They stayed at The Orleans, which is a little off the strip. They said when they first checked in, they were surprised that the hotel lobby was IN the casino. Yeah, no separation here. And of course, coming from CT where you’re no longer allowed to smoke indoors (thank god!), that was also a little shock because Nevada pretty much doesn’t have any laws what-so-ever. Being that I know my parents (and I) don’t really like the casinos and/or crowds of tourists, I tried to take them out of the city as much as possible to see the cool natural things (yes, there are awesome things beyond The Strip) beyond the city limits.
My Dad was watching that show Diners, Drive-In's and Dives one day and saw this little café in Boulder City called The Coffee Cup that he really wanted to check out. The first morning, we woke up and went there for breakfast. It’s a pretty cool little place decked out in water ski’s, wakeboards and surfboards. I think the owner used to be a professional at one point. The food was great. Check it out if you’re ever in the area.
After that we went to one of the marinas on Lake Mead. We were going to rent a boat for the day and spend a few hours on the water, however, that day there was a high wind advisory and since none of us are expert boaters and don’t really know the lake, we decided against it. We did get out on the water though! We jumped aboard the Desert Princess for a short tour into Black Canyon and down to the Hoover Dam.
It was fun and cool to see the Dam from that point of view. We even got a quick glance of some Big Horn Sheep.After that, we actually went to the Hoover Dam. We walked along it and read the history of it in the visitor center, which gave you a birds-eye view of the whole Colorado River side of the Dam. It really is such a mastery of engineering.
On our way back to Vegas, we stopped in Boulder City again because it’s such a cool town and went to the Boulder Dam Brewery. My Dad and I shared a flight of six sample beers and my mom ordered, what she calls, “a cloudy beer.” The waiter let her know she was the first person ever, to refer to an unfiltered beer as cloudy.
The following day, I brought my parents to Red Rock Canyon for a hike. It was a cloudy day, so a bit chilly, but a fun hike none-the-less. I had only done one hike at Red Rocks but had heard about Ice Box Canyon. We decided to check it out. It was a beautiful hike and I was able to teach my parents a little about the flora and fauna of the area. Check out this Manzanita that had a half dead, half living main branch. 
In the spring, there usually is a waterfall at the end of the canyon, however, we didn’t make it back there but we did come across some pools and streams of water. Always cool to see in the desert. 
Two of my friends and crew members, Chris and Roderick, left yesterday because their contracts were up, so on the Friday when my parents were in town, we had a BBQ at a local park. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great opportunity for my parents to meet these nine men I’ve spent the past 6 months with. It was cool having my parents finally meet my crew and vise versa. That day, the three of us also checked out Gold & Silver Pawn or as some of you might know, Pawn Stars. I haven’t really seen the show, but my parents have and I was intrigued so we drove down, waited in line and went in to check the place out. It was pretty cool and they had A LOT of stuff but we didn’t see any of the stars of the show. 
That night we went to see the Cirque du Soleil show Love at the Mirage. Its soundtrack is all Beatles songs so I knew my parents would love it (no pun intended). It was an incredible show and we all had such a blast singing and dancing in our seats. After the show ended and since we were on the strip I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to show them the Bellagio fountain. I think it’s the only cool thing on the strip and they definitely liked the water show.Saturday was their last day so we decided to check out Death Valley. They hadn’t been there either, so I figured it was definitely something to check out. I have been there twice already with work but since it’s such a massive park, there are so many things I still haven’t seen. We stopped at the visitor’s center to get a map and plan out our day. We first went to Salt Creek, which is a pretty decent creek for Death Valley.
Here there is a species of pupfish, simply put, the Salt Creek Pupfish, which is endemic to this one creek. In the summers, when the water dries up because of the ridiculous heat, the pupfish huddle in the tiny pools that remain or, if they’re lucky, they’ve made it up-stream to the springhead. Next we went to Stovepipe Wells and stopped for lunch. There are some pretty awesome sand dunes here, which of course, this picture really doesn’t do justice. 
After lunch, we headed all the way over to the Badwater Basin, which I’ve mentioned before in my blog. I really wanted to show my parents this because it’s such a bizarre place. They really enjoyed seeing it and were pretty amused by the fact that they were 282 feet below sea level while being at the base of a mountain whose peak reaches 11,000 feet. 
On our way out of the park, we stopped at Zabriskie point. It’s one of the best overlooks in the park and it was really amazing. The colors and formations of the earth were just incredible.
It was such a great visit and I’m glad I got my parents out of the city to see some cool things. I had a blast and it was so good to see them and spend time with them. Now they can cross this crazy city off their list, as can I once I move outta here.
