Atomic Testing Museum

Now that the Liberace Museum has closed, what's a thinking person to do when visiting Las Vegas?

Well, how about the Atomic Testing Museum?  As described in Frommer's:

From 1951 until 1992, the Nevada Test Site was this country's primary location for testing nuclear weapons. Aboveground blasts in the early days were visible to the tourists and residents of Las Vegas. This well-executed museum, library, and gallery space (a Smithsonian affiliate) offers visitors a fascinating glance at the test site from ancient days through modern times, with memorabilia, displays, official documents, videos, interactive displays, motion-simulator theaters (such as sitting in a bunker, watching a blast), and emotional testimony from the people who worked there. It respectfully treads that tricky line between honoring the work done at the site and understanding its terrible implications. Not to be missed, even if it's only because of the Albert Einstein action figure in the gift shop. Visitors should plan on spending at least an hour.

I'm adding an Albert Einstein action figure to my Christmas list. 

An Alternative View of Winter Sports

Westward, Ho!  What a great name for a mini-chain of motels.  I think our family stayed in all of these sometime in the 60s.

More later......

(Later the next day...)

I know for sure we stayed in one in Palm Springs.  We always went there for our Easter vacations, but we also occassionally went there in the winter.  The weather could be very warm during the day, and freezing at night, but it was definitely (and continues to be) a wonderful winter playground.

And check out Las Vegas - not a single theme hotel/casino to be seen, and I'm pretty sure that view is of the Las Vegas strip.

None of these Westward Ho's still exist, although there are Westward Ho's in Bend, Oregon; West Yellowstone, Montana; and Clovis, New Mexico.  The Las Vegas Westward Ho closed in November 2005, the Palm Springs Westward Ho has been reborn as the Ace Hotel (which actually looks pretty good), and it's not clear whatever happened to the San Diego Westward Ho.

I can't think of another brand that used a rallying cry (Westward, ho!) as its name, with the possible exception of Yahoo!  Additional examples, readers?