Grandma got ran over by a reindeer...

Last night I went to see Grandma Lee at the Palace Station Casino.  You might remember her from America's Got Talent last summer.  She is the most inappropriate and funny Grandma I've ever met.  Unfortunately, she lost to Kevin Skinner on America's Got Talent.  (He was the redneck chicken catcher.  Yes, you read it correctly.  He catches chickens for a living.  I'm pretty sure he only has three teeth as well.)

Here is some information about her off the Palace Station Casino website:
Grandma Lee was seen on "America's Got Talent", "Last Comic Standing", HBO & "Comic View" with Lisa Carrao. Grandma Lee is America's funniest and most outrageous grandmother who is not close to being ready for the rocking chair. Lee electrifies the stage from the moment she bursts from the starting gate until she crosses the finish line in a blaze of glory. This sassy senior has mastered the art of entertaining audiences of all age with her unorthodox views of family, television and life in general. Grandma Lee is most recognized from her recent appearances on "America's Got Talent". She has been so popular with TV audiences that she has been a special guest on three different seasons of "Last Comic Standing" including being Top Ten Favorite Comic on the show and won the Las Vegas Comedy Festival at the MGM Grand Hotel. 

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky"

Funky art that I photographed at the Red Rock Canyon visitor's center.

More pictures of Red Rock Canyon.  You can actually see the stripe of red rocks in this photograph that gives the canyon it's name.  The red rock layers are known as keystone thrusts and were formed over millions of years.  250 million years ago the earth's crust started to rise due to the shifting of tectonic plates.  This caused the water that was present at the time to be forced out and left behind salt and gypsum.  This caused some of the rocks in the former sea bed to oxidize and form the red and orange layers of rock that you see today.

Bellagio

Since we live here in Vegas it makes sense to blog about all of the amazing attractions Sin City has to offer.  One of my favorite FREE attractions is the fountain show at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.  Each performance is a unique light and water show set to music.  It's very relaxing and can be quite romantic with the right companion.  Unfortunately I have only been there with my camera and holding my camera close didn't make my heart flutter.  The hotel directly behind the fountain is the Bellagio and over to the right is Caesars's Palace.  Interesting Vegas Fact:  Obama stayed at Caesar's Palace after he was elected President in a 25,000 square foot suite.  Can you even imagine a house that big much less a hotel room?  (I will refrain from making political comments on my blog for as long as I possibly can.)  

Does my picture of the Bellagio fountains look familiar to you? Can't quite pinpoint where you've seen it before?  It's at the end of the new re-make of Ocean's 11.

Recent Photographs

  

Eye of the Tiger

 Either Sylvester Stallone has giant hands or I have miniature hands.  What do you think?
This picture was taken outside of Planet Hollywood on the strip back in October of 2009.  Many celebrities have taken time out of their busy schedules to leave their hand prints and signatures on a wall for us "regular" people to gawk at.

Apparently Sandra Bullock had a sense of humor before her husband, Jesse James, got caught red handed having an affair with a stripper.  Red Handed, get it?  

I'm Blue Daba Dee Dabba Di

I recently had my in-laws in town for a week long visit.  (Insert in-law joke here.) Just kidding.  I love them!  We had a wonderful time together.  One night we went to see the Blue Man Group.  This is a picture of my sister-in-law, Laura, with one of the Blue Men.  It's a very entertaining show that involves percussion, black lights, paint, strobe lights, toilet paper, marshmallows, and banana pudding.  I realize that description probably didn't help you understand the show any better.  Hopefully it has you intrigued so you will check out the show yourself.  I will say that we sat on the front row in the "poncho section," and ended up with banana pudding stuck in our hair.
Anybody here watch Arrested Development? Unfortunately Tobias was not in this BMG performance.  (If you don't get the joke, you aren't cool enough to know about Arrested Development. Check it out.)

I've decided that Nick and I will one day have kids for the sole purpose of sending them to the Blueman Group School.  How cool would that be? Our little blue babies thumping out amazing percussions and consuming marshmallows in mass quantity.  I'm not making this up.  Well, I am making up the part about us having babies anytime soon but the part about the Blueman Group School is totally legit.

Play Something Country

I can't say thank you enough to the USO for giving me a FREE ticket to the Brooks and Dunn Last Rodeo Tribute Concert in Las Vegas.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  It was amazing!  I have never seen so many stars in one place.  The picture above is Brooks and Dunn thanking their fans and all of the performers that appeared at their tribute.  Artists included: Rascall Flatts, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Matthew McConaughey, Taylor Swift, and George Strait to name a few.  Each performer sang a Brooks and Dunn song as a Tribute to the dynamic duo who have been performing together for 20 years.  You can see the performance on ABC May 23rd.  Watch it! It was AMAZING! 


This last picture is all the artists of the night and Brooks and Dunn singing Play Something Country.

Lions, Tigers, and Armadillos? Oh my!

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (whew!!!  That's a mouthful!) is about 17 miles from the Las Vegas strip.  It's absolutely breathtaking and you wouldn't believe that you are still in Las Vegas.  Red Rock Canyon has numerous hiking trails and if you don't want to get out of your car because it's 120 degrees outside, you don't have to!  You can drive the 13 mile loop that goes through the entire conservation area.  All of the trails are marked and rated by degree of difficulty so you don't get in over your head.  I've done some light hiking there and really enjoyed it.  Enjoy the pictures that I took a few days ago when I was there hiking and check out their website.  Definitely a MUST if you are in Las Vegas, especially if you have lost all of your money playing poker.

Viva Las Vegas, at night.

This is the new Aria Hotel and Casino.  It's about a block off of the strip.  I didn't have my nice camera with me so this is just a shot from a point and shoot but it turned out decent.  It's home to the new Cirque show, Viva Elvis.  An entire Cirque du Soleil show based on Elvis.  What will they come up with next?  Speaking of Elvis, I saw him driving a pink Cadillac last week.  Shame on me for not having my camera with me.  Nick and I did see Elvis down on Freemont street a few weeks ago.  Nick does a good Elvis impression, doesn't he???