Showing posts with label climate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate. Show all posts

Monday, December 18, 2017

Vegas: Springs Preserve WaterWorks and Boom Town attractions


Ahoy there mateys!! Welcome to another rousing rhetoric from your Capt'n of this here blog and first mate Antho! In this edition we'll be bombarding your eye holes with a bounty of photographic booty from the Las Vegas Springs Preserve's WaterWorks and Boom Town exhibits! We spent a lovely afternoon stretching out our sea legs and scoping out all the landlocked locales.   


Now that's a big cactus!

Enough pirate puns? Debatable if such a thing is possible, but I'll relent for now. 
We'd already been to their animal exhibit (which could be called a zoo) and the butterfly exhibit but there was still some time yet before we had to leave for the day's end. We caught the little train over to the station in Boom Town and hurried over to WaterWorks to see if we could fit it in first. Being that this is a desert, after all, water is an essential resource for the population of Las Vegas. Despite all the glam and fancy fountains of the Strip, we've actually been in a drought for quite some time- something evident with any trip to Lake Mead to see the ring left from where the water level has plummeted. There's been an ongoing campaign to inform residents of our fair city about water conservation and in a lot of places it's working: people are switching to "desertscaping" instead of lawns, replacing water-hungry grass with hearty desert plants that thrive more readily without requiring as much hydration, but the effort must continue as there are always new individuals moving in who might not be as aware of the water situation.  The Water Works exhibit is a good way of getting families informed and involved without being too preachy. There's no cost of admission to enter Water Works beyond the initial cost of entry to the Preserve itself, so it's a fun and cost effective way to spend a fun afternoon learning and exploring with the whole clan! We had a lot of fun... so much fun, in fact, that we missed the last train ride back from Boom Town! Womp womp... no worries, though, for despite how big the Springs Preserve itself is (180 acres) the walk back from Boom Town was relatively short and easy. We even met some out of town visitors along the way and stopped for some photos with the friendly folks!


More photos after the cut~

Friday, February 17, 2012

Truth is...

I've officially been in Japan for four months now. What in the name of valhalla does this mean?

I have eaten horse meat and fish sperm [shirako], I have drawn over 2,000 people- including celebrities and comedians and in between those adventures I've wandered the streets of Tokyo- sometimes in a group and sometimes solo. I have felt many earthquakes and seen the vestigial reminders of the big one from last year. I've heard stories from people who were living here when it happened and seen many of the repairs still underway.

The condensation of all I've seen thus far has been this;
Life is relatively simple...until it's not anymore.
I need very few things to actually enjoy myself.
The generosity and resilience of the Japanese are things to be admired; things to learn from.
It is beautiful to see my perfectionism mirrored at large by a culture. I enjoy this immensely.
Enjoy every minute detail in every moment because you never know.
Take joy in a beautifully prepared meal,
the laughter of friends,
the supple slip of silk against skin,
the breath of fire, the gust of cold,
because these are all aspects of being alive...something we won't be forever.

I have no regrets in my life; I live, I love, I learn.

I'm proud of my humanity. I intend to explore it as fully as my unknown lifespan allows.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Viva Lost Vegas


(The world famous strip)
I've spent roughly 20 years living in or around the world famous city of Las Vegas. The bright lights (the brightest city in the world as seen from Space)! Gambling! Casinos! Ridiculous summer heat! Swarms of drunken tourists screaming and falling over themselves! Indeed, I call this den of madness my home town. In fact, I was BORN here which is a somewhat unique honor. The majority of 'locals' in Vegas are from far off lands, looking for gainful employment and the American dream. In fact, there are are almost 2 MILLION people living in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, making it the 28th most populous city in the entire United States. The 90s and early 2000s saw a boom in the population that later contributed to one of the worst housing busts of the US economic decline, with home prices dropping faster than most stripper's tops. The sad result of this is that there are brand new homes, neighborhoods and developments that have been left largely unoccupied (at least by humans). This creates a fascinating modern ghost town atmosphere that has been underutilized by Hollywood so far. For more information, check out this article; The Stunning Crash and Burn of Las Vegas by Michael Snyder.