9 days in Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Valley of Fire, and Death Valley
Hi everyone! Bear with me as I've never done this before. Hopefully I won't flub it up too badly. I live in Chattanooga, Tn and am a member of another bulletin board "IBD Sucks" which is a support board for folks with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. No! Don't go running! I promise, this is NOT a visual tour of southwestern toilet facilities! Well, I mean, we did run a contest to see whose 'facilities' were the nicest, but that's for another board, not here. LOL
Last year several of us decided it would be fun to get together for a weekend in Las Vegas, and set about setting it up. Since I was travelling so far, had never seen the west, and was in desperate need of a vacation, I turned my trip into a full blown vacation - staying 3 days longer than everyone else so I could see more of the sites.
Did I mention that this was the first big trip with my new dSLR? :ivar
On the flight from Houston to Las Vegas, I got my first big visual clue that I was NOT in Tennessee anymore. No cars, no houses, no green. Just a whole lot of very beautiful but foreign landscape... Here's some of what I saw...
and then I saw this! After seeing it, my scientist friends think it's probably a meteor site - but WOW.
I also saw a forest fire...
and here's my first glimpse of Hoover Dam!
and then, finally......
I must be in Las Vegas - where else would this be the first thing you see coming off the jetway?
Woo HOOOO!!!! I'm now officially on vacation!
I saw my first casino that night, but after an employee went schizo on me when I took a photo of my friend - who knew cameras weren't allowed in casinos??? - no more pictures that night. LOL
The next morning, after breakfast, Sibyl, Karen, Iris and myself decided to see the view from the Stratosphere tower. That's me on the right.
The Stratosphere is 800+ feet in the air, and has amusement rides that swing you out over the edge and let you dangle/whirl around in mid air while looking at the parking lot a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG way down. No, I did NOT ride them!
I think we managed to hit nearly every good buffet in town while we were there. Sofi and Chris joined us on Friday. Here's Sofi, Karen and Iris after supper that evening. I tried crab legs for the first time here - MMMMMMM goood! I'd've taken a picture, but I was too busy eating. :rofl (it's in b&w because my exposure was lousy red)
Now that we're all fed it's time for our first view of the nightlife/sites!
Vegas is a pretty hoppin' place on a Friday night.
My first glimpse of the Bellagio water show! Absolutely gorgeous, and nearly impossible to photograph and do it justice. Obviously, I tried anyway. I'll take a photo of nearly anything. Just ask anyone who knows me. LOL
Gosh I was tired that night. The next morning, we all went to brunch at a very cute diner where the staff sings to you, and then we all split up and went our separate ways. Karen, Sibyl and Iris decided they wanted to see a show that evening with Sibyl's sister Glenda, Sofi and her friend Heather wanted to do some gambling and I was *dying* to play tourist! Chris, good sport that he is, kept me company. LOL
First stop - the M&M store of course. FOUR stories of M&M paraphanalia. Such fun!
Here I am, with the green M (It's St Patrick's day!)
And Chris, desperate for something sweet goes a little nuts -
The next stop was the MGM where were exceptionally fortunate to be able to see young lion cub Bentley. Bentley is 6 months old, weighs 90 lbs and was very playful this evening. AND he posed BEAUTIFULLY! Poor Chris - I watched Bentley for what had to have been at least an hour.
and this is my absolute favorite of Bentley - I just need to lose the gold eye reflection, dagnabit...
time for more Vegas scenery. This is a not so well lit shot of New York, New York.
We had a nice supper, and then we were out on the Strip to see the sites again!
Here's the volcano at the Mirage
and me outside the Bellagio, after another viewing of their spectacular water show.
I was quite pleased with this shot of "Paris".
The next day, Sunday, was spent eating, outlet shopping, and then... it was night time. Time to go check out Fremont Street! Karen, Chris and I went down, but Karen wanted to play blackjack, and Chris and I don't do well with smoke so we kept on playing tourist instead.
