New York, NY (Las Vegas)

This is a great picture of New York, NY.  The small one in Las Vegas. 
It might be small compared to the real city, but it looked pretty big from across the street at the MGM Grand.  I love how the colors all pop and contrast with each other.  If the real New York (which I have never been to) is as pretty as this, it might really be the greatest city in the world.

Hitachi EX-5500

The Hycroft gold mine near Winnemucca, NV recently put into service a Hitachi EX-5500 hydraulic shovel. The 5500 has a 35 cubic yard bucket and is a very impressive piece of equipment. The Hycroft gold mine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Nevada Gold Corp. Inc. (NYSE ANV).

MGM Lion

The lion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is an impressive monument on the strip. I grew up in Vegas so I still remember the old, blocky one. I wonder why they changed it?

Muir Beach, California

We went to Muir Beach, CA over Labor Day weekend 2011.  It was cold and overcast but still a lot of fun.  Someday, we'll be to a warm beach in California.

Reno Bike Trails

One of the things that I have really loved about Reno, Nevada is the abundance of bike trails.  These trails exist in most of the newer neighborhoods and the foothills to the west of town.  The problem with the ones in my neighborhood is that they only exist as paved trails where you can see them from the road.  If you follow this trail more than a couple hundred feet it turns into a single track dirt path.  There's nothing wrong with a single track bike path unless you are towing two kids in a bike trailer and have no space to turn around.  I think that the paths in the Stead neighborhood (my part of town) were just put in to entice people to buy homes.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps - 17 Day Diet Recipe



Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These Chicken Lettuce Wraps are fantastic.  I wasn't sure I could stay on the 17 day diet until my wife made these.  If this is what diet food tastes like sign me up.

Sauce:
    4 tablespoons soy sauce
    2 tablespoons splenda brown sugar
    1 teaspoon rice vinegar
    small amount of water

Filling:
    1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
    4 chicken breasts, baked and diced
    1 cup water chestnuts, diced
    1 and 1/3 cups mushrooms, diced
    1 to 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
    3 tablespoons onions, diced
    iceberg lettuce leaves

Heat oil in wok, add chestnuts, mushrooms, onions and garlic.  Heat until warm.  Add chicken and stir.  Drizzle sauce over mixture and stir.  Heat thoroughly.  Spoon mixture into lettuce leaves and serve. 

Goose

I thought it was really weird that this goose would land on the ledge outside a coworkers window one day uuntil we saw the hawk flying around the field acress the street.  The ledge must have been a safer place to wait for the hawk to go away.
When I showed this picture to my daughter I happened to have a bandaid on my finger.  Somehow, she got it into her head that the goose had bitten me and that was why I had a bandaid on my finger.  I spent the rest of the night explaining to my three year old that the goose did not, in fact, bite my finger.

Lava Beds National Monument

Skull Cave, Lava Beds National Monument (scouts for scale)

The Lava Beds National Monument in northern California is a great place for camping and hiking.  I went with the scouts over the summer.  The small overhead clearance was not my favorite thing but this cave was more my speed.  It is called 'Skull Cave' for the large numbers of animal bones originally found in the cave.  The bones have been removed but there is still ice in the bottom of the cave.  It is really weird to have it be hot and sunny on the surface and cold and icy just ten minutes away.

Pyrenees Inn Winnemucca, NV

The 'official' company hotel in Winnemucca, Nevada is the Pyrenees.  It is comfortable enough but, wow, look at the decor.  I don't think that they have updated since the 70's.  It's so bad that it's newsworthy.

Storm Clouds

I love when storm clouds roll in in the evening.  On this particular evening in Reno the whole sky was overcast and lowering.  I don't know what it was about the lighting that made the clouds look like this but it can do it more often as far as I am concerned.

Reno Aces Ballpark

As the days get shorter and the darkness creeps in earlier every evening, I can't help but think of the days when sunshine came early and stayed late.  This picture of Reno Aces Ballpark was taken on one of the sunniest days of summer in 2011.  It was a company trip to the ballpark and we had seating in a box (where this picture was taken) and more seats down behind home plate.  I spent most of the game behind home plate ( this was the closest I have ever been to a professional baseball game) and got plenty of sun.  It wasn't the worst sunburn I've ever had, and it didn't peel, but it was an uncomfortable reminder of a fun day in the sun.

Shoe Tree

This shoe tree is located along Red Rock Road to the northeast of Reno, Nevada.  The peculiarity of the shoe tree is enhanced by the fact that there are no other trees in the immediate vicinity.

Utah Airboats

We saw these Airboats (fanboats) in Green River, Utah in March of 2011.  Having a camouflage Airboat is totally a backwoods, hick thing but I'll bet that these guys had a lot of fun.

Beautiful Things

This blog is for all the beautiful things I see in life.