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impressed
A thing I’ve recently noticed that I like is going to botanical gardens when I’m traveling. It’s a nice way to get outside and see plants I may not be used to looking at, and to pretend that I am, in fact, the kind of person who likes yard work.
During a visit to the Springs Preserve, I was entirely enchanted at the way the unfolding spears of the agave plants embossed their shapes onto the adjacent spears. I think probably half the photos I made that day were of various agave…but (so far) I’m just posting this one.
Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024
hydrant, in the sun
I had a conference in Las Vegas. Have I mentioned that I am not one of those people who go to Las Vegas for fun, and in fact I am a person who goes out of the way to avoid it.
But it was a conference that had some stuff I needed for my (real) job, so off I went.
The conference hotel was…not great. Everyplace inside smelled like cigarette smoke from the casino and it was almost impossible to get from one place (like your room) to another place (like the conference center) without having to walk through the smoke-cloud of a casino.
However, there WAS a thing called the “Zen Walkway” or something that did allow visitors to have a chance to breathe actual, non-toxic air. And to photograph a fire hydrant.
(Disclosure: I bitched about Vegas the whole time I was there. And then on the day I came home, I got sick. It’s the karma version of “the house always wins.”)
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.14.2024
It may not be an actual oasis
Oasis:
1. A fertile spot in a desert where water is found.
2. A pleasant or peaceful area or period in the midst of a difficult, troubled, or hectic place or situation.
Oasis Motel:
Neither of those things.
Google it, and you’ll see what I mean.
Or, why don’t I save you the trouble: “oasis motel las vegas deaths” just pops right up. And from there, you can find this fairly lurid piece about the place. You can read the entire article if you want, but I can tell you that the very best part is the 4th paragraph from the end – the one that starts with this sentence: “Dead bodies at the Oasis are not something that happens once every hundred years,” says lifetime Las Vegas resident and full time prostitute Michelle “Micki” Ramiriz.
And it just gets better from there. If you want to click over and read it now, I’ll wait….
So. How about that?
Bad news, though, if you wanted to stay there, as it appears the City of Las Vegas has shut the place down for code violations and “unabated prostitution”. But it’s still listed on Trip Advisor, where it got a 5-star review from someone who seems to have misunderstood the rating system.
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 5.29.2009
October 27
The front step of the Wee Kirk o’the Heather Wedding Chapel (“World Famous Since 1940”)
Wedding Chapels, 5 of 5
And, to wind things up with the wedding chapels, here’s a little something I wrote after the first time I saw brides walking though casinos:
Nevada Impurities
The brides of Las Vegas – pretending not to notice
the notice they attract – hoist up the fronts
of hoop-skirted dresses and plow through clots
of slot machine grannies, pulling grooms
and bridesmaids in their wake.
Only the dry cleaner back home,
charge with returning the gown
to its virginal state, will see how
satin lace chiffon hems
are embroidered with casino carpet grime.
He’ll shrug as he fits giant dresses
into acid-free boxes,
betting the knowledge will stop with him.
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 5.29.2009
October 26
The Graceland Wedding Chapel
Wedding Chapels, 4 of 5
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 5.29.2009
One Day | One Image 