Inside of the Sahara Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Before my quick trip for a conference in Las Vegas this spring, I heard the Sahara Hotel and Casino would be closing down for good – actually this upcoming weekend will be the last for this 60 year old Las Vegas icon  as it closes for good on May 16th.

Back in the day, this was one of the most popular places to “hang outs”  if you were someone famous – or, wanted to see someone famous.  The Sahara often hosted members of the Rat Pack including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.  Famous comedians like Johnny Carson have performed shows here, heck in 1964, even the Beatles stayed here!

So, I figured I better hop on the monorail so that I could get some images of the place before it was too late.  I’m kind of sorry I hadn’t photographed some of the other old hotels before they were imploded.

It is funny, typically you only have a few seconds to get a photo from inside a casino before security moves in and asks you to stop.  I had a feeling that employees about to lose their jobs might be a little more complacent.  Sure enough – I photographed away without problem. Even a security guard walked by without saying anything.

Makes me wonder what the rules are if you stay the last night at a hotel.  Will they even bother cleaning the rooms afterwords?  Can you keep the robes?  Do they bother with a room deposit?  I’m guessing things are probably pretty crazy that last night.  I also wonder what will happen to the mono-rail station.  This is the only stop on the North end of the Strip, it would be too bad to lose this convenient mass transit option – but the stop leads you right through the casino.  I suppose they will come up with some kind of temporary work around.  Anyway, good bye Sahara.

Chandelier Bar in The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The first thing you see when you enter the Cosmopolitan from the Strip at street level, or from the pedestrian over-pass is the Chandelier Bar.  The Chandelier is very popular at night, and the subject of many visitor vacation photos during the day.

The Chandelier is a three story bar covered with a multi-million dollar, 65 foot tall chandelier made from some 2 million beaded crystals.  The top two levels, which you see in the top half of the above photo is completely enclosed in crystals.  Access to the middle level is gained from a small, inconspicuous stairway from either below or above, making it a bit of what the Las Vegas press called a secret room.

The top photo is from ground level looking up, the bottom photo is from the third level looking down.

Chandelier Bar in The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Cosmopolitan along the Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The main reason we took a quick detour over to Las Vegas was to photograph The Cosmopolitan.  The Cosmopolitan will be the last of the series of new hotel / casinos to open on the Strip for some time to come.  All of these of course were all started long before the Las Vegas economy tanked.

There are two more brand new towers on the Strip that were completely enclosed before construction was stopped a couple of years ago.  Even if construction was to begin again tommorow, they would be a couple of years out before being completed – and I don’t see construction on either one starting anytime soon.  So for now, they stand as stark reminders of the economic conditions in Las Vegas.

Fortunately I have no trouble avoiding the slots when I go to Vegas – so we are probably some of the few people who make money on our trips to Vegas. 

View from a room balcony from the Cosmopolitian, Las Vegas.

Well we have taken a quick two night trip up to Las Vegas not only to photograph what is not only the most recent hotel and casino, but probably the last new hotel on the Strip for many years to come – The Cosmopolitan.  I not only wanted photos of the Cosmopolitan, but also wanted to take advantage of their amazing balcony views!

We are in one of the smallest rooms – it is still over half the size of our home!  Maybe that is more of a reflection of our home, but the place is nice.  We are here during one of the less expensive times – not only to save a bit of money, but to avoid the crowds.  Even at that, this place is still really hopping – seems to be the place to hang out these days.  Can’t imagine what the weekends are like.  I do know at times this room almost costs as much as our monthly house payment!

So, we are really here for the view and I’m doing everything I can to take advantage.  I have been shooting 3D and regular video and time-lapses, plus a wide range of stills including panoramics and HDR.  I worked late in to the night last night so that tonight after sunset we might be able to enjoy the property a bit.

Janine in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Well our website is now completely updated with photos from late summer and fall including Valley of Fire State Park.  Perfect timing – next week, we hit the road again!

Fire Canyon, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

This is a photo from 2007.  I thought this would be a really cool place for 3D video, so this past fall we hiked back in to the location with my 3D gear.  And speaking of 3D video,  my HD 3D video sampler was just featured on the 3D Vision blog today.  I am very grateful they have included the clip!  One of the nice things about being featured on this 3D Vision Blog, is that Anton  has links at the bottom of the post where you can actually download the video for viewing on your own system – keep in mind, you do need to have a 3D system to view the footage in 3D.

