Las Vegas & Grand Canyon, April 9-18, 2017

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Our travels have slowed down the past few years as we focus our free time and disposable income on Pomona Permaculture. But from April 9-13, I had the pleasure of attending the International United Steelworkers convention in Las Vegas as a delegate for my local union. I stayed at the MGM Grand, and after the convention wrapped up my partner joined me. Although my days April 10-13 were largely spent on the Convention floor, I did have some time to experience Vegas during the evenings with my fellow delegates.

On the Strip, we explored a few different casinos but my favourite was the Bellagio, where they have a choreographed light and fountain show out front every hour in the evening. Inside there's a beautiful conservatory and a glass flower sculpture in the lobby cieling. One night a person with a car rental who had been to Vegas many times drove myself and others to a few of his favourite spots - this amazingly cheap but good Szechuan restuarant at a strip mall somewhere and Frankie's Tiki Room at 1712 W. Charleston.

Another night we went to the Pinball Hall of Fame at 1610 E. Tropicana Ave, which has the world's largest pinball machine collection. There's lots of old machines, all of which you can play (as long as they work, many were under repair.) I really liked this spot, even though we got kicked out when two of the people I was with were playing table hockey too rambunctiously. At first we thought the person who worked there was joking when he told us we had to leave. Good thing I had already spent all my quarters. We had to walk all the way back to MGM because we couldn't hail a cab large enough to fit all five of us. Despite my insisting the others should go ahead, bless their hearts they didn't want to abandon me in Vegas so in solidarity we all walked the little more than two mile distance along E Tropicana Ave together. What was only an eight minute drive from the MGM to the Pinball Hall of Fame became a 45 minute walk back in brutal winds howling across vast empty acres of fenced space not yet developed. The airport is right there as well so it certainly wasn't a pedestrian friendly experience, but it was sort of a fun adventure. There was a person riding their bike against these brutal winds and busy multilane roadway and it struck me how terrible it must be to live in Vegas without a car. Any city that sucks if you don't have a car is a city that sucks period - in my book anyway.

My partner flew in and joined