Fremont Street
Chris probably saved me from having my camera bag slashed off my shoulder this evening. Fremont St is supposed to be safer, but I felt much safer on the strip. Still, Fremont St was a very cool place to see, mostly because of the very cool neon signs,
and the spectacular light show overhead!
they were clearly proud of their big screen projection. :clap
and rightly so.
After this, I had a mudslide and was no longer capable of taking even a mediocre photo. As a matter of fact, I was too dang lazy that night to even finish taking my shoes off. Chris, being a gentleman, took the other one off for me. LOL (Karen was chaperoning - so get your minds out of the gutter folks).
And now we're up to Monday. Oh my gosh, 4 days are gone already! We found the Liberace museum, only to discover it was closed. :cry Off we went to the Venetian to check out the gondola rides and see what we might see. And what did we see? Wooden lingerie!
Just her size, don't'cha think? And if the bra fits, well, here's the panties to go with it.
Here's one of my favorite pictures of Chris and Iris
and Iris being naughty in Vegas. Should we tell Bill?
While we were all admiring the sites within the Venetian
and
Chris can't help himself, and has to try and figure out who did the lighting. LOL
Sunday had been sad, because we had to say good bye to Sofi and Heather - but now it was the end of Monday and Iris and Sibyl were leaving in the morning. To my very good fortune, Chris and Karen both had night flights home, so they were available to go exploring!
As much as I had enjoyed Vegas, I was on sensory overload and HAD to get out of the city. We headed north to Valley of Fire, and I'm soooo glad we did. It was a gorgeous day - very windy, but the temp was nice and we had a wonderful time.
They quickly learned that I meant it when I said I was a camera addict - Chris, bless him, had been well trained by his equally photo mad father and would hand the camera back and forth to me as I drove and stopped every 100 ft or so. LOL
I got down low for this first shot... I'm definitely not in east TN anymore.
and while I was down there, I took this one of Karen and Chris too. I'm rather proud of it.
they waited patiently as I got out the tripod and figured out the timer
so I could take this incredibly good, albeit CROOKED shot of the three of us! I just noticed - I don't even make it to his shoulders. Yikes, you're tall Chris! (This is not bad, just an observation!)
I think Karen had a good time
and I think Chris was too!
Chris and Karen stalking a hidden lizard.
and then we went into Petroglyph canyon, to see Mouse's hole.
first we saw they petroglyphs
and the Chris saw Mouse's hole. This was at least 15 feet down in a crevass, and he shimmied out to where he was semi over it and took the picture for me.
then we decided to climb the area! Karen, (probably smarter than either of us stayed below with the camera) and took photos. These were all at max zoom of my dSLR Olympus E500 18-180 lens, to give you some idea of how far up we were.
here's one with moderate zoom for perspective
fooling around
and another of me and my wonderfully sweet friend
as Karen waits patiently below...
I decide the bluff needs a bit of rearranging....
finally! Together again, at the base of the bluff
Chris couldn't resist getting a pit stop picture of me. *groan*
We saw some spectacularly colored ?hills? ?dunes? I'm not even sure what to call them , and this picture does not give the colors full justice, I'm sad to say.
The landscape never stopped amazing this east coast girl.
and the wind was GLORIOUS! I love windy days (when they're not COLD)
Karen, with more of the Valley behind her.
and - lesson to everyone - you'll never know what you'll find on your camera if you leave Chris alone with it for very long. LOL
you don't see this in Tennessee
A storm was blowing in later that day and gave some dazzling lighting effects.
and this one is a phallic symbol if ever I saw one...
It was sad, but eventually I did have to return my friends to Vegas to catch their flights home. I thought I'd enjoy the time alone, but I really missed having their company. Even if I couldn't keep up when Chris and Karen had the puns flying!
The next day I was up at the crack of dawn for my trip to the Grand Canyon. (tour guided).
First stop! Hoover Dam!
Next stop, Kingman AZ.
That was a HUGE train engine.
The next pics are the Grand Canyon - no explanation req'd.
and I met a few of the natives.
Yes, he is SITTING ON HER FOOT.
This fine fellow came to cheer me along as I huffed and puffed my way down the walk (8000 ft elevation, remember? I'm a valley girl myself... more like 800 ft elevation where I live)
This is my *insane* tour guide.
and my proof I really did come here...