This is effectively the same 3D video being featured by Nvidia on their 3D Vision Live website.  I say effectively as my original video had some parallax issues which I have now fixed, and I added a few more clips including a couple more 3D time-lapse clips that I created recently in Seward.  Nvidia also has the new clip and should be updating their website with the footage in the next day or two.

Unfortunately I know many subscribers to my blog won’t be able to view these in 3D, but hopefully you will still find my progress in this new area interesting.

Inside The Forum Shops at Ceasar's Palace Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

We have updated what believe it or not is one of our most popular sections -our gallery of Las Vegas photos.  So check out the curved escalator on the left – didn’t know they could make moving stairs like that in a curve!

This is an HDR photo.  I usually don’t use this process because the results can look a little over the top unnatural, but it seems to work will on Las Vegas, probably because the place is a little over the top unnatural!

A hiker taking a break along the Flume Tail, Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Well to be more specific – instead of “hiker taking a break” it should say “Janine posing for a photo”, but you get the idea.  This was from our bike trip last fall – I need to do a write up about this awesome trail, because, well  because it was awesome!  We now have updated our Lake Tahoe photo gallery with new photos from our Fall trip.

I have been quietly working away for the past year at learning what I believe could be a new business opportunity – 3D Video.  With the likes of ESPN and Discovery coming out with 3D channels this year, I think there could be a fair amount of demand for such material.  The new methods for viewing 3D video have come a long ways since the days of the red / cyan glasses.

Well, I was able to go about it quietly in Alaska last spring and summer, but not so much on this trip last fall.  I like to blend in while I do travel photography, but my elaborate setup of multiple cameras seemed to draw a lot of attention.  People would ask questions and even take photos of me at work, it was not how I like to work.

Now you need red / cyan glasses to view the attached video, and even at that, it isn’t all that good.  You see the red / cyan does not allow for as much 3D effect as the new methods, and works terrible on red colored subjects or contrasty night scenes, like many in this video.  But for many people this might be the only way to see it – and I’m guessing most people don’t even have those types of glasses.

Fortunately, as of yesterday Nvidia has decided to include my video on their 3D Video Live website!  So, if you have a 3D monitor or TV that uses the Nvidia active 3D glasses, you can view the video in full color and 3D!  Right now my video is at the top of page two here:  3D Vision Live The thumbnail for that video is of the Golden Gate Bridge and is labeled Wild Nature Images.

To read a bit more you can check out our page for 3D HD Video.

As far as the process goes, I can say it has involved a lot of time and some expensive software and hardware and a bit of a proprietary process that I won’t get into now, but maybe in the future.

Springs Preserve, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here is another cool thing to do in Las Vegas that most visitors haven’t heard of and that is the Springs Preserve.  This is a really well done  museum that covers lots of natural history and local history information with interactive exhibits, gardens and live wildlife exhibits – tons of interesting  information about the Mojave Desert.    To learn more, visit their website at:  Springs Preserve.

Springs Preserve, Las Vegas, Nevada.

On another note.  The next few days will have us busy putting our trailer away and then making the long travel back to Alaska.  We should be home in the middle of next week – so there probably won’t be any activity here until we reach Alaska!

Colorful rock, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

This was a crazy patch of colorful rock – the color just seemed to flow through the rock, it was really cool!

Earlier this week we pulled out of Las Vegas and have headed back to California to take care of some business before we fly back to Alaska.  Actually, right now we are down in Anza-Borrgo where we intend to store our trailer for the next few months.  I gotta say, it is really nice to experience the peace and quite of this remote part of the desert!  Even though we were camped away from the Las Vegas Strip, the non-stop noise does get old after awhile.  Here, the only noise at night is the howl of coyotes – now that is my kind of noise!

Joshua Trees in Red Rock Canyon, near Las Vegas, Nevada.

There are two wonderful, relatively unknown areas near Las Vegas.  Valley of the Fire is one of them, and the other is Red Rock Canyon.  Red Rock Canyon is only a half an hour from the Strip, and has wonderful hiking trails and scenery!  This is a place that is only about a half an hour from the Las Vegas Strip!

Kayaking in the Black Canyon on the Colorado River, Nevada / Arizona.

