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Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts

Friday 10 April 2020

Easter Island Dreaming

American Museum of Natural History Moai Easter Island Figure.

Location: New York City, New York, USA
Address: 200 Central Park West
Date: Sept 2007
Website: https://www.amnh.org

  Easter Island remains on our bucket list.  It is a small island located about 3220 km west of Chile and received its name from a Dutch explorer who found it on Easter Sunday 1722.  The island is famous for its large stone sculptures called moai.  Just because we have yet to make it to the island, does not mean that some of the island has not made its way to us.

American Museum of Natural History Moai Easter Island Figure.

  At the American Museum of Natural History in New York City there is a plaster cast of a moai statue on display.  The mold was made from one of the real moai during a museum expedition to Easter Island in 1935.  A copy of this cast statue comes to life and was featured in the movie Night At The Museum.  Brad Garrett voices the character that spends most of its time asking for some gum.  Sorry, gum gum.

Easter Island Statue At Sunset Park Las Vegas.

  Las Vegas always tries to copy everything so it makes sense that it has a replica of an Easter Island statue.  The Vegas strip has its own Eiffel Tower, Venice, New York City and even an active volcano among the copied structures.  The strip used to have two Easter Island statues outside the Aku Aku restaurant which was part of the Stardust casino.  The restaurant and casino are no longer around.

Easter Island Statue In Sunset Park Las Vegas

  One of the statues was moved off of the strip and placed in Sunset Park. It sits on an island in the pond at the center of the park.  Not quite Easter Island but it is still an island none the less.

Sea Life London Aquarium Shark Tank.

  London, England  has a few replica Easter Island statues as well as the real deal.  There are replica statues sunken in the shark tank at Sea Life London Aquarium.

Sea Life London Aquarium Shark Tank.

  Sand Tiger Sharks spend their days swimming around while these giant heads keep a close eye on them.  Unlike these replica statues the real Easter Island statues all reside on land although many have sunk deeper into the soil through the centuries.

Easter Island Statue At The British Museum.

  The closest we have ever come to Easter Island is at the British Museum where they have an actual statue that was transported from the island back in 1868.  This statue is called Hoa Hakananai'a.  Easter Island has requested that it be allowed to return home again.  If they let us know, we will gladly accompany it on the ride home and then we can cross another item off of our bucket list.

Map of Our World
Post # 283

Tuesday 10 March 2020

Ethel M Chocolate Factory & Cactus Garden

Ethel M Chocolates & Cactus Garden.

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Address: 2 Cactus Garden Dr.
Date: March 2020
Website: www.ethelm.com

    Franklin Mars started the Mars Candy Factory in 1911 with his wife Ethel.  Today Mars makes Snickers, Twix, Mars bars and more.  Ethel is the Ethel M from a popular chocolate factory near Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethel M Chocolates Factory.

    While in Vegas you can take a short drive to see Ethel M chocolate being made in the factory.  It is made in small batches with no preservatives.

Ethel M Enrobing Machines.

  The tour starts with a taste of some chocolate.  So far so good.  You then wander past the machines where the chocolate is prepared.  Next it is more machines that fill multiple molds and create patterns on top of the chocolates and then put them into cases and boxes.

Chocolate Wall At Ethel M Factory.

  The end result is something like the giant chocolate wall at the end of the tour.  Thanks to all the different shapes and patterns you can identify which pieces to eat first when sampling from a box.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberreies At Ethem M's In Las Vegas.

  After our tour we enjoyed a chocolate cappucino and some chocolate dipped strawberries. Very nice.

Ethel M Cactus Garden.

  Next it was outside to take a tour of the cactus garden located just behind the factory.  A little desert after dessert.

Purple Pancake Cactus At Ethel M Las Vegas.

  If you still feel like food, there was purple pancake cactus on display.  We don't think they were very edible.

Ethel M Cactus Garden Joshua Tree.

  There was a couple of Joshua Trees.

Mountains From Ethel M Cactus Garden.

As well as a nice view of the mountains.

Costa's Hummingbird Ethel M Cactus Garden.
Costa's Hummingbird Ethel M Cactus Garden.

  There was also wildlife to be found in amongst the cactus.  Above is a male Costa's Hummingbird that is known for its purplish head if caught in the right light.  Its head feathers also sort of flare out on the sides.  It was sitting surprisingly still for a hummingbird.

