VIVA LAS VEGAS!

Jett’s Wild Flight: Las Vegas Magic!

By: Jett Lillie, 3/12/23

We awoke, got ready, and ate breakfast. We Ubered to Las Vegas strip and checked out all the hotels and casinos.

We shopped and looked at the Bellagio’s super tall fountains and all of downtown Las Vegas!

We walked everywhere. (We also saw half-naked people on the streets dancing, but we just looked away.)

But anyway, we Ubered back to the camper in a white Tesla SUV with suicide doors!

There we rested before our Magic Show that night. We stashed candy in our to-go bags and went to the Linc Hotel to watch Mat Franco’s Magic Reinvented Show.

The first trick was he picked someone and he wrote his name on a one-hundred dollar bill. Then that person picked a present, which was full of Raman noodles! He then picked a random package and his $100 dollar bill with his name on it was inside the sealed spice packet inside the sealed raman noodle package!

Next, he did a coin trick and he picked Mommy as his volunteer. She had to inspect a coin bag to make sure there were no coins in it or secret compartments. Mat Franco made the coins magically disappear and reappear inside the empty bag that was far away from Mat, over by Mommy! WOW!

One of his last tricks was he had picked a volunteer and took selfies with that volunteer’s iphone. He then dropped the phone and the screen cracked. He then had 2 people pick out cards, a 2 and a 6, which together makes 26. And inside table 26 the phone started vibrating. Mat Franco cut it out of the table and it was the guy’s phone, not cracked, with the selfie photos on it still working! MAGIC!

Jules’ Journal: Hoover Dam & Lake Mead

By: Julianne Lillie, 3/13/23

Despite being super tired from last night and the recent time change, we woke up early and made a picnic lunch. We were all out the door before 8am and drove 45 minutes to Hoover Dam. It was nothing like I remember when I visited as a 7th grader! We had 2 security checks, the 2nd check they searched our truck bed. Pretty crazy!

We then had a bit it of an issue with parking. There was poor signage to begin with and when we finally got to the appropriate parking garage, we couldn’t park there because had an EMPTY portable gas can in our truck bed. Even though it was EMPTY! So, we had to drive all the way to Timbuktu to parking lot 9 (on the Arizona side) & then walked all the way back to Nevada! No, it wasn’t really that bad, but we sure got our steps in! (We ended up walking 4 miles all over and inside the Hoover Dam alone!) I guess I never really thought about it before… the Colorado River divides Arizona & Nevada. So, the Hoover Dam is halfway in Arizona & halfway in Nevada. We learned that on the Arizona side there are 8 turbines and on the Nevada side there are 7 turbines. And each state uses that hydroelectric power for their designated parts of the state. A large portion of southern California is also powered by Hoover Dam.

We did enjoy the beauty of the dam as we walked back across to Nevada.

Once we walked across the dam to the elevator we went through “airport security” and then bought our tour tickets. By this time it was 9:15am, just 15 minutes after they had opened. We then stood in line for 25-30 minutes before we could enter into the theatre to watch the film – yes, there were already about 30 people in line before us! They could only take 20 people on a tour at a time because that was the elevator capacity.

The film was actually really cool and very educational. It was so neat to see their old footage of how they built the dam. It took 6 companies joining together for construction only on the dam (the power plant came much later.) Here’s a time-lapse video of the dam construction. They had to build it in concrete squares with a grid of pipes pumping frigid water in around them so as to “set” the concrete much faster. It truly is an engineering marvel!

After we concluded the video, we learned that the new elevators weren’t working, so we had to walk to the old elevators and somehow miraculously crammed all 20 of us into that tiny elevator and headed all the way down. Forget about personal space!!! Everyone was touching everyone… I was sandwiched between Jason, Jaycie, and 2 other strangers. We quickly realized someone forgot to put on their deodorant this morning! (We tried not to breathe.)

Once we all filed out of the tiny elevator, we walked through the old tunnel and entered into the Nevada’s Turbine Room.

