For our sisters’ trip this year, we met in Las Vegas with the intent of visiting Hoover Dam and national and state parks in the area. Despite planning the trip for anticipated cooler weather in October, when we arrived it was 100 degrees during the day, and we quickly pivoted to spending more time enjoying the sensory experiences that Las Vegas offers inside and choosing parks that did not require extensive hiking in the hot sun.
Places: We had our first sensory experience at the airport as the clanking noises of the slot machines welcomed us to Las Vegas. The next morning, looking for indoor experiences, we decided to splurge for tickets to a show at the Sphere. The Sphere is the venue with largest LED wrap around screen in the world, think IMAX on steroids with 4-D effects of vibrating seats, deep bass sounds, fans blowing cold air, and scents of flowers. The movie that was playing was the original Wizard of Oz adapted for the venue. Imagine the tornado scene as our seats rattled, Dorothy clung to the walls of the house calling for Auntie Em, the wind was blowing, leaves were swirling down on the audience: we were in the midst of a tornado!
Next, we visited the Arte Museum for a different type of immersive experience of sights, sounds, scents, and changing colors. Here we walked through a maze of galleries with video tech exhibits of a waterfall crashing down, ocean waves that gave the illusion of washing around our feet, a whale enjoying riding the ocean waves, a fragrant flower garden, and a “trip” to the Musee D’Orsay in Paris with images of its iconic paintings. We were dizzy from trying to take it all in!
A visit to Hoover Dam offered another type of sensory experience: heat (it was 100 degrees!) and awe (this is the tallest dam in the world). Built from 1931-1936, the dam uses Lake Mead as the reservoir for the Colorado River as it provides water and hydroelectric power primarily to Nevada, Arizona and California. We took the tour that allowed us to see and hear the turbines. The most amazing factoid for me was that the engineering was done using a slide rule. (For those of you who had a math or chemistry course after the 1950s, I have included a photo of my slide rule!)
We rounded out our trip with a visit to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in the Mojave Desert, which in its own way activates the senses of sight, smell, motion, and touch as we stopped at the
panoramic overlooks along a marked trail. 
People: The person of interest on this trip was the chef at the Cornish Pasty Co. in Boulder, Nevada which, back in the day, was the “company town” for the workers building the Hoover Dam. The restaurant is known for its many variety of pasties, and of course a sweet pie. Chef told us in great detail how to make the Banoffee Pie: 1) Start with a very thick graham cracker crust (crumbs with melted butter and a bit of sugar); 2) top with toffee made from sweetened condensed milk (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24703/caramel-sauce); 3) when the toffee layer is set, add whipped cream and sliced bananas.
Pies: Banoffee Pie. My ever-ready hand models with perfectly polished nails were eager to sample the pie, which easily served three people. We told ourselves it was “healthy” because we were eating bananas!