Down stream from the Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon is one of the few places outside of the Grand Canyon where the Colorado River still sorta flows, albeit much slower then it would normally.  Saturday we went on a kayaking trip on this stretch of river and it was a blast!  We have done a lot of kayaking in the past, but never in sandals and shorts – thanks to the 80 degree weather, that was a real treat!

Next time we are in the area I think we will start from the Hoover Dam and make a two or three day trip out of it so that we can camp along the river at night – that would really be fun!

Janine kayaking in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River.

Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail leads to the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead Recreation Area, Nevada.

This is Janine riding the old railroad bed that now makes up the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail.  This is a cool trail, great for biking or walking.  It travels through 5 tunnels as is traverses its way above Lake Mead from the Visitor Center Parking lot to the Hoover Dam parking lot – about 7 miles in length if you do the round trip.  This railroad was built to assist with the construction of Hoover Dam.

For this photo, I switched to manual mode and exposed for the sunny areas outside the tunnel.  Otherwise the camera metering system would have a tough time accounting for the large dark areas.

Wildflowers, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I was surprised to find a few wildflower in Valley of Fire at the end of such a hot dry summer season.  I was thrilled to find a group of wildflowers next to one of the most colorful patches of rock I had seen!

Wave like hill in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

We spent more time yesterday hiking in the back-country of Valley of Fire.  As most of you already know, this is my favorite area in Nevada.  This cool hill kind of reminds me of The Wave in Northern Arizona – without the people and permit hassles.

Las Vegas may have fancy shows and great restaurants, and can be a lot of fun, but it still can’t compete with sweet light in a beautiful landscape like Valley of Fire.  Throw in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a cool shooting star at the end of the day and you have something that Las Vegas could never top!

Visitors enjoying Shark Reef, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada.

A cool candid moment of some visitors at the Shark Reef exhibit at the Mandaley Bay.

I hadn’t planned on following up my post on Lake Mead hitting an all time low with a couple of Las Vegas water exhibits, just the way it worked out.

Aggregate rock hill, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I found this interesting solid rock aggregate in the sea of red sandstone in the Valley of Fire.  It was like the rocks were cemented together – lots of interesting shapes and colors.  Too bad the brittlebush wasn’t blooming.

Valley of Fire State Park has been high on my list for exploring after finding this fascinating place a couple of years ago:  colorful hills – Valley of Fire.  I hope to spend more time out there in the upcoming week.

The fountain show at the Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada.

I have photos of the Belligo fountains, and I have views from high above like this, but until last night, I didn’t have the two together!

View of the Hoover Dam from the new bypass Bridge between Nevada and Arizona.

The Hoover Dam bypass bridge, officially named the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tilman Memorial Bridge (after the late Nevada governor and the late Arizona soldier and football player) finally opened to vehicle traffic last week, and to people traffic a on an attached walkway a couple of days later.  The walkway does provide a great view of the dam, but isn’t for those with a fear of heights – you are almost 900 feet above the Colorado River!  I can’t help but think this structure will be a big attraction for BASE jumpers, bungee cord jumpers and people committing suicide – at this point there really aren’t any obstructions to such pursuits.

We have been watching the construction of this massive bridge for years – it wasn’t uncommon to see workers hanging high above the river on cables doing what appeared to be very dangerous work.  The need for this bridge became more acute after 9/11 when truck traffic between Arizona and Nevada was no longer allowed to use the narrow two lane road across the top of the bridge, thus forcing them to take a longer route between the two states.  Even without truck traffic, getting across the dam could often take hours because of the flood of tourist who came to see the dam – this bridge was to bypass all that mess.

You might notice the large bath tub ring around the lake behind the dam – Lake Mead.  This is a whole different story.  About a week ago, Lake Mead hit an all-time low thanks to an ongoing drought.  The last time the water level was this low was in 1937 as the lake was actually being created.  Since 1999, the lake level has dropped 130 feet!  If it drops another 8 feet, emergency measures kick in reducing Nevada’s water supply by 6%.   This is significant, as Southern Nevada draws 90% of its water supply from this lake according to a recent article in the Las Vegas Review.  If the lake drops another 33 feet, it will begin to drop below some of the intake tubes.

Ironically, after hitting this all time low a week ago, the Las Vegas area has received about an inch and a half of rain.  But if things don’t change, it is anticipated that new record lows will be set again by next May with the arrival of hot, dry weather.

Hoover Dam bypass bridge as viewed from the top of Hoover Dam.