A new observation wheel in Vegas

Well it’s been a quiet week in Las Vegas, we’ve been working on our kitchen remodel mostly. Almost all of the cabinets are in, and last weekend I concentrated on the new pantry. We used to have just a small area off the laundry room that we used as a pantry, when we moved in the water heater was in that closet. When built our house was all electric, but right after we moved here ten years ago the gas company started running lines in the neighborhood, so I signed up to get gas service. I knew that I wanted a gas range, so was planning ahead on that. The gas company ran a line right up to the house and installed a meter at no charge, but we did have to have at least one gas appliance to attach to, so I decided to take out the electric water heater and install a gas one out in the garage, freeing up the closet space inside. I had a plumber come out and run the lines and install the heater, and the gas company attached everything. Now, years later, I finally have my gas cooktop, it was hooked up last weekend as well so now I can say I’m cooking with gas. (old joke there somewhere).

As part of the kitchen work we closed off a door to the dining room and moved the door to the laundry room over a bit. This freed up a corner for more cabinets and a place for the refrigerator. Reconfiguring the laundry room door also gave us a small walk in pantry area, about four feet wide by six feet deep. Last weekend I installed shelving rails and bought some plywood, which I cut into shelves. B is painting them, and they will then be put in to hold all of our canned goods, small appliances and all that other junk that Americans use in the kitchen but don’t use very often, like cupcake pans and mixing bowls and such. I also got some good quality plywood and screwed it down on the bar area, to be a base for the soon to come quartz counter tops. Still have to work on the cooking island, I can’t get some of the cabinets to go together correctly and will put in more time this coming Saturday to get that straightened out. I’ve got plywood to cut for the island top, which we’ll then take down to a fabricator and have covered with stainless steel, so the cooktop will have a nice work area around it.

And now for something completely different: back at Christmas we spent a few nights at THE hotel in Mandalay Bay on the south end of the Strip. Unfortunately we didn’t get a room up high, but had a nice suite on the tenth floor that looked northeast up the Strip. This picture shows a sunrise on Christmas day.


To the right is the Mandalay Bay tower. Next to that are two structures that kind of look like palm trees. They are the base for a new ‘viewing wheel’ kind of like the Eye in London but bigger. They are about fifty feet high so far; at the base will be a shopping center and tourist area. An article in last week’s paper said the promoter for that project just ran out of money, construction has stopped, and there are pending lawsuits from sub-contractors who didn’t get paid. That seems to be a fairly common occurrence here in Vegas, where people start big projects with the hope that money will start flowing in, then their business plan does not hold up to intense scrutiny so investors decline to buy in, the project stops with some work done, and lawsuits start up from contractors and suppliers who put in time, effort and products and were not paid.

If you had hopes of riding a wheel in Vegas don’t despair, Caesar’s is building a larger one a little further up the Strip as part of a project called the Link. Harrah’s Entertainment has changed their name to Caesar’s since that article was written, and they also changed the project name to the Linq. It sounds interesting, and they have progressed along with the project which is supposed to be open by this summer, and is estimated to cost $500,000,000. The observation wheel will be 30 meters taller than the London Eye. Another place to go and spend your money.