It was a LONG day - here's Hoover dam by night.
The next day I slept in! Hooray!
That afternoon was my last big adventure. I drove out to Death Valley. Sadly, I was only able to be there about 2 hours, which barely gave me time to even realize I was there.
It's spectacular. Imagine being inside a huge sand art picture, and you'll have a glimpse of what it was like.
sunset is coming...
Night falls in the desert
and last, but probably one of the best shots of the whole trip....
Dusk at Death Valley
Last year several of us decided it would be fun to get together for a weekend in Las Vegas, and set about setting it up. Since I was travelling so far, had never seen the west, and was in desperate need of a vacation, I turned my trip into a full blown vacation - staying 3 days longer than everyone else so I could see more of the sites.
Did I mention that this was the first big trip with my new dSLR? :ivar
On the flight from Houston to Las Vegas, I got my first big visual clue that I was NOT in Tennessee anymore. No cars, no houses, no green. Just a whole lot of very beautiful but foreign landscape... Here's some of what I saw...
and then I saw this! After seeing it, my scientist friends think it's probably a meteor site - but WOW.
I also saw a forest fire...
and here's my first glimpse of Hoover Dam!
and then, finally......
I must be in Las Vegas - where else would this be the first thing you see coming off the jetway?
Woo HOOOO!!!! I'm now officially on vacation!
I saw my first casino that night, but after an employee went schizo on me when I took a photo of my friend - who knew cameras weren't allowed in casinos??? - no more pictures that night. LOL
The next morning, after breakfast, Sibyl, Karen, Iris and myself decided to see the view from the Stratosphere tower. That's me on the right.
The Stratosphere is 800+ feet in the air, and has amusement rides that swing you out over the edge and let you dangle/whirl around in mid air while looking at the parking lot a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG way down. No, I did NOT ride them!
I think we managed to hit nearly every good buffet in town while we were there. Sofi and Chris joined us on Friday. Here's Sofi, Karen and Iris after supper that evening. I tried crab legs for the first time here - MMMMMMM goood! I'd've taken a picture, but I was too busy eating. :rofl (it's in b&w because my exposure was lousy red)
Now that we're all fed it's time for our first view of the nightlife/sites!
Vegas is a pretty hoppin' place on a Friday night.
My first glimpse of the Bellagio water show! Absolutely gorgeous, and nearly impossible to photograph and do it justice. Obviously, I tried anyway. I'll take a photo of nearly anything. Just ask anyone who knows me. LOL
Gosh I was tired that night. The next morning, we all went to brunch at a very cute diner where the staff sings to you, and then we all split up and went our separate ways. Karen, Sibyl and Iris decided they wanted to see a show that evening with Sibyl's sister Glenda, Sofi and her friend Heather wanted to do some gambling and I was *dying* to play tourist! Chris, good sport that he is, kept me company. LOL
First stop - the M&M store of course. FOUR stories of M&M paraphanalia. Such fun!
Here I am, with the green M (It's St Patrick's day!)
And Chris, desperate for something sweet goes a little nuts -
The next stop was the MGM where were exceptionally fortunate to be able to see young lion cub Bentley. Bentley is 6 months old, weighs 90 lbs and was very playful this evening. AND he posed BEAUTIFULLY! Poor Chris - I watched Bentley for what had to have been at least an hour.
and this is my absolute favorite of Bentley - I just need to lose the gold eye reflection, dagnabit...
time for more Vegas scenery. This is a not so well lit shot of New York, New York.
We had a nice supper, and then we were out on the Strip to see the sites again!
Here's the volcano at the Mirage
and me outside the Bellagio, after another viewing of their spectacular water show.
I was quite pleased with this shot of "Paris".
The next day, Sunday, was spent eating, outlet shopping, and then... it was night time. Time to go check out Fremont Street! Karen, Chris and I went down, but Karen wanted to play blackjack, and Chris and I don't do well with smoke so we kept on playing tourist instead.
