Just back from Las Vegas

My husband was in Las Vegas last week for business and I flew out on Friday to meet him and spend the weekend. While it wasn't exactly balmy in Nevada, it wasn't bad....maybe around the mid 50s or low 60s.....sweater weather and sun. It sure beat New York, which has been below freezing for at least a week, with more cold and even more snow predicted for the coming days.

We shot this photo of the old Vegas sign while were were walking around the old part of town, not the "strip" but the run-down seedy part of town. Most of it looked pretty sad, but one bright spot was a "container park" that was a lovely family-friendly sustainably built complex of restaurants, shops and playground.  I'm sorry I didn't take a photo, because it was a great area.

I always try to visit a local quilt shop on any visit to a new city, and this time it was the Fabric Boutique Quilt Shop on W. Charleston Blvd in Las Vegas. It turned out they were having a 20% off sale on all green fabric, including any fabric that had only a tiny bit of green in it. I got a few fat quarters, and a really great pin cushion made my a local crafter, and then we headed a few more miles out of town to the Red Rock Canyon park.

It was gorgeous! I think it's a national park, with a loop road and lots of hiking and climbing trails. We were in a cab---I don't think the driver had any idea how long were were going to spend in his car when we got in!---so we didn't stop but we got to see a lot and got a good feeling for the area. 

We stayed at The Cosmopolitan hotel, on the strip, which had a bunch of high-end shops on the first two floors. One of them, a clothing store, had a glass wall that separated it from the lobby that was lined with old sewing machines. The photo above only shows a few, but there were hundreds of them, stacked floor to ceiling, that had been made by lots of different manufacturers. It was one of the first things my husband took me to see after I arrived, because he knew I'd get a kick out of it.

I was glad to see my boys when I got back, but I'm already missing the warm weather and the great food of Las Vegas. We didn't gamble, but we had a great time.