I believe that everyone reading this knows that Kylan and I spent an entire week in Las Vegas at the beginning of May. This diary entry is going to be devoted to that week. I have included a few photos on this page, but there are plenty more in our online photo album. Just click the link at the side. The photos are divided into six albums...Hoover Dam, Strip 1, Strip 2, Flamingo, Fremont Street, and Las Vegas PM.

It was kind of difficult to get used to being in Las Vegas at first. There is just so much to see and everything is on such a grand scale. It is quite an assault on the senses, especially with the constant noise from casinos and all of the lights at night. We couldn't keep ourselves away from the activity and ended up walking half of "the strip" on the first night and the other half the second night. The strip itself is about 4 miles long, but it takes forever to walk because of all of the people around. Plus, you end up stopping every few yards to look at the hotels or attractions.

On our first full day in Las Vegas (Sunday, May 4), we left the city and took a bus tour to Hoover Dam. It was a really great experience. We first stopped at the Ethel M chocolate factory for a tour and some samples. The company is owned by one of the sons of the Mars family. It makes high quality chocolates, similar to Harry London or Godiva. And there is a desert botanical garden behind the factory. I have never seen so many cacti in one place! And some of them had beautiful flowers blooming. The desert surrounding the city is absolutely gorgeous, with so many differing colorations of rock. The mountains, cliffs, and valleys were a sight to behold. And Hoover Dam was so much bigger than I expected. You never realize the size of something like that until you are standing on top of it, looking straight down! We walked across the entire top of the dam, from Nevada into Arizona and back again. And Lake Mead (behind the dam) is such a beautiful blue. By the end of the day, we were really glad that we had taken the tour.

For the rest of the week, Kylan attended his seminars everyday from 8am to 4pm. I left our hotel room (we stayed at The Flamingo) shortly after he did every morning. I sat by one of the pools for a few hours and then did some exploring. I had lunch at a different hotel/casino everyday, just so I could experience as much as possible. Of all of the buffets I tried for lunch, or Kylan and I tried for dinner, I have to say that the one at the Paris hotel was my favorite. I ate lunch there one day and, even though it was pricey compared to most of the other buffets, it had the most delicious and highest quality food. I knew Kylan would not have liked it because he doesn't enjoy cream sauces or most of the flavors involved in French cooking. But I thought it was downright decadent. I spent the remainder of each day exploring the hotels and shops. Many hotels, such as Paris, Aladdin, Bellagio, and Venetian, have large shopping areas. But it is not just a bunch of stores stuck together...each shopping area is made to look like an avenue with stone streets and outdoor facades. Most of them even have the ceilings painted to look like the sky. And the Venetian actually has a canal running through the shopping concourse and you can ride on gondolas while being serenaded by your gondalier.

We explored a different area of "the strip" every night. The first night we walked south, all the way to Mandalay Bay, stopping at Aladdin for dinner. The next night we walked north, to the Riviera, and had dinner at one of the older casinos, Westward Ho. On the walk back to our hotel we caught the pirate battle at Treasure Island and the erupting volcano at The Mirage. Monday night we had dinner at the Flamingo and then saw the dancing fountains at The Bellagio...it was beautiful. Tuesday was the night we had tickets to "Crazy Girls." Instead of walking, we tried out the local bus, which wasn't too bad. We ate at the Riviera buffet and then saw the show. It was really well-done and had good production value. On Wednesday we saw the Flamingo's lounge show "Bottom's Up". It's a vaudeville-style show with dancing girls (and guys) and some pretty corny skits and jokes. But it only cost the price of one drink per person to get in, so we couldn't complain. Later that night we took a shuttle to the Rio, which is a mile or so away from the strip. We ate dinner there and saw the Masquerade in the Sky show which has floats suspended over the casino. Thursday we did old Vegas. We took the bus downtown to check out the Fremont Street Experience. A few years ago, the city closed Fremont street to traffic and erected a huge canopy overhead with over two million lights in it. Every night, on the hour, the casinos' signs are turned off and there is a light show on the canopy. We saw the disco show...it was really cool. And it was pretty neat to see the classic casinos like Binion's Horseshoe and the Golden Nugget.

Overall, we had a great time in Las Vegas. I'll admit that we did gamble a little, but it was only on slot machines and video poker, mostly pennies and nickels at that. Kylan didn't do too well, but I won enough to pay for a couple of meals and some souvenirs. Plus we got lots of free drinks, so we ended up breaking even. We only played for fun anyway. And we discovered that there is so much to do in Las Vegas without gambling at all. Neither one of us really wanted to leave. We had gotten used to being there, seeing the mountains everyday and waking up to the Eiffel Tower outside our hotel window. It really is a great town...not trashy or tacky like I feared it might be. There is no doubt that we will be going back someday.

Bye for now!
D.


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(Keep in mind that this one is #30.)