The turbines were SO big! Their tops that were sticking up from the ground were 70 feet tall, and they still had their turbine bodies down below the surface floor turning from the water. It was really neat to see it all!

After the tour we packed into the old elevator again like sardines and had to walk all the way back to the visitor center. We went through the airport security AGAIN and headed up to the exhibits. I’m sure this tour process is much more streamlined when the new elevators are working… it just seemed like such a fiasco with the old elevators… having to go out, then down, then back up, and go all the way back down again and through security. I guess we should just be thankful the tours were running at all! We had heard from others that they shut down the tours all together the past 2 days.

The scenic observation tower gave us a beautiful view of the dam. We took some photos and Jett wanted to do his creative panoramic where he appears twice!

And at this point we realized there were now SO many people everywhere! We were SO glad we gotther early! We overheard a worker say it was busier than a holiday! I think it was because it was the Monday of Spring Break. The Spring Breakers have caught up to us!

After that, we headed to the gift shop and got some souvenirs. The kids are collecting patches from every place and of course are sending post cards to everyone back home. Jason and I are collecting stickers. I’m also collecting magnets for the RV refrigerator. And the kids also got some Hoover Dam Water in a reusable metal water bottle. They both said it was the best water they’ve ever had! Ha!

Then we watched an old presentation from the 1960s using lights and a large topographical map with audio. The kids were not impressed with the old technology. But we did learn that the Boulder Canyon Project consisted of many dams along the Colorado River, not just Hoover Dam!

After that, we decided to head to Lake Mead National Recreational Area where we found a bench with a gorgeous view! Here was our view from the bench:

There we ate our picnic lunch and the weather was PERFECT! We then checked out the Visitor Center, stamped passports, bought souvenirs and kids completed their Jr Ranger Booklets. This was badge #90!

From there, we headed back to the camper for some down time. I worked on laundry while Jason made a quick grocery run. Then we ate dinner and headed to the Vegas strip again. Tonight’s show was “Jaycie’s pick” and it was at MGM Grand. She picked Cirque de Soleil “KA” which was an Asian themed warrior show incorporating amazing acrobatics and martial arts.

It was fantastic! The creativity using props, sand, fire, and lighting mixed with the sheer athleticism and acrobatic skill was so impressive & entertaining! Our chairs had speakers built into our headrests, so we had individual surround sound. Jett loved that aspect! People were hanging and swinging around everywhere. It was overall a phenomenal show!

After that we cruised the Vegas strip to take in all the beautifully twinkling lights! So that was fun to see. Another fun day in the city that never sleeps!

Also, the first night we got into Vegas we were able to meet up with a good work friend of mine who lives in Colorado. They just happen to be in Vegas for her oldest daughter's softball tournament, so we HAD to stop by and cheer the "Thundermuffins" on to Victory! It was so good to hug Tara's neck and meet her sweet family!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Sad Day Turned Happy!

By: Jaycie Lillie, 3/14/23

We were going to go on a cool helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon, but the bad weather & rain cancelled it. So instead, we went to Circus Circus Hotel & Casino and won prizes! We played all types of carnival games and played the Horse Race game several times. Jett won twice!

Jett played a throwing game and won on his first try! The lady convinced me it was easy, so I tried it out. I made 2 on my first try but needed 6 to win big.

Therefore, I had to play again for the big prize I wanted. After the next try I still needed one more but was out of credits. So, I used my mom’s credits for one last try, but didn’t get. I ended up with the small prize instead. (That was a bummer!) But Jett won another prize at another game (FIRST TRY!) and gave the Mushroom Squishmallow prize to me.

We then went home and later went out to eat at a farm-to-table restaurant called Honey Salt.

After that, we went out on a surprise ice cream date with Ansley & Elsa who just happen to be in Vegas for Spring Break!

The ice cream & company was SO good!

Our disappointing day turned out pretty great! See ya later Las Vegas!