A Verdin At Ethel M Cactus Garden.

  A small white, grey bird with a yellow head was all over the place.  We managed one good photo of it as it moved from branch to branch faster than we could get it into focus.  These birds are fairly common in Nevada and are known as Verdin.

Ethel M Cactus Garden.

Ethel M Chocolate Fountain.

  We enjoyed our visit to Ethel M.  A great chocolatier knows that chocolate and cactus work well together late in the afternoon.

Map of Our World
Ethel M Cactus Garden
Ethel M Chocolate Factory

Post # 280

Saturday 10 December 2016

Chihuly

Chihuly At The ROM.

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 100 Queens Park
Date: Nov 2016 
Website:  www.chihuly.com

  We attended a Friday Night Live event at the Royal Ontario Museum.  This is where the museum stays open late and there are drinks and food and DJs while you browse the exhibits.  We were lucky enough that a special exhibit called Chihuly was running when we visited.

Absolutely Marble-ous

  The exhibit is named after Dale Chihuly who is known for his colourful glass creations.

Glass Bottom Boat.

  The first two works created by Chihuly and his team featured boats.  The first was full of giant coloured marbles and the second contained what looked like blue and purple flowers.

How Fragile We Are.
 Heart Of Glass.

  The next huge display was like a jungle of swirling and twisted glass.

Floral Ceiling

  Another piece seemed very familiar.  It consisted of glass in the shape of flowers sitting on top of a clear glass ceiling.

Fiori di Como

  The reason the colourful flowers seemed so familiar is that they reminded us of the Bellagio hotel lobby in Las Vegas (pictured above).  The ceiling there is covered with a work of art called "Fiori di Como".  It was created by none other than Dale Chihuly.

Glass on Glass.
 Orange Bowls.

   Chihuly was thrown through the windshield of a car in a 1976 accident which left him injured and blind in one eye.  Since then he has relied on his team to help create these beautiful glass works of art. We paused to think that the very thing Chihuly loved to create with was what took away his vision and caused him harm.

Red Spikes.
Red Burr.  Blue Icicles.

  There were many coloured bowls and pieces created to look like icicles or giant spikes. 

Neon Lights.

  Some neon blue tubes looked like sparks of light.

People in Glass Houses.

  We made our way through a walkway covered by giant curved flowers in fall colours of yellow and orange.

Artists and Their Art.
 Coloured Blankets.

  The last part of the exhibit showed aboriginal art and blankets.  We enjoyed the displays and marvelled at how Chihuly and his team had managed to coax glass into all manner of colours and shapes.  The Chihuly event runs at the Royal Ontario Museum until January 8, 2017.


This location is near Museum subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Royal Ontario Museum

Post # 149

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Las Vegas in the Fall

Falling Leaves Inside The Shops at Crystals.

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Address: 3720 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Date: Nov 2012
Website:  www.simon.com/mall/the-shops-at-crystals

  Everything is larger than life in Las Vegas. That includes the leaves falling from the ceiling inside The Shops At Crystals.  The mall was still decorated for the fall season when we visited.

Falling Leaves.

  Giant leaves hung from the ceiling and looked like they were about to land upon us.

Catch My Fall.

  They looked as if you could reach out and grab them while they floated down to the stores below.

The Pumpkin King.
This is Halloween.

  Below the leaves were some pumpkin-headed figures who looked like relatives of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas movie.

Falling Leaves Inside The Bellagio Conservatory.

  Autumn was also the theme inside the Bellagio's Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.  The Conservatory changes its displays seasonally throughout the year.

Pumpkins.

  The Conservatory was filled with bright displays featuring flowers and pumpkins.  There was also a water wheel turning in the middle of the displays

Pumpkin made of Flowers.
 Water Wheel.

  Instead of pumpkin-headed gardeners, the Conservatory has a talking tree that greets visitors as they walk past.

Welcome to Bellagio's world famous conservatory.

  One tree was all sparkles and water and it reminded us that winter would soon be on the way.  When that happens the conservatory would be full of sparkle, representing ice.  The people of Las Vegas may even have to brave temperatures as low as 8 degrees Celsius.

Sparkle and Shine.


Map of Our World
The Shops at Crystals
Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens

Post # 141