Viva Las Vegas

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Wed 7 May - Fri 9 May 2008

After the 5 hour drive from the Grand Canyon, we arrived in Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon rather tired and very sore. We checked into the Hilton with only two minor hiccups; I misplaced the passports (Sean found them in our first aid kit) and then left my handbag in the car (it was a long walk from our room to the carpark). The Hilton was one block back from the main Strip, which meant we had to get a monorail whenever we wanted to head out. The room wasn’t too bad (except for the noisy, leaky shower) and had a good view out to the hills. We booked our rooms for a bargain on Last Minute.com but soon realised we were in the wing undergoing renovation. Seriously, we walked out one morning and the hallway had been transformed with plastic sheeting and workmen everywhere. The other thing that was a bit freaky is that the Hilton is the home of Barry Manilow. So there is a huge picture of Barry plastered over the Hilton and a souvenir shop that sells everything Barry Manilow. When we needed to get our bearings we would just look out for the big Barry.

So with check in complete, we headed for the Jacuzzi to relax our stiff muscles before heading out for a quick look around in the evening. That night, we wandered through New York New York Casino and ate dinner at the Paris Casino (under the Eiffel tower), but had a reasonably early night.

Thursday was similarly lazy. We spent most of the day on the internet booking ahead for the next couple of legs of our trip, and didn’t leave the Hilton until about 5pm. We caught the monorail to one end of the strip and then slowly made our way back to the Hilton. Dinner was at the Grand Buffet at the MGM Grand and we also saw the famous Lion enclosure. The Lion in the enclosure was the 8th grandson of Leo, the original MGM Grand lion that you see roar at the beginning of movies. The Caesar casino was grand, along with the Venetian (complete with canals and Gondola rides). We missed the show at Treasure Island, but saw pirate ships moving and flames from a distance. The highlight, however, were the musical fountains at the front of the Bellagio. We had a prime viewing spot right in the middle and watched the hundreds of fountains move to Bocelli’s ‘Time to Say Goodbye’. We stayed for another three songs (they played every 15mins)!

Oh, and we didn’t win anything; I lost my money to a pokie called Outback Jack.

Before driving back into California on Friday, we stopped off at Hoover Dam for a quick tour. While the dam isn’t the biggest around these days, the tour itself was interesting. We watched a short movie first (no mention of the 107 people who died in the BBC version) and then squeezed into a lift and descended into the tunnels where the water was diverted while the dam was under construction. From there we went into the impeccable power station (Nevada side) and then to the observation platform for some photos.

We left Nevada mid afternoon and started the journey the long way round to Yosemite (due to snow and road closures on the shorter Tioga Pass).

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Photos

Diversion Tunnel
Hoover Dam