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Hearst Castle thru Vegas via the Mojave Desert
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Hearst Castle, located in San Simeon state park about 3.5 hours south of San
Francisco via rte 101 south then rte 46 west, is all that the picture books
and postcards portray. For a state park, the entrance fee is a little pricey
($14) but it's worth it. Mostly because America doesn't have too many
castles...well, the robber barons' houses on the Hudson in NY are also
pretty spectacular as are the old "camps" up in the Adirondacks, Monticello
in VA, and the Vanderbilt place in TN. OK, so we do have a fair number of
spectacular homes. They may not be hundreds of years old but they're as
noteworthy as Europe's. |
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Another pool shot. There is another pool at Hearst--an indoor pool at which
the late-night romances took place. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to
take flash photos there and it's too dark without flash. I had already
made the gross error of trying without success to suppress the flash while
in the dining room. The indoor pool is lined with gold-decorated tiles. |
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Tehachapi is a town located on the eastern edge of the San Joaquin Valley
and the western edge of the Mojave desert. The mountain ridge traps warm air
in the desert most of the day which releases in the afternoon, pouring
through hundreds of wind turbines--windmills! The town is surrounded by
windmills perched on the ridge. |
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The Hoover Dam. Much smaller than I expected. Good thing there are smart
people out there because I never would have figured out how to build that
thing! The tour didn't explain how they diverted the water while
under construction. It was interesting to learn that when it was built,
power generation was #5 of a list of 5 objectives preceded by 4 water
control goals. "Flower the Desert" was the motto emblazoned on the art-deco
design. |
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Vegas now has several very nice, high-end resorts. The Bellagio, from what I
can tell, is the king of luxury. The detail is great down to the floor in
reception. They have a garden room which is an atrium filled with beautiful
flowers and tons of people due to its attractiveness. And a teenage wedding
(they seemed awfully young).
This is a shot of an unusual display in front of a Venetian glass store in the garden room. These
are 6-ft+ tall glass tubes, hand blown. The photo doesn't due justice to
their brilliance. |
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Departing Vegas, north on rte 15 then east on rte 70 the scenery becomes one
photo-opp after another. This is shot in Zion National Park in Utah from a
little 5-mile scenic drive directly off of rte 15. |
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This was taken at a rest-stop off of rte 70 in Utah. |
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