2017: Leaving On A Jet Plane

Although not quite as hectic as last year, 2017 saw me get on and off a plane way too many times. I am plum tuckered out. Still, nothing like a little travel to open up your eyes and broaden your horizons with new experiences. Here's the Reader's Digest version of 2017. First up in February was Nashville, Tennessee for a Board of Director's meeting. Despite a ton-o-meetings I had a whirlwind tour of Music City that included the Ryman Auditorium and Union Hotel.



In March, a quick trip to Las Vegas introduced me to the Neon Museum Boneyard...



and the Cosmopolitan Hotel. What a view from my balcony!



One month later it was off to Greenville for a Design Conference I was chairing.



May found me back in Vegas for one night to shoot the wedding of my barber at the Little Church of the West.



What a blast!



I had a slight break until September, when I boarded a plane (again) for a whirlwind trip though Virginia including Richmond:



Colonial Williamsburg:



and Charlottesville:



One month later, another conference and Board of Director's meeting for UCDA took me to Baltimore:



with a detour to Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, to see Mom:



November was fossil hunting in The Berkshires:



with a one day excursion to San Francisco in December:



None of this post documents the many additional trips to LA, Palm Springs, and other semi-local areas to which I had a number of fun photo shoots. So thankful for a week off to catch up on rest...and figure out where 2018 and will take me! Hard to believe, but not once did I set foot on a Disney property in the entire calendar year. Will that trend hold? Who knows.

See more Daveland photos at my main website.

Little Church of the West

Last weekend I paid my first visit to The Little Church of the West Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Built in 1942, this small building made of California redwood looks like it could have come from a movie set. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, I immediately took a shine to it.



The chapel was originally built as part of the Hotel Last Frontier complex on the Las Vegas Strip. It was moved a number of times over the years until 1996 when it came to rest at its current location near the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.



Lots of interesting/kitschy details can be found as you wander the grounds.





Celebrity weddings held within the walls of the Church include Betty Grable and Harry James, Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie, and Judy Garland's fourth attempt at matrimony (kissing Mark Herron in the photo below).



Elvis and Ann-Margret got hitched here in the movie "Viva Las Vegas."



The Church is still in biz, cranking out ceremonies for those who want to get hitched in Vegas.



And it's still beautiful inside.



My friend Robbie waiting at the altar for his beautiful bride to arrive.



Worth waiting for, don't you think?



Exchanging their vows:



They made it!



It was a beautiful ceremony, and while I probably will not be returning to The Little Church any time soon, I sure was glad that I got to see it!

More of my Las Vegas photos at my main website.