City center

It was a lovely New Year, a bit cold and windy but nice and sunny. We had a day of snow – looking out the window where I worked there were a few dozen flakes that fell, at home there were more but it all melted in a few minutes. Up in Summerlin they supposedly got three inches, but we didn’t drive the eight miles to go see. The mountains around all got a few feet, so now the valley is ringed with mountains that have white tops and gleam in the sunshine (shining on my shoulders as I type). Hotels were at 100% occupancy for New Years Eve, and we had 320,000 people out on the Strip watching the fireworks and freezing. But unlike New York’s Times Square people are allowed to have drinks out on the sidewalk, well, the Strip itself was closed so you could walk down the street drinking your drink of choice (only no glass allowed) and most people did. Pictures of the event show a lot of those tall souvenir drink holders that hold about a gallon of liquid. Most locals buy one and then refill it themselves with good stuff, the smart tourists drink a bit then dump in a bottle of vodka or tequila and keep going.

Everyone is off home, so we have a quiet house again. Not sure what I like better, having family visit or the quiet time after they leave. We mostly stayed at the house, but did wander down to the Strip a few times to see the new stuff and look at the Bellagio Christmas display.

Back in City Center, this is an interesting sculptural element inside of Crystals shopping center