Garden Show in Las Vegas

Trapped inside a giant pyramid with no way to get out -- that is my experience of Las Vegas.

Bountea was exhibiting at the Las Vegas International Gardening Expo and I went along to help. The Expo was in the Mandalay Bay next door to my hotel (maybe 10 miles of corridor walking).

I live a sedate life at 7,400 ft in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains -- surrounded by Nature, my garden and plenty of snow. Las Vegas exists is a different universe. My first mistake was to book a room in the Luxor -- the pseudo-Egyptian hotel. All surrounding hotels run together like a giant maze, designed to trap me for eternity, requiring miles of hiking in artificially-lit giant structures. The outside world became a distant memory. On my way out to the airport shuttle, I followed the signs and found myself in a castle dungeon.

I did try to eat the "food" -- but, alas, it was not food. I craved living vegetables, real cups of tea. Thank God it was only 3 days and then home -- not enough time to starve but I could feel scurvy setting in.

The good part: the owner of Wonder Soil (http://www.wondersoil.com), Patti, helped me escape enough to remain sane -- to eat at a wonderful Japanese restaurant and to visit her factory to see the compressed coir wafers being made. Wonder Soil and Bountea are partnering in a new project that will hopefully bring our customers a truly innovative new product. More later.

I write this looking out at the pines, the snow and blue sky. Maybe it was all just a strangely disturbing dream (it seems to have made a real dent in the bank balance).