My impressions of Las Vegas, NV have always been tainted with negative overtones. Gambling, sex and drinking are usually the first things that come to mind when I think about this city in the desert. Eric, however, has wanted to visit ever since we first had a layover in the Vegas airport and he saw the Luxor hotel with its mile-high beam of light shooting into the sky. So when his friend from back east, Janet, said she wanted to spend some vacation time visiting out here, we saw it as an opportunity to check out America's most popular party city and see what all the hype is about. We were fortunate to have two weeks off in the month of February so we drove to Vegas and met up with Janet (who flew in from the beastly Washington D.C. snowstorm) and another friend, Mark (who drove from sunny San Diego.) Needless to say, there was only one in the group impressed by the sun and 60 degrees.
We had approximately 36 hours to see the sights of Las Vegas, try to find the best possible food that the city had to offer, and make enough money to cover the cost of living while GAP can't pay us. What an agenda! Las Vegas Boulevard is about 3 miles long and is lined with crazy hotels, casinos, fountains, and umm...boobs. On Saturday we spent most of the day on the south end of the strip wandering in and out of hotels and watching the fountain show in front of the Bellagio (a must see if you ever visit. It's free!).
We had approximately 36 hours to see the sights of Las Vegas, try to find the best possible food that the city had to offer, and make enough money to cover the cost of living while GAP can't pay us. What an agenda! Las Vegas Boulevard is about 3 miles long and is lined with crazy hotels, casinos, fountains, and umm...boobs. On Saturday we spent most of the day on the south end of the strip wandering in and out of hotels and watching the fountain show in front of the Bellagio (a must see if you ever visit. It's free!).
We explored Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, the M&M store, MGM Grand, the Excalibur and the Luxor before heading back to the Bellagio for some serious food indulgence.
After dinner we went back to our hotel suite to let our food digest and catch up on Apollo Ohno's quest for gold. Our last event of the evening was to take an elevator up the “other Eiffel tower” at the Paris hotel next door. We saw the city in all its glory from 81 stories above. I preferred not to walk to the edge even though we were caged in because it felt like it was swaying.
On Sunday morning we hit up the north end of the strip before Mark had to go home. One highlight of the north end is the Circus Circus hotel which has free circus acts all day. We watched one acrobat that nearly made our hearts stop as she did stunt after stunt in what looked like a hammock high above the stage. We thought for sure we were about to witness her last act as an acrobat. The casino at this hotel also had what seemed to be the biggest slot machine in the world. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it didn't accept our dollar.
According to the reviews, the Bellagio is said to have the best buffet in Vegas. Although there were plenty of less expensive buffets to choose from, only the Bellagio bragged about having endless king crab legs. We spent more than we have ever spent on the two of us eating out, but for 3 hours we forgot the cares of the world and feasted on crab legs, shrimp, ostrich, lamb, kobe beef, lobster ravioli, sushi, smoked salmon and the occasional vegetable, plus an array of desserts. The hit of the night was the lobster ravioli.
After dinner we went back to our hotel suite to let our food digest and catch up on Apollo Ohno's quest for gold. Our last event of the evening was to take an elevator up the “other Eiffel tower” at the Paris hotel next door. We saw the city in all its glory from 81 stories above. I preferred not to walk to the edge even though we were caged in because it felt like it was swaying.
On Sunday morning we hit up the north end of the strip before Mark had to go home. One highlight of the north end is the Circus Circus hotel which has free circus acts all day. We watched one acrobat that nearly made our hearts stop as she did stunt after stunt in what looked like a hammock high above the stage. We thought for sure we were about to witness her last act as an acrobat. The casino at this hotel also had what seemed to be the biggest slot machine in the world. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it didn't accept our dollar.
We said good-bye to Mark and "fabulous Las Vegas" and then the three of us started towards the Grand Canyon.
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