Fremont Street
Chris probably saved me from having my camera bag slashed off my shoulder this evening. Fremont St is supposed to be safer, but I felt much safer on the strip. Still, Fremont St was a very cool place to see, mostly because of the very cool neon signs,
and the spectacular light show overhead!
they were clearly proud of their big screen projection. :clap
and rightly so.
After this, I had a mudslide and was no longer capable of taking even a mediocre photo. As a matter of fact, I was too dang lazy that night to even finish taking my shoes off. Chris, being a gentleman, took the other one off for me. LOL (Karen was chaperoning - so get your minds out of the gutter folks).
And now we're up to Monday. Oh my gosh, 4 days are gone already! We found the Liberace museum, only to discover it was closed. :cry Off we went to the Venetian to check out the gondola rides and see what we might see. And what did we see? Wooden lingerie!
Just her size, don't'cha think? And if the bra fits, well, here's the panties to go with it.
Here's one of my favorite pictures of Chris and Iris
and Iris being naughty in Vegas. Should we tell Bill?
While we were all admiring the sites within the Venetian
and
Chris can't help himself, and has to try and figure out who did the lighting. LOL
Sunday had been sad, because we had to say good bye to Sofi and Heather - but now it was the end of Monday and Iris and Sibyl were leaving in the morning. To my very good fortune, Chris and Karen both had night flights home, so they were available to go exploring!
As much as I had enjoyed Vegas, I was on sensory overload and HAD to get out of the city. We headed north to Valley of Fire, and I'm soooo glad we did. It was a gorgeous day - very windy, but the temp was nice and we had a wonderful time.
They quickly learned that I meant it when I said I was a camera addict - Chris, bless him, had been well trained by his equally photo mad father and would hand the camera back and forth to me as I drove and stopped every 100 ft or so. LOL
I got down low for this first shot... I'm definitely not in east TN anymore.
and while I was down there, I took this one of Karen and Chris too. I'm rather proud of it.
they waited patiently as I got out the tripod and figured out the timer
so I could take this incredibly good, albeit CROOKED shot of the three of us! I just noticed - I don't even make it to his shoulders. Yikes, you're tall Chris! (This is not bad, just an observation!)
I think Karen had a good time
and I think Chris was too!
Chris and Karen stalking a hidden lizard.
and then we went into Petroglyph canyon, to see Mouse's hole.
first we saw they petroglyphs
and the Chris saw Mouse's hole. This was at least 15 feet down in a crevass, and he shimmied out to where he was semi over it and took the picture for me.
then we decided to climb the area! Karen, (probably smarter than either of us stayed below with the camera) and took photos. These were all at max zoom of my dSLR Olympus E500 18-180 lens, to give you some idea of how far up we were.
here's one with moderate zoom for perspective
fooling around
and another of me and my wonderfully sweet friend
as Karen waits patiently below...
I decide the bluff needs a bit of rearranging....
finally! Together again, at the base of the bluff
Chris couldn't resist getting a pit stop picture of me. *groan*
We saw some spectacularly colored ?hills? ?dunes? I'm not even sure what to call them , and this picture does not give the colors full justice, I'm sad to say.
The landscape never stopped amazing this east coast girl.
and the wind was GLORIOUS! I love windy days (when they're not COLD)
Karen, with more of the Valley behind her.
and - lesson to everyone - you'll never know what you'll find on your camera if you leave Chris alone with it for very long. LOL
you don't see this in Tennessee
A storm was blowing in later that day and gave some dazzling lighting effects.
and this one is a phallic symbol if ever I saw one...
It was sad, but eventually I did have to return my friends to Vegas to catch their flights home. I thought I'd enjoy the time alone, but I really missed having their company. Even if I couldn't keep up when Chris and Karen had the puns flying!
The next day I was up at the crack of dawn for my trip to the Grand Canyon. (tour guided).
First stop! Hoover Dam!
Next stop, Kingman AZ.
That was a HUGE train engine.
The next pics are the Grand Canyon - no explanation req'd.
and I met a few of the natives.
Yes, he is SITTING ON HER FOOT.
