DESERT OASIS

Back in 2006 I was rolling with a digital camera a lot of the time, a Nikon Coolpix… I was able back then to take photos for what would one day become Photo Collages. At one point I was able to create several Collages, putting them together using Photoshop, this is one of them. Sadly the original photos for this collage and a few others were lost throughout the years. At least I have the final versions for them all. This one “DESERT OASIS” has me relaxing at The Wild Horse Pass Resort in Phoenix, AZ. The resort was scarcely populated, it was somewhat eerie, me having the whole place pretty much to myself, I only saw two other guests the whole time I was there. The trip, very last minute, was so I could spend some time with a woman I met in Las Vegas a couple weeks earlier while seeing this band called “Lamb of God” ( I have a couple Collages that are from their shows). Ali, she was a hair stylist… met her while the band and I were having breakfast at The Mandalay Bay. She was sitting and eating breakfast by herself. The drummer, Chris told me to go over and invite her to the show. I made my way over, introduced myself and proceeded to get to know her, she said she was there just taking a break from life. I said then what a perfect time to hang with me, us, and see Lamb of God play that night. She was down and we all headed to the Mandalay Bay pool area. I was staying at The Four Seasons, which is the top floors of The Mandalay Bay, no casino, no smoking, basically an oasis in the middle of Sin City. There is a private elevator with access to the casino should you be so inclined. Ali was a looker, an attractive blonde in her early 30’s with a rockin' body. When we hit the pool area she was running this tiny little two-piece bikini. Her boobs were expensive. Every head turned and everyone was checking her out. It was cool having people look and see this smoking' hot woman kicking it with me. We had a blast that night at the show and spent a couple days in Vegas together, we gambled and played Roulette with the band after the show. She and I saw the Cirque Du Soleil show there, I think it was “Mystere” we had dinner before that at Michael Mina's restaurant. While gambling, Chris, Lamb of God’s drummer said to me “You saw the size of that ring on her finger right?” I said sure but really paid it no mind… she was by herself and hanging with me. We were able to grab a night at The Hard Rock as we had to check out of our hotels. LOG’s manager was able to secure the Honeymoon Suite for herself and added a night for us to stay as she was taking off. I was able to blast a few photos of the room for what was to be a Photo Collage, I assembled those for the first time a few months ago in 2025…. took nineteen years for me to finally get to it… When the weekend and extended stay was over she and I stayed in regular contact, although she was going back home to her “Husband,” some guy in his late 50’s…. she was well taken care of, this was evident by the size of the diamond on her ring finger. When I got back to Irvine I overnighted her a cell phone to the salon where she worked. We set up a couple days for me to visit Phoenix and kick it with her. We spent a bit of time together at the Resort, she drove me around Phoenix and gave me a haircut at the salon. All the other stylists knew we were hooking up so there was mild chit-chat and whispers. The photos for this were taken before she showed up. I also took photos for another collage looking at the mountains from the balcony. You could see packs of horses running wild in the distance. It was pretty incredible. The Spa, where I’m posted up in this collage was a ghost town, as you can see in the photos, it’s almost like I jumped the fence with my backpack and grabbed a lounger… those Ferragamo flip-flops on the lounger next to me hung in there until 2012 when this Magician’s Assistant I was dating finally blew one out. I have my Palm Pilot in my Emerica backpack, my board shorts, these awesome Hurley dragon patterned ones reminiscent of a tattoo. I had purchased every color they made, I think there was three… weird what I remember and what seems important. Needless to say, she decided to gracefully exit out of what could become a serious problem for both of us. She sent the phone back a day or two after we parted ways in Phoenix that day and that was the end of that. Off to the next.

— JAKE