About two weeks later than the normal once a month venture, I tried to figure out if I would go early a.m., just after the sun was peeking over the horizon, or later in the afternoon. Since my sleep schedule has been worse than I can remember it in a long, long time, I opted to sleep in the early a.m. and head out into Sunday traffic and the ‘real world’ filled with people doing tourist things. View previousupdate here.

My how the landscape has changed on the 66+ acres. I decided to park in the employee parking garage, take my pictures there – from the 10th and 6th floor, walk into Bellagio thru the employee entrance, do the Conservatory thing in daylight too, go to the roof of Bellagio’s guest parking garage and get more pictures, walk down the Strip and take more pictures, cross the street and go to the roof of the Showcase garage for more pictures, back across the Strip and take Monte Carlo Drive to Frank Sinatra and arrive back at the employee parking garage…dragging ass. I’m quite pleased with the pictures and happy to be recording the history of something I find to be totally incredible. What a project.

These are from the 10th floor, starting with the back of the property, panning right to left, Frank Sinatra Blvd. is the street on the right (or what’s left of it during the construction mess).

These are a close up of the construction below my feet, same view as above.

These are a close up of the construction in the middle – between the view of the two sets of photos above -same view as above.

From the southwest corner of the 10th floor of the garage, looking towards the strip, this is the view of the height of the buildings now.

This shot, taken a few months ago, now looks like this:

From the northeast corner of the parking garage, panning left to right, facing the Strip.

A zoom shot of the construction beside the Strip:

On the next trip out, I’m not sure how much I will even be able to photograph from the top floor of the employee garage, especially since the project is growing in leaps and bounds. I’m sure I won’t be able to get great shots of the hole that is the beginning of the Cosmopolitan simply because the buildings will be in the way. As evidenced in this picture, the Monte Carlo is disappearing behind the building.

From the roof of Bellagio’s guest parking garage. The white building on the left is one of the Jockey Club towers.

Over the wall of Bellagio’s guest parking garage, looking South, these three shots are left to right. And the firstand second oneare the hole that is the future home of the Cosmopolitan.

These two shots are between the towers of the Jockey Club, left to right, and show the front of the property bordering the Strip.

Out on the Strip, shooting blind over a green draped fence, this is what some of the ground looks like – the building in the far back, behind the blue and yellow cranes, is the employee parking garage.

This is from the Showcase garage, 11th floor, at the intersection of the Strip and Monte Carlo Drive. The foremost cranes are behind the CVS Pharmacy and stand where the Boardwalk Casino and parking garage/hotelused to stand.

Frank Sinatra is really a mess. Project City Center on the right, the freeway on the left, and I’m heading north, back to where I started from at the employee parking garage.

The backside view of the project – some of it anyway.

Done! Stick a fork in me. The whole venture took approximately 2 1/2 hours, I’m a night person so I shouldn’t have to say more. Daytime traffic and crowds make me INSANE! These photos were done a week ago on the 1st.