pictures from a vacation

We're back from Vegas. We took the red-eye, which leaves Vegas at 11:30 pm, and lands in Toronto at 6:30 (technically 6:45, but our flight was early) in the morning — which, not incidentally, is 3:30 Vegas time. About the only good things about the red-eye are that it's reasonably easy to sleep (albeit not well), because of the dark; we also got the chance to see a visiting friend who was leaving Toronto the same day, and we actually got to watch the morning fog burn off the downtown skyscrapers as we were being driven home; that was fun.

Otherwise, it really has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

I will most likely to do a travlogue or a photoblog or something, but until then, here's a quick summary of our trip:


Hoover Dam, looking south. The new bridge is supposedly opening this week.


Vegas sunrise outside our window, before our way-too-early-in-the-morning trip to the Valley of Fire.


Valley of Fire.


The kitchen (and the view from our countertop seats) at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, our first meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant. The food, needless to say, was fabulous.


How do you follow up a Michelin-star dinner? By having brunch in a Thomas Keller restaurant: Bouchon, inside the Venetian.


A slightly blurry sign for LOVE, Cirque du Soleil's tribute to the Beatles. Slightly blurry is appropriate, as we missed the first 15 minutes of the show after I semi-collapsed from heatstroke in front of the Venetian. Good times. No, really — the show is fabulous.


Balloons inside the Bellagio. This has nothing to do with anything, except for the fact that I love balloons.


Pd's amazing photograph of the Luxor, taken outside our hotel with an improvised tripod and an 8-second exposure.