcast, threatening rain, and "cold."  About what I left behind in Milwaukee.  On Thursday, LV actually went on the books as coldest for that particular day since records have been kept.  Wow.  It rained and hailed, and the winds blew and blew.  Some parts of the valley got drenched, other areas got drizzle and mist, other areas got 60 second cloud-bursts, but by afternoon the skies had cleared.  It was too cool and windy, though, to sit outside comfortably.  As Isis and I were out and about shopping (away from the Strip) Thursday, we were able to see the storm and rain clouds moving  into the valley over the mountains and we could follow their progress across various neighborhoods.  A fascinating site.  Except for the hotels, there are no "high rises" in Las Vegas, so the vista is open and it's easy to track the progress of the storms as they moved around. 

My last day in LV was perfect - sunny, a nice breeze, and warm enough to sit outside without a jacket on.  I didn't mean to but I picked up some "color" on the few bits of skin that were showing in my three-quarter sleeve length top and blue jeans!  I have a white stripe on my left wrist where my watch was and red and white stripes on both arms where the sleeves of my blouse covered the skin; white owl circles around my eyes from my sunglasses, and that horrid brown V on my neck/chest I've been trying to fade since the end of the New York vacation last year got all red again - now I'll never get rid of it!

Milwaukee was drenched in rain when I got back home, the back yard is a soggy mess - and we got more of the same Saturday night and Sunday along with high winds.  Today it was cool but sunny - lots of water needs to be evaporated!  We are in for a slow (very slow) warming trend over the next 2 weeks, but this being Wisconsin, the forecast will change tomorrow.  I'm still waiting for that late season blizzard or ice storm to hit.