Wednesday December 12th 2019

I was in tourist mode today. A half hour ride on the Sam’s Town shuttle brought me to Harrahs on the Las Vegas Strip. I spent about three hours checking out the center strip area and seeing what’s new since my last visit two years ago.

The area behind Harrahs and the Linq is a major construct zone. The new Ceasar’s Forum convention center is almost complete. I’m glad I didn’t drive to this area. The traffic jams and detours were extensive. Inside Harrahs wasn’t much better. There were construction walls in several areas. A quarter of the casino wasn’t accessible.

At the Flamingo many of the birds in the courtyard were huddled up sleeping and trying to stay warm. The flamingos were a little more active than the ducks and rescued Brown Pelicans, but even some of them were balled up. Needless to say, the pool was closed. There weren’t any outdoor Christmas decorations in the courtyard this year either.

I made my way over to the Bellagio to tour the Christmas display in the conservatory. Many other people had the same idea. It was difficult and slow wandering through the displays. The display was beautiful as usual. I’ve been to Las Vegas during the Christmas season most years during the last twenty, so I have seen many of the Bellagio Christmas displays. Most of the components of the display have appeared before, but they are being presented in new configurations and orientations. For example, the silver wrapped packages are often included in the displays, but I don’t recall having them overflowing from under the massive Christmas tree with the flower decorated polar bear cubs frolicking around them.

My last stop on my visit to the center strip was the Aria hotel lobby. A large Gingerbread house is front and center. This is the first year the Aria Pastry chef and his team have constructed the house. It has produced a good amount of coverage in the local media. They are selling pastries, candy and coffee from the house site.

I made it back to Harrahs in time to catch the shuttle back to Sam’s Town. The next shuttle was four hours later, so I needed to hustle.

Tuesday December 10th 2019

It was cold in the RV this morning. After turning on the heater I waited for the temperature to get out of the forties to an acceptable level before I started the day. That short return to bed broke today’s attempt to establish a better morning routine. It got cloudier as the day went by and the high temperature was only in the mid fifties.

I set out to put up a few Christmas decorations today. I found the two battery powered strings of LED lights I’ve used the last couple of years, but couldn’t find the string of regular mini lights. I used the mini lights the first Christmas I lived in my RV home and wanted to use them with the LED lights this year. This area of the RV park needs some extra Christmas lighting. It doesn’t compare well with some of the other areas of the park.

Once more something has disappeared in the tiny storage areas of my RV home. This afternoon I emptied and rearranged the contents of storage bins, cabinets and the under bed storage looking for the lights. Over a couple of hours searching, I even managed to throw a couple of things away, but I didn’t managed to find the lights. I put the two LED strings in the front window of the RV and hung a couple of snowflake ornaments on two cabinet handles. I’ll try and find some other lights later this week. It’s hard to believe that Christmas is two weeks away.

This evening I walked around the RV park taking pictures of the better Christmas light displays. Some are simple and some are elaborate, but none live up to the displays at Fort Wilderness in Florida. The occupants of the Disney park go over the top with the decorations they set up. Visitors to that campground bring trailers full of decorations. They put up lots of blow up displays and hang lights high in the trees. It is always fun to walk through that campground at Christmas time.

Monday December 9th 2019

My goal for the day was refining and building a better daily routine. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve managed to get into some bad patterns. I’m going to bed after 1AM and getting up late in the morning. This causes a late start to anything I plan to do during the day. This morning I had the alarm set for before 8AM.

When the alarm went off I got up. Instead of getting a little reward I got a minor punishment. The TV programming wasn’t the morning news and talk shows, but the political theater from the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Every network was covering the hearing even though the purpose of the hearing was to receive the reports from other congressional committees. It wasn’t to establish new information just consolidate it. Then both “sides” needed to be heard asking “did you really hear that?” or “why did you put that in the report?”. To the broadcast networks I’d say let the cable news channels cover the proceedings for the political junkies and the people in need of a civics lesson. The broadcast networks are going to summarize the information with their own little twist for the evening news anyway. If you watch two or three different summaries, you can usually back the little twists out of the message. My rant about the media is now finished.

My plan to get a faster start for the day didn’t happen. I watched too much frustration inducing coverage of the hearing. I wanted to start the day with a walk in the Clark County Wetlands park or the Henderson Bird View Preserve. When I finally got going, shortly afternoon, the bird viewing preserve was already closing. I went back to the wetlands park. The Great Blue Heron I’ve seen several times was back on his favorite rock. It stands statue still watching the water for lunch. I took way too many pictures waiting for it to do something. Right after I stop paying attention it snatched a fish from the water and flew off. I didn’t get any pictures of the heron in action.

