Hot summer days

Rob is visiting the US from Scotland. He is driving down old Route 66 from Chicago to LA, and evidently seeing quite a few things along the way. On his trip he is spending several days in Las Vegas (even though Vegas is several hundred miles off of Rt 66 he still wanted to see the town) and we had the pleasure of meeting him yesterday and showing him around some of the Strip. He is traveling with his wife, son and daughter who all seem to be enjoying the trip so far. From here they move on west down to LA and then up the coast to San Francisco. Sounds like a trip I would like to make.

We were at the Bellagio yesterday afternoon, and waited to see the big water show which takes place hourly. We were there at 3 in the afternoon, and it was 106 f (41c) while we stood on the sidewalk and watched the water boom. The water cannons at times are quite loud – like a series of firecrackers, sometimes much louder than the music. This is what we saw.


The height and amount of water is impressive – it shoots up over 140 meters (460 feet). There was a light wind, sometimes we caught a bit of spray which was refreshing in the heat. They vary the songs, but I think the two played in the above video were the ones we heard, the sun was a little higher but that is basically what we saw. The show at night is also impressive, with colored lighting effects as well. The water show runs on the hour every day, except when it’s windy. During high tourist season it’s every fifteen minutes. The walkway out front can get really packed but July is slow time in Vegas and we had lots of room in the shade of the trees.

I think I walked them a little too much – I have a tendency to just keep going. We ended up the evening by seeing the Cirque show O at the Bellagio. When we walked out of the casino into the parking garage it had cooled off, down to 104 (40c), but it felt like an oven in the big concrete parking garage with no breeze. Reminded me of my early years back in New Jersey, with no air conditioning and no breeze, just lots of humidity (which we don’t have here).


In the city people went up to Tar Beach – to sit on the flat rooftops of apartment buildings in the hope of catching some breeze. For kids they turned on the fire hydrants and we ran through the spray out in the street.

angryparsnip has been writing about hot summer days in Tucson, which is more like my time here. Her stories reminded me of when I was in the Navy stationed up in central California at Lemore Naval Air Station. It was July one year, the heat there is about the same as it is here in Vegas, over 100 every day. This album had just come out, along with Santana’s Abraxas. I remember sitting on the waterbed out in the garage (does anyone have a water bed anymore? I really liked ours) in the heat with the garage doors open onto the little dirt alley listening to those albums, so unlike anything I’d heard before. So this is an easier hot summer day, west coast style:


What are your summer days like, more frantic or laid back?