An elephant?

this was last year, in valley of fire, not too far from las vegas. an image i had seen already many times, like most people, i guess. in reality i thought... hmmm, really? elephant? and then i tried to take the picture as it was in my mind already, and ofcourse i didnt manage... i guess usually its taken from the other side...

earlier this evening i already tried to upload a photo (a more recent one!), but firefox refuses to do so, nowadays. now its 2.30 in the night and my cough does not let me sleep, so i decided to try again. i only have this folder with pictures from this holiday last year... there are so many images from the usa that i know since long before we came here, and its really so cool to now have visited (some of) them in person!!

now, let me try to sleep again... good night!

Oooh Elvis...

when we were in las vegas this month (already 2 weeks ago by now!) we went to the famous "welcome to las vegas sign". we missed that last time, so.... it turned out there was a little parking area and signs with rules regarding picture taking etc etc.

as you can see, elvis was there too. at first i thought it was just funny and i tried to take some pictures while he wasnt watching. i was sure he was one of those types that wanted money from you for taking a picture of him/with him. but... as it turned out he was just happy to pose. for anyone! 2 times or so he was about to get into his car (or already inside as you can see here) when people took a picture of him. so.. he just jumped out again and posed. just like that. and then i thought it was a little sad... no? a guy, dressed in one of those weird elvis suit, a pink car, happy to pose for anyone with a camera.... 

Dam angels

when we were in las vegas in may, we visited the hoover dam. it was after closing time, so not much was going on. we walked around, saw the massive concrete and all the beautiful ornaments on the dam; it was built in the 1920s and 1930s, and you can see that. i thought it was really pretty. but to be honest, somehow i thought the dam itself would be even more massive and impressive. perhaps because of what ive all seen on tv of it? tim was disappointed i was not more impressed, i think... :)

but... i was very much impressed by the statues above. 2 angels. their toes all shiny (i read later thats because of all the tourists that touch the toes; its supposed to bring good luck in vegas while gambling... blablabla). this is a memorial dedicated to those who died during the construction of the dam, the sculptures (and more details on the dam) were made by oskar hansen. 

112 people died during the construction of the dam. the first being mr tierney, who drowned in 1922 while looking for an ideal spot for the dam. sadly, the last death was his son, who died exactly 13 years later, while working on the construction of the dam. in between these 2 angels there is a plaque that reads: "they died to make the desert bloom". more than 4 tons of bronze were used for these 30-feet tall statues, which were dedicated in 1935.

i had a hard time taking a good picture of them (in real they were so very beautiful!!), but i was kind of satisfied with this one... :) i would defenitely not mind going back there to see them again, but then when the water is high... (the water was very low when we were there)

Wedding chapel

many people asked us, after coming back from las vegas, whether we got married. well, we didnt.... if it even had been an option, it wasnt after i saw the chapels. it was all just so sad! placed a long busy roads, with a cheesy motel attached to it... beehhhh. here you can see one. its not even pretty!

but.. according to wikipedia, las vegas is the "marriage capital of the world". getting a marriage license is very easy, and costs very little, and thus many couples get married here ( i read somewhere 120.000 marriages/ year, that is more than 300 weddings per day!! i just calculated it 3 times as i couldnt believe more than 600 people get married each day in vegas.... we sure didnt see any happy couples coming out of wedding chapels...)

apparently, there are even drive-thru weddings in las vegas... can you believe it??!! here is the link (check the costs of different packages they offer... named "fast, faster and fastest" the "fastest" is the cheapest... is this the speed with whih you drive...??). you can also be married by an elvis impersonator... here a list of some "famous" people that got married in vegas (how many are still married..?!), and here the website for the above wedding chapel, because... forever starts now.... (ugh!)

Self portrait

i simply was too lazy to post last night, and today i dont have my computer (and i am lazy again), so here a self portrait, while we were in the desert in las vegas....!

Pretty amazing

here a distant view of las vegas.... when the sun was about to set. isnt it beautiful? too bad i had to take the picture through the window of the car, as you can see....

our hotelroom was unfortunately not too high up (only the 23rd floor or so... haha), and we didnt face the strip (bbuuuuh), but the advantage of that was that we faced the desert (and an awful deserted parking lot and a hotel that probably wont be built soon, only part of it was..), and we witnessed 2 amazing sunrises. i usually wake up very early (only togoto sleep again), and these times it was just around sunrise. the first was a perfect deep red with some purple (i woke up tim, in the end i think he did like to see that sunrise), and the second was greenish like above. really beautiful... just for that i wouldnt mind spending some more time in the desert. (but the desert is pretty cool anyways...)