The wetlands park was nice and quiet today. There were other people in the park, but they were all single walkers. The loud conversations between groups of two, three and more wasn’t part of the overall experience. I was able to get in a good walk and experiment with a few new settings on my cameras. Some of my pictures were different, but probably not better.

I returned to my RV home for a late afternoon meal and another walk around the RV park. A few more RV sites have been decorated for the season. I still haven’t decorated.

Sunday December 8th 2019

Today began with heavy cloud cover. The sun battled all day to make a break in the cloud cover, but never really succeeded. Long after dark the moon achieved the victory the sun failed to win. Tomorrow is forecast to be back to a sunny day.

I let the cloudy day rule my morning. I was slow to rise, slow having breakfast and generally dragging my feet at everything. Around 1:30, I went in search of the Patriots Football game. Despite it being the national late game it wasn’t on in Las Vegas. The Oakland Raiders are considered the home team in this market. They had the time slot on CBS. I found the game on a big screen at Boulder Station Casino. It started out OK, but I began to get the sense that it wasn’t the Pats day. The longer I stayed the more money I poured into a slot machine, so I gave up on the game and returned to my RV home.

I got a few more chores done around the rig and made another attempt to do the laundry. Sunday afternoon doesn’t seem to be a good time for laundry. Once again I found a waiting line. I need to try earlier in the day.

Saturday December 7th 2019

I got caught up in football watching again today. College football hasn’t been one of my must watch sports. I’d watch a game now and then, but nothing like I’ve been doing this fall. Today I going to blame the weather. The day was cloudy and drab from start to finish. The sun never made an appearance. Late in the day the wind joined in to make it an even less attractive day.

Today was the day for the conference championship football games. All to allow a mysterious selection committee to determine the final four teams to play for the overall championship and the other match ups at various bowl games. I don’t think there were many surprising winners. The score differentials were perhaps more surprising. Since I didn’t have any preference in the match ups it was and interesting, but not memorable day of football watching.

For exercise I took a couple of walks around the RV park. Many of the empty sites have been filled. I don’t know if it’s the weekend or if they are here for a longer time. The courtesy patrol was busy parking more rigs today. Most of the new arrivals seem to be from Oregon and Washington.

The other change I observed in my evening walk was more holiday decorations. A number of other RV sites have been decorated. I have to remember to put up my lights tomorrow.

Friday December 6th 2019

Today’s weather was a clone of Thursday’s. The day started bright and sunny and ended with a lot of cloud cover. The temperature peaked at sixty or slightly above. The weekend is forecast to have a higher chance of rain. Scattered showers may impact the area as the latest winter storm moves in off the Pacific ocean.

In an attempt to get my daily schedule back to normal, I went to bed early last night. It didn’t work. I was awake for quite a while listening to all of the city noises. This RV park is in the middle of the city. Some reviews have describe the neighborhood as “bad”, but really it is just an area of apartments and rental properties a block or two away from a main retail area. A few additional blocks and your in an area of new homes behind gated access. I’m sure there are many areas of Las Vegas that are much worse.

Last night the noises of the city kept me well entertained. The early noises were dominated by sounds of aircraft departing McCarran airport for points east. The main departure route out of the city seems to cross the valley just to the north of the RV park. The plane noises stopped around 1AM. At ground level there were plenty of street noises. I heard three different kinds of sirens. I’m guessing police, fire and ambulance, but I don’t know which was which. Other traffic noises could have been drag races on the main road, but was probably just somebody taking advantage of an empty street.

All of my noise listening resulted in an even later start to the day. I got very little accomplished today, but I’ll still put the day in the good column. A lazy day watching TV and reading is OK now and then.

Thursday December 5th 2019

It is hard to believe Christmas and the end of the year is so near. The weather was back to the seasonal average or a little better today. The day started clear and bright allowing the temperature to break into the sixties. Toward sunset the heavy clouds that spent the day on the horizon moved into the valley. The clouds were so heavy that there wasn’t even a hint of a sunset color display.

The short days can be a real problem when you get a slow start. Over the last week or so my day has shifted into the late night. I’ve been getting to bed later and consequently getting up later, or at least dragging my feet in the morning. Today with the arrival of the afternoon clouds it was starting to get dark by the time I was ready to start my day. Local sunset is around 4:30PM, but the Spring Mountains to the west cause a long twilight. It is completely dark before 5PM. That is a half an hour or more later than the New England area I grew up in, but more than an hour earlier than Florida where I spent last winter. Moving around a lot keeps me a little confused. It seems like only yesterday that it was still daylight after 9PM.

