So, you have Reservations at the Monte Carlo, LV?

Monte Carlo hotel-casino still closed
Updated: Jan 30th. The fire-damaged Monte Carlo hotel-casino remained closed to guests Saturday while inspectors checked the ...
Welding possible factor in Las Vegas casino fire.
Columns of black smoke loomed over the Strip on Friday as flames burned atop the Monte Carlo, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and stirring memories of Las Vegas' darkest day.
The fire started just before 11 a.m. on the upper reaches of the 32-story hotel. Fueled by highly flammable construction foam, the flames quickly spread along the building's facade while firefighters standing on the roof and hanging out hotel room windows attacked them with water.
"It started with a little smoke, and I thought it was, like, kitchen smoke," said Angel Hernandez, who works at a nearby kiosk on the Strip. "The next thing I saw was the black smoke and I went, 'That's not the kitchen.' "
The plumes of smoke soon attracted hundreds of onlookers, who craned their necks and snapped pictures with camera phones from the crowded sidewalks on Las Vegas Boulevard. Meanwhile, news helicopters swirled overhead, capturing live footage of the growing conflagration that conjured images of the deadly MGM Grand fire in 1980 that killed 87 people.
Firefighters knocked down the flames by 12:15 p.m., but not before they had blackened a large swath of the building's exterior. At least 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation, but authorities reported no major injuries. Two people were transported to area hospitals because they didn't have their medications, and another because she'd fallen during the fire.
"It could have been very serious," Clark County Fire Chief Steve Smith said in commending his firefighters' aggressive attack against the blaze. "This is what we train for."
Investigators had not determined what started the fire, which was first reported by passing motorists, he said. Part of the investigation will focus on a report of welders working on the roof around the time the fire started, officials said.
Most of the fire damage was done to the building's exterior, although a handful of rooms suffered significant water damage, officials said.
Roughly 950 hotel employees and 5,000 guests were evacuated from the 3,000-room hotel and casino, which was at 97 percent occupancy, after the fire started. Monte Carlo officials ordered an "immediate evacuation," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said in a statement.
However, many guests said the building had been burning for some time before they were told to leave by employees banging on doors or a public-address announcement. Others said they didn't wait to be told to evacuate.
British tourist Matthew Hepples, in Las Vegas for a wedding, said he approached a group of housekeepers in the hall after hearing a fire alarm announcement.
"I asked the cleaners what was happening," the 35-year-old said. "They said, 'Fire drill.' They didn't seem too concerned."
He got out anyway.
Inside the Monte Carlo poker room, the gambling didn't stop even after a casino floor television came on with live footage of the fire, said Rich Vetterl, a 53-year-old chemist from North Carolina.
"It was strange playing poker and watching the building burn," he said. "It was almost like being on the Titanic as it was going down. It was surreal."
After several minutes, the dealer at the table waved her arms, stopped play and told everybody to evacuate. The poker players calmly stood up and left, with many taking time to cash out their chips, he said.
Many hotel guests complained about the hotel's evacuation procedures. Several said they never heard an alarm, and some who heard it said it didn't convey any sense of urgency.
Maryland resident Steven Siegel, who was in his room on the 25th floor, said he heard several announcements over the public-address system saying hotel officials were seeking the alarm's source. The announcements continued for nearly half an hour, he said.
"It took them 20 minutes from the first alarm to say we should get out, but when I got out, three whole floors and half a wing were burning," he said. "I don't know why they didn't evacuate people earlier. It would have been nice if they'd said, 'For your own safety, please leave your hotel room.'"
Canadian tourist Robert Drzazga said he heard the alarms inside his 17th-floor room but didn't know the building was on fire until his wife, who had stepped outside the casino and saw the smoke, called him on his cell phone.
Drzazga said many people he spoke with decided, as he did, to flee after frantic phone calls from relatives who were either watching the fire on the news or from the street below.
"The announcement said, 'We're investigating the situation.' Meanwhile, we're getting phone calls that there are big chunks of plaster falling off the building that are on fire," he said.
Eric Wappel, a 23-year-old from Indiana, learned of the fire from his mother, who called him after seeing the flames from Interstate 15.
"I was panicking because I remember the MGM Grand fire and people jumping out the windows," said Debbie Wappel, 49. "And my sons were still in there."
Both sons got out safely.
By BRIAN HAYNES, LAWRENCE MOWER and JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Where & What is this?

Answer Tomorrow

I bet you could name them without looking?

Top 10 Worst places to travel, well no surprises here and they were not on my top 10 places to visit.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2426062420080125?rpc=62
So how many did you get right?

Golden Gate Bridge

View from Tiburon The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. As part of both US Highway 101 and State Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County.
The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed in 1937 and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and the United States. In the 70 years since completion, the span length has been surpassed by seven other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City.ron hills of GG/

Building Boom or Bust?

With all the negative news on construction and new home sales, you will be pleasantly surprised this is not the case for homes in the 5 million range and up in the Bay area of Northern California.
Now that's a office job with a view of San Francisco. Look MOM!! No windows, all that is missing is his lap top. There is no vacant land plot here, this site had a older home that was gutted to make room for this 6000 sq plus home. What a view more later on this one.
View of Golden Gate from Tiburon, California
After of what seems likes weeks of rain, we had a clear day this Monday, Jan 28, 2008. Special Birthday wishes to Aquarius, wherever you are.