Saturday, December 20, 2014

Merry Christmas Las Vegas


Looking for some Yuletide activities in Las Vegas? 

Christmas Tree at Lake Las Vegas
Check out these lists to find things to do in Las Vegas over the holidays:

The Review Journal’s page includes places to drop off toys and other donations:

KLAS TV Las Vegas (Channel 8, CBS) also has a guide to all kinds of holiday things in Vegas:

Personally, I recommend Opportunity Village’s Magical Forest. 

Santa and me. I think this picture was taken at the Charleston Plaza Mall.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Are you ready for Christmas? I don’t even have my tree up yet.
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All pictures by me, Terrisa Meeks

Friday, December 12, 2014

Vegas Girl Flashback Photo Friday - Christmas and Old Vegas

Christmas in Las Vegas isn't all about glitzy displays on the Strip.


In 2011, my family and I staycationed at Lake Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. The Saturday after the holiday, Christmas decorations were out everywhere, including all over this boat at the Lake Mead Boat Harbor, which is obviously depicting Santa stashing presents for delivery on December 25 (and taking a break from the cold).
Merry Christmas, and don't sit on the boat.

When I went looking for my radio piece on KNPR about Christmas lights in Las Vegas, I found something surprising--a kind of cosmic Christmas gift--a recording my mom, Barbara Hudson, made in 2002 for KNPR's "Making Nevada Home" about celebrities in Old Vegas and the Vegas of the 60s, including a story about when I met Phyllis Diller

Have you been out to look at any Christmas lights, or seen any celebrities lately? I read somewhere that Nick Cage sightings are a thing these days.

Saturday, December 06, 2014

Chloride, Arizona - An Artistic and Ghostly Town

Chloride, Arizona, asserts that it’s the oldest continuously inhabited mining town in Arizona.  In the early 1900s, it once had 5,000 residents and was the county seat. Today, it has a population of about 350. 

Downtown Chloride
Chloride is primarily known for the Roy Purcell Murals, just outside of town, down a dirt road that was in pretty rough condition the day we drove it. My hubby and I saw sedans on the road, but I was glad we were in a high clearance vehicle.


Roy Purcell Murals
After we took in the murals, we drove through Chloride several times, amazed at the sight of the trailers, RVs, houses, shacks, historical sites, mysterious rock cairns, abandoned buildings, piles of junk, and public folk art, all mixed together. It’s a winning combination of artistic and eccentric.





Once the train depot in Chloride
Over a lunch of French fries and a beer at Digger Dave’s (located on the only corner in town with a stop sign), the bartender told us that recent flooding had made the road to the murals impassable, but Digger Dave himself had fixed the road so people could still get to the canyon.

While we were having lunch, a young woman came into the bar and ordered a veggie burger and a Corona. She smelled of patchouli and had a text book and a notepad with her. We talked about the murals. “It’s amazing energy out there, isn’t it?” she said. She told me she’d come out to help a friend with a homestead for a few weeks and had stayed a few months (and didn’t know when she’d be leaving).

It’s easy to see how you could wind up staying in Chloride far longer than you anticipated. It’s my kind of place, full of the unexplainable draw of the desert.


Have you seen the Purcell Murals  or visited Chloride?
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All pictures by me, Terrisa Meeks