Las Vegas, Nevada January 31-February 11, 2012

     Kristy and Brian have been to Las Vegas several times over the last few years and we were curious about what was attracting them to continue to go back to this fast paced night life town. Boy did we find out! Kathy drove us to the Roanoke Airport where we boarded a Delta flight to Atlanta and then went on to Las Vegas. The only unusual occurance during the whole trip was Kay getting a full pat down in all private areas in the Roanoke Airport...with three officials observing.

     Thirty-five years ago, Larry and I arrived in Las Vegas during our cross country honeymoon trip. Wow has it changed! Back then there was lots of glitz and bright lights, but now a days the city has grown ten fold. The 250,000 population has exploded to 2 million. Many of the old hotels had been imploded and rebuilt into hugh sky scrapers with unusual themes to attract folks to stop in and spend $$. We could visit the Eiffle Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, The Sphynx and a pyramid all in one day.

               The Bellagio's water shows were outstanding both during the day and at night.

 Caeser's Palace looked grander than ever lit up at night. All the casinos had miles of carpet, marble and unbelievable art work...scultures and massive paintings. Everything from the streets to the bathrooms, were super clean. The plants and fresh flower arrangements were stupendous. The casinos were decorated in Super Bowl decor as well as for the Chinese New Year Celebrations.

         Inside the Bellagio hotel, the gardens were decorated with flowers covering Chinese Dragons.
So what casinos did we frequent? We spent a day down on Fremont Street. This is the old downtown Vegas Plaza, where we came on our honeymoon. Las Vegas officials have saved a little piece of the beginning casinos as a salute to it's past history. They have closed off the street creating an outdoor mall with lots of room for siteseeing  under  covered walkways with several show stages and single person acts. We saw the very glitzy  Binion's Casino (famous for it's  murdered owner by his wife, Benny Binion...which was never proven due to lack of evidence), Glitter Gulch Casino  originially Sassy Sally's, the Golden Nugget, and the Plaza Hotel. The street was full of historical markers and had a museum for the retired neon lights that have made Las Vegas such a famous worldwide vacation venue.

Any reason for that smile on Larry's face?

In the newest section of Vegas we visited the MGM Grand, second largest casino in the world....told that China has the largest. We walked around the Bellagio, New York- New York, Planet Hollywood, Paris, South Point, and Silverton.

                    South Point Casino                                                New York-New York Casino

 

All of the casinos and hotels were spacious and overwhelming. They were beautifully lit at night and just as enthralling during the daylight hours. They seemed to take the last bit of energy out of Larry and I after each visit. It always felt good to come back to our condo to relax and reenergize. Our gated complex, The Manhatten, was a two bedroom, two bath beautifully decorated New York themed home away from home. An extensive DVD collection and the three flat sceens Direct TVs provided unlimited entertainment.We enjoyed the three well equipped exercise rooms, hot tubs, swimming pools, and conveniences of the local bus services. Many points of interest were close enough to stroll to and  the local bus services kept  the excitement of the strip just a  four mile ride. We enjoyed having this quiet, relaxing retreat away from all the action. 

Condo Sweet Condo

We didn't spend a nickel gambling during our visits (although Larry kept encouraging me to try those coin snatching slots). I can't begin to imagine the stress that gambling would have caused me after watching many losing their hundred dollar bills in a Las Vegas minute.

The people in Las Vegas are definitely the city's asset. With a wide variety of ethnic groups in the area, they were extremely friendly everywhere we went. We enjoyed many conversations with various characters on the buses, on the streets, at the cross walks, in the casinos, at the shows, and in the beautiful complex that we stayed in.

We happened to be in Las Vegas during the biggest weekend of the whole year...Super Bowl Weekend. People flocked here to participate in all the unusual Super Bowl bettings. The streets and sidewalks were packed and along with the numbers were the unusual sights. Larry and I enjoyed a lot of people watching during that weekend. We also enjoyed going to Planet Hollywood Casino to see "The Las Vegas Show" featuring Elvis, Frankie Avalon, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Sonny and Cher, Aretha Franklin, and Whitney Houston. The show was high energy with dancers, lots of feathers and boas. The whole evening was outstanding. We also enjoyed the piano player who played the banjo looking guitar one evening at South Point Casino. Larry also took me to see a movie," The Vow", an early Valentine romantic movie.

Larry and I took a day trip to Zion National Park passing through the Nevada desert into a patch of Arizona and on into Utah. The contrast of the desert and the walls of rock were so unbelievable. We enjoyed the day driving through the walls of red rock and a mile long tunnel, taking pictures of the snow covered mountains and seeing the deer and turkey run wild by the rushing stream through the park. The day ended with driving through the dark desert and coming up on the expansive lights of Las Vegas which could be seen 50 miles away. It was a spectacular sight to behold.

Yes, that is snow!

One Mile Tunnel

Deer and turkey frequently appeared during the drive through Zion National Park.

  We had an outstandingly wonderful time in Las Vegas. The time went by way too quickly. Did we do everything that we had planned to do? No way! There was just too much to see and do. Las Vegas has an endless amount of entertainment that now changes at the blink of an eye just as things had changed during the past thirty five years since our last visit. So what did we decide to do about not seeing everything? We excitedly exclaimed, " Gotta save something for the next time we visit." Larry and I left with big smiles on our faces knowing that we would return....sooner than thirty-five years in the future.