Las Vegas - a Ranch and Backstage

Woke up really early, dozed off again, then woke and came downstairs where Leigh and Nikita were greeting the morning. Gilles and Leigh took Kita to school then came back and we had breakfast - and finally, some Vegemite! Following which Leigh and I sat and mattered more - this won't end any time soon.

We then headed off to Red Rock - it's pretty amazing, the backdrop to this town. Red Rock is closed for the shutdown - of course - so we park from a distance and look. Still very impressive to look at! 

And there's the Jonah trees.

Headed up to see where they hold outdoor theatre in the summer, unfortunately it's not on now. We drove up to the Spring Mountain Ranch, which was something Leigh hadn't done before, so that was nice for us to discover together. It was a great ranch, we had a bit of an explore, then they showed a video of the history of the place.

It was a cattle ranch. One of the previous owners was Vera Krupp - a German actress who owned the Krupp diamond that Richard Burton bought and gave to Elizabeth Taylor. There are photos of her, looking very glamorous and not at all like a ranch hand, but in other photos, there she is, riding the horse, looking at the cattle. Another previous owner was Howard Hughes - I wasn't aware he owned large sections of Las Vegas. The inside of the ranch is interesting, the decor is recent history, by the looks - maybe '50s or '60s.

There are a couple of trails to walk along so we had a bit of a stroll. There's a dried up creek...

All on the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada Ranges...

Next stop was Costco for some groceries. There are lots of people handing out samples of food. We tried potato fried stuff with apple sauce on it, fish in parsley sauce, Leigh tried something 'chicken'. It's a huge store - some great Christmas stuff, like a three foot nutcracker. They check your trolley against your receipt on the way out, to make sure you haven't picked up another crate of water or anything.

We then drove to the warehouse where Leigh builds sets for her theatre company. Great place, set building area, costume store, props room, office, rehearsal space, all you need for a theatre company.

Then back home to take a walk around the neighbourhood - beautiful man-made lakes. Really nice area.

And then it's off to the theatre. It's tech week for Guys & Dolls so we go down to paint some sets. It's just like old home week with Leigh and me backstage - picking up where we left off as if no time had passed. Just great!