Most of my day was spent doing chores around the rig. For lunch I got industrious and baked a couple of pork chops. When I bought the chops I planned to grill them, but I baked them under a bread stuffing instead. The chop was good, but the clean up added to the chores around the rig. My small counter and sink can only hold so many dirty dishes. The leftover chop and accompaniment will provide another meal in a day or two.

Once again my daily exercise was a couple of walks around the RV park. I continue to be surprised how many empty sites exist in the park. I remember empty sites from two years ago, but I don’t think there were as many. The park had many more units in storage around the perimeter that are now in use as regular sites. My guess is there are more residents this year, and it just looks emptier. I’m still guessing there will be a big influx of new residents after the holidays.

Wednesday December 4th 2019

It was a rainy day. A light to moderate rain fell from the middle of the night to the late afternoon. It wasn’t constant, but persistent none the less. The weather was coming from the southwest which kept the temperature in the mid fifties and seem to contribute to fog; an oddity for the Las Vegas valley.

I ventured out this afternoon to partake in some of the activities at Sam’s Town Casino. There were a lot of people waiting to check in at the hotel front desk. The National Finals Rodeo starts tomorrow and runs until the fourteenth. When you see horse trailers in the parking lot and men with cowboy hats checking in, you know what they’re here for. Most of the people here for the NFR and associated activities are not as identifiable. The event draws people from all over North America.

I took some time to enjoy the Christmas decorations in the Mystic Falls Indoor park. In addition to many colored lights, they also have a gnome theme going on. I’m sure I’m supposed to believe they are Elfs, but I think they look more like gnomes. Prominently in the middle of everything is a big tree with toys as part of the decorations. Some of the toys are almost as big as the tree. Adding to the ambiance Christmas music was playing. Overall, it was very well done.

My visit to the casino cost a twenty dollar donation to the slot machine gods with no return at the drawing for money or free play. It’s still fun to watch the people at the drawing. There are the regulars that know exactly what’s going on. They often win because they play enough to have many entries in the drawing. On the other end of the spectrum are the out of town visitors that are participating for the first time. Watching and listening to them try and figure out what’s going on can be really comic. The drawing is an electronic selection by a computer, but one lady kept looking around for the “barrel”. Her companion was still trying to explain it to her long after the drawing was over.

Tuesday December 3rd 2019

Today wasn’t a very active or interesting day. The weather did nothing to inspire action. It was a day filled with ever increasing layers of clouds. The temperature peaked in the low fifties. Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow.

During the first of several walks around the RV park I observed several new arrivals to fill in the surprisingly vacant sites. Many of the new arrivals are from Oregon. I would speculate that the four or five days since a post Thanksgiving departure is about right for a southbound traveler from Oregon. Tomorrow might bring Washington residents with British Columbia the day after. I’m truly surprised with the number of empty sites, because I was told the park is fully booked with respect to long term stays. Maybe everyone will show up in January after the December holidays.

I wanted to do the laundry today, but found all of the machines in use with at least one person waiting when I stopped at the facility. I never got back later in the day to try again. There is a second laundry facility in the park, but it’s in the main office/clubhouse building much further away. It appeared to be equally as busy during one of my walks. I’ve got plenty of clean reserves, but heavier winter clothes take up more space in the hamper.

Monday December 2nd 2019

Today’s weather was an incremental improvement on Sunday’s. The cloud cover was thinner with a few more gaps allowing more sun to reach the ground. As a result, the temperature got into the high fifties very close to the sixty degree average for the day.

I was very slow getting started with my day. I lingered over breakfast and my morning coffee while reading the news, information and dribble on the internet. As a result, I didn’t get to do everything I’d intended today. My first stop after leaving the RV park was the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. I found a closed gate in the middle of the Henderson Water Treatment facility. The area didn’t look anything like I was expecting. A little more research after I got home determined that the facility opens at 7AM and closes at 2PM this time of year. I was there a few minutes after two. One more thing for another day.

My second task for the day was to restock the refrigerator and food cabinets. My preference to use Walmart for food shopping can be a problem this time of year. Getting stuck in line behind Christmas shoppers can be a problem. Today I went to a Walmart in Henderson. I hoped to find a better food selection and smaller crowds. I got lucky the crowds, but not the selection. The
Walmart food section was actually smaller than the other two I’ve shopped at in town. Never the less, I got everything I needed. Next week I’ll try yet another Walmart. There are plenty of them in the area.

The good thing about today’s cloud cover was the sunset. There was just the right amount of clouds to produce a vivid orange display.