Bright, Noisy, & WET!!

Above - MY treat jar.

Above - the Statue of Liberty that stands outside the New York, New York Resort.

Above - This is the WALL. Located inside Red Square in the Mandalay Bay Resort. Interesting display... more interesting was watching folks "pose" in front of it for pictures! Their antics were hilarious...as you can imagine.

Above - The beautiful and magnificent Luxor pyramid! Rumor has it that they are doing away with the "Egyptian" theme inside. Very sad - as this is an amazing property!

Above - Mandalay Bay....at least part of it! It now has towers but I was unable to get them in the photo! A beautiful property! At night, it glistens in the middle of the desert!

Above - New York, New York Hotel! Amazing to look at and inside you can find most EVERYTHING associated with New York for a souvenir!

Above - my little garden gargoyle....enjoying the RAIN! He has his own "fountain" with the downspout flowing!

We finally experienced it - Las Vegas in the rain!

Like everything else around here - it definitely puts on a presentation! Our first "experience" was on July 24th around 10pm in the evening! I should know the exact time as it sat me straight up in bed! The thunder was so loud - it shook walls! (You were correct in your description, Bren!) The rain was coming down so hard that when it landed on the tile roof, the sound was incredible! The lightning......not one of my favorite things - it would come down in bolts from every direction of the sky all at the same time!! Overlooking the city - it was amazing to see! It would light up the valley for several seconds at a time.

This morning August 1st - we are experiencing the "orchestra" again....only this time it is daytime! I ventured out and snapped a couple of photos - the lightning scared me back in FAST! You could smell the sulfur from the atmosphere being so charged! LOL.......Robert just rang from work at the Mandalay Bay resort to let me know it was raining there too! He said he walked outside to get a good look and nearly slipped on his fanny! Apparently, the pavement is VERY slippery around here.

I never thought rain would be considered a festive event! Kinda like Oregonians when we would see the sunshine! ;)

Randall and I have been doing more sightseeing! This past week, we spent the day walking the strip! The south end is VERY pedestrian friendly with overpasses, footbridges and moving walkways that allow folks to get from one side of the boulevard to the other without becoming roadkill. I am NOT exaggerating - traffic is horrible on that road. We've experienced it in a city taxi too......not any less scary!

We visited The Luxor (pyramid), Excalibur (this one has a medieval them - actually one of my favorite places), New York, New York, (as close as I wish to get to the actual city), MGM Grand (nice movie props and paraphernalia), and then back to the Mandalay Bay to have supper with Robert when he got off work!

We also visited the Coca Cola and M & M factories. LOTS of souvenirs available at both for the collector! I came home with two pounds of black M&M's....as far as I know this is the only place you can purchase this color! They go great in and with my "treat" jar! (Thanks Kim!) I must admit.....the cost is a bit high - $9.00 a pound to pick out your favorite colors!

That afternoon, we discovered a Century movie theater just a few steps off the strip! Since we had the time and it was my turn to choose the movie - we watched the new John Travolta musical - HairSpray! I absolutely love musicals and John Travolta so for an hour and a half, I was in lala land! Randall.....he had NO idea what he was in for. I laughed so hard when John Travolta's character set foot in front of the camera for the first time - Randall had his hand over his face! He couldn't believe it. We had some great laughs during the movie! I very much recommend this movie to anyone who loved Grease, or musicals, or John Travolta. It was fast moving with a nice story line. Not to mention all the dancing! Girlfriends, your kids will probably have the same reaction mine did though!

Well.....that's pretty much it for this week! Hope this finds everyone enjoying the summer! Thanks for keeping in touch and let me know if there is something you'd like to see in future photos.....besides ME! ;)