This fine fellow came to cheer me along as I huffed and puffed my way down the walk (8000 ft elevation, remember? I'm a valley girl myself... more like 800 ft elevation where I live)
This is my *insane* tour guide.
and my proof I really did come here...
It was a LONG day - here's Hoover dam by night.
The next day I slept in! Hooray!
That afternoon was my last big adventure. I drove out to Death Valley. Sadly, I was only able to be there about 2 hours, which barely gave me time to even realize I was there.
It's spectacular. Imagine being inside a huge sand art picture, and you'll have a glimpse of what it was like.
sunset is coming...
Night falls in the desert
and last, but probably one of the best shots of the whole trip....
Dusk at Death Valley
Carole, Olympus E500, 18-180
0
Comments
Hi there DustyLee,
My what a big post
Vegas is a fun place to visit, but I gotta tell you when I arrived at that Aiport I was shocked to see all those One Armed Bandits in the Terminals, and people were actually using them
The Grand Canyon is something else aint it, what a sight, it's quite breathe taking and sooooooooooo big!
You did really well with capturing your adventure all with your new camera too
Bet you saw some amazing sunsets during the trip, and some incredible sights too.
Got yourself some really nice shots DustyLee
Thanks for sharing your adventure....... Skippy
.
Skippy (Australia) - Moderator of "HOLY MACRO" and "OTHER COOL SHOTS"
ALBUM http://ozzieskip.smugmug.com/
:skippy Everyone has the right to be stupid, but some people just abuse the privilege :dgrin
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what my first view of the American West felt like. Mine was the Grand Canyon, and this desert-like park in Montana. You sure know you're not in the east anymore, don't you?
Years later, hubby, daughter and a friend of mine from the forums went to Lake Havasu and then to Las Vegas. We stopped at a different park than you did, but it's similar in looks. Like you, I don't do well with cigarette smoke in the air, so I stayed out of the casinos, but the light show at night -- just all the neon, is great. You went to many more places than I did!
I really enjoyed your photos and I'm so glad you had a great time.
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
Skippy, when I stepped off the jetway and saw the slot machines I burst out laughing. It was so "Vegas".
After seeing some of the other posts, I guess I should have split the photos up into several separate posts, eh? Oh well.
The Grand Canyon was wonderful, but I was soooo tired that I guess I didn't get the same impact. Death Valley, on the other hand. OMG. I will be going back there again. Unbelievably beautiful.
Thanks for checking out my pics from my journey. I'm hoping to someday actually understand all the wonderful things my camera can do, so I can use it to it's full capabilities. Right now, I'm just faking it.
I hope you have a WONDERFUL time. The buffet at the pelican is out of this world. I strongly advise it. :food
I'm glad you enjoyed them - it was a memorable trip, and next time I go I hope to take photos that are much better! (maybe by then I'll have figured out some of the manual settings enough to use them with confidence)
Dee, it was really amazing how much like a foreign country it felt like. The language and most of the culture was the same, but the landscape! It was absolutely unreal. My two friends humored me a lot as they're much more familiar with that type of countryside than I am. I suspect Karen found my endless fascination with the different colors amusing, while Chris, who is from Salt Lake City, enjoyed sharing the landscape he devoutly loves with me.
www.intruecolors.com
Nikon D700 x2/D300
Nikon 70-200 2.8/50 1.8/85 1.8/14.24 2.8
Good luck,
Z
my words, my "pro"pictures, my "fun" pictures, my videos.
I thought I remembered someone posting here about some tutorials etc here on the forum to help me learn how to post process my images for better pop/impact etc.
My ultimate goal is to know how to maximize the camera's abilities so that it doesn't need much tweaking, but I also want to learn how to do the post work properly. I've already seen some differences between what I've had printed and what I see on the screen, so will start the process by getting a monitor calibrator in the next month or so, but all help is greatly appreciated!
I've worked hard at learning to 'frame/compose' my shots and think I'm starting to get the hang of it, but everything else is still, for the most part, at the auto setting, point n shoot stage.
I'm really hoping to start taking some classes to understand the mechanics of it better, but I know most of it is just practice practice practice.