More desert

this was close to las vegas. from afar this looked like a giant stretch of water, glistening in the sun. almost, but not entirely. and indeed, when we got closer it was just this... we saw a photoshoot going on (it was right next to the highway), and then decided we wanted to see it from closeby as well! i think this place is used for many photoshoots, doesnt it somehow look familiar? the ground cracked, nothing nearby, just the mountains in the background and the hot sun above you.

i found it a little scary to drive there, somehow i expected it to end at some point. or that we would disappear into the ground as it could not hold us... but that all didnt happen!! :)

im just very amazed by the desert and the numerous forms it can take on..... wouldnt mind to go again and explore a little more...

Dying thirsty

when we were in las vegas, i wanted to go see a cemetery there. i found one relatively close to the strip that has been listed on the national register of historic places since 2006. it opened in 1914. but, when we arrived there we both find it a rather sad and ugly cemetery, with lots of fake flowers... i didnt even want to take a picture...

instead, i show you the grave of sergeant clark, born in canada in 1844. in 1862, he joined the new york infantry, actively serving in, and surviving, the civil war. after being shot in the hand and contracting typhoid fever, he was honorably discharged on march 6, 1863 as a sergeant of the new york calvary. he then emigrated to southern california. years later, while traveling from bakersfield to salt lake city on a buckboard (a carriage), he stopped in the valley of fire, tied his horse to the back of the wagon and wandered around, possibly looking for water.  eventually, he crawled under his buckboard and died, presumably from thirst, several days before his body was found on june 30, 1915. his grave is at the spot where his body was found, and simply says "clark". i got the information from the marker that is on the parking spot next to the road. to be honest, i did not walk up to his grave. it was so immensely hot, we had gotten out of the car for various photo opportunities already and at this point i was just too lazy....! but just imagine, we crossed the desert in an air conditioned car, with 2 gallons of water and even some ice (from the ice machine in the hotel), on a paved road. with enough food, directions and whatnot.... while sergeant clark survived war, being shot and typhoid, was brave enough to cross the desert without any of that and then died of dehydration....

for other taphophiles, go here!

Driving.... driving...

today we got up early. and then drove. and drove some more. and even more... 

it was amazing. beautiful, ugly, sad, abandoned, funny, scary, impressive..... and then we arrived in san diego and are staying for the weekend with our friend sylvia!!

i guess i have a picture (many, actually) going with each adjective. but not now... time for bed!

Endless desert

on wednesday we drove to the valley of fire, a state park, some 50 miles from las vegas in the mojave desert. red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs gave the park its name. from endless rows of lot machines we drove into an everchanging, endless landscape that was just stunning... i took so many pictures! both while driving and when walking around. all were not as good as seeing it in reality....  :( i had a hard time choosing a picture, but settled for one that shows the red sandstones and the wideness/endlessness of the park... we spent many hours here and stopped at all the "photogenic points" (nicely indicated with signs, hahahaha). it was sooo hot! i guess we both drank 2 liters of water and still could drink some more..

its really funny to see things in real that, upon seeing them, you realize you have seen several times before, in pictures, advertisements or movies.... yet all those things, also vegas itself, are different, no matter how often you saw them portrayed on tv or described in novels, as you need to see them for yourselves!!

What happens...

... in vegas (yes, it seemed not too difficult to figure out where we are!), of course needs to be reported here!

we decided after nearly 5 months it was time for another little trip. we came to realize that we are now in the us, and better make sure we see something of it while we are there! on tuesday we wandered around a bit on the strip. there are many escalators which i found ridiculous at first, but proved to be nice when your feet are sore and the heat is driving you mad... wiki just tells me that the strip is 4.2 miles (6.8 km) long, and houses 15 (!!) of the 25 most largest hotels in the world, with a total of more than 62,000 rooms..... as everyone knows, all those hotels are in ridiculous themes, so there is venice, new york, a pyramid, the eiffel tower.... (i was just missing something dutch, but a windmill is probably not "classy" enough to make it unclassy in las vegas). above is the lobby in ceasar's palace (guess what the theme is there!), and in the back you see its casino. its all huge, and the gambling halls are all even bigger, and kind of dark. without clocks, but with many ashtrays. beeehhhh. the smell of cigarettes everywhere is mixed with the smell of fried food and perfume. yes, perfume. every place we wandered through smelled different. but all awful attacks on my nose. our hotel does not have a casino, but its lobby is probably the smelliest of all, it made me feel a little nauseous and my nose hurt when we had to wait some minutes before check-in (im very curious how much and how they spray their "scent" around everyday).

i have been thinking about "las vegas" since we got here. i have some simple rudimentary theories as to why it is here, haha. maybe i will share those thoughts. maybe not... its not for me, but interesting to see! a little depressing at times too, i think. seeing endless rows of slot machines, and mostly somewhat older people behind them. just you and the machine. is it really that much fun...?
 (we tried one "game". 10 dollars. somehow we made 11 of it. then on to another machine, and it was all gone in less than 5 minutes. more than enough money wasted for a real dutch person... :D !)