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I just came back from a 5 day trip to Las Vegas. I had a great time. There are many things to do there besides gambling, however most are based around getting money from your pocket and putting it into someone else’s.

While I was there, I took the opportunity to go to the Grand Canyon. That was really nice and I took a whole lot of pictures. I went for the helicopter tour. We landed inside the canyon for a “champagne lunch”. I was just happy to get off the helicopter for a while because it was making me sick. Before leaving I wasn’t sure I would go to the Grand Canyon because it is actually pretty far from Las Vegas. Bus tours use up your whole day (10-12 hours) but the helicopter gets you there and back in half a day and I am sure provides much better scenery. There are also tours by plane if you really don’t like the idea of a helicopter.

I also went to pick up some trekkie souvenirs at the Star Trek Experience. Unfortunately they don’t carry the souvenir I really wanted, a small phazor with sound and lights, but I did pick up some other stuff. So geeky!

Another important thing about Las Vegas is everything is larger than life. What that really translates to is: Girly girls, leave your fancy sandals at home. Las Vegas is not a place for those shoes you wear and say:”Oh, these should be ok, I’m not going to walk too much; I’m just going across the street.” Everything is far! Going to the next casino can take a good 20 minutes.

What really surprised me about Las Vegas is how wheelchair-accessible it is. Every escalator has an elevator right next to it. You don’t have to go looking around for an alternative entrance, it’s right there! It’s amazing how there seems to be no limit on the budget used to build all the huge hotels/casinos.

Enjoy the pictures!

Pictures taken at CUTC in Toronto.

While at CUSEC, I was keeping busy taking pictures of the speakers and delegates. For those who didn’t come, I bring CUSEC to you (but that’s not a reason to not come next year!)

Thursday was Chris’ bday. (Happy Birthday Chris!) We had a party at Carlos ‘n Pepe’s which Chris must have received at least 5 different books from his friends. I almost felt original by giving him Movie Gift Certificates and a Dell-Hell T-Shirt. We then went skating at 1000 de la Gauchetière. It must have been 10 years since the last time I went skating. It was fun, luckily I did not fall with my upcoming trips to CUSEC and CUTC, now would not the the time to break anything. I remember the ice being a lot smoother when I used to go skating..this ice was pretty uneven. Either way, I could barely walk home, dragging my feet the short distances I did have to walk. Hopefully, this will have prepared me for next weekend if I go skating on the Rideau Canal.

Here are my original Nature pics from the old website. I’m playing with the Photo Gallery plugin.