Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam is a short 1-hour drive from Las Vegas. An easy day trip. If you go out there during summer make sure you can stand the insane 100+ degree heat. I still remember how hot it was. It's hard to fathom how all these men went out there and built this thing. Because it was literally out in the middle of nowhere, they had to build a town to accommodate all the workers and their families that traveled from all over the country for the job. The town of Boulder City is really nothing to write home about but Hoover Dam certainly is.

This bridge is now finished.

Ya think?

Looking towards Lake Mead - water levels were low

Big Sky!

Would suck if you fell..

More photos of Hoover Dam

Crystals at CityCenter

If you're a Commoner and enter this Luxury Shopping Center it can certainly make you feel a bit, how do we say it? POOR. I honestly can't afford a single thing in this entire place. I could definitely splurge on something sure but would I would have to work an 80 hour week to make up for it. Or open a line of credit for a single handbag. Do these stores even offer such things? Judging by the lack of people almost every time I've been in there I would say it's a safe bet that most people visiting Las Vegas also can't afford to even look in the windows.

But I still like the place. It has beautiful architecture and it's a refuge in an otherwise very loud and very boisterous Las Vegas Strip. It's like the eye of a hurricane in here.

More photos of CityCenter

Red Rock Canyon 2011

Earlier this year we went to Vegas for Ryan's birthday, which happens to fall on Saint Patrick's Day. Remind me to never go to Vegas on that particular day again. Not only was it St Patties Day but it was also NCAA Basketball Finals weekend. Lots of drunk college men are not very attractive.

There's this hidden little treasure right on the outskirts of Las Vegas. It's Red Rock Canyon. The road there is smooth and scenic. Popular for cyclists too! It's a small and manageable National Conservation Area. Everything is laid out neatly for the tourists but if you are willing to walk a bit beyond the paved path you wouldn't know there are throngs of them just beyond those bushes. The landscape is vast. The mountains are, in my opinion, beautiful and because it's got that desert quiet there's a great feeling of peace.

Here's a link to more information about Red Rock Canyon: Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association

And here's a link to more photos of Nevada on FineArtAmerica: FineArtAmerica Nevada

Hawaii 2010

I see that I haven't even posted here in 2011. It was a busy year. I now have a toddler on my hands and a full time very demanding career. I'm happy to say that it morphed from just a job into a career but at the same time it has been exhausting. I find myself spread very thin between work, family, and carving time out for myself too! Blogging definitely took a backseat. Photography did too to some degree. I didn't completely put away the camera though so I'll start here where I left off and attempt to go from there!

At the end of 2010 we went to Hawaii for our wedding anniversary. It was my first time there but Ryan had been there many times. He was actually born there but the family moved to Southern California when he was a toddler. There are a lot of pretty sights to see but when you look closely you see a lot of what we would call poverty on the mainland. Basically it just looks pretty dumpy but no one minds because the surrounding beauty is so intense it offsets any other less-than-ideal living conditions. Personally I wouldn't mind living there myself.

Hawaii was another place I used to only dream of visiting. It seemed so out of reach. Similar to the way California seemed like only a pipe dream. But hey, now I LIVE in California and going to Hawaii suddenly wasn't such an unattainable goal. My view on goals is also very different than it was way back when I used to only dream about visiting the islands of Hawaii. If you can dream it you can do it... IF you've got the cajones to make it happen. This year we are planning on our 2nd visit, this time to the island of Maui.

These are some of the photos I look on Oahu. Our visit was only a short 6 days but it was 6 days well spent.

This last one was taken at Kualoa Ranch where they filmed the series Lost. This was by far the coolest place I saw there and we just happened to discover it while out driving around the island. They have a Movie Tour you can do which was great. Highly recommended!

You can find more of my Hawaii photos at my website: http://www.itstheecotone.com and you can also see a collection of Hawaii photos on FineArtAmerica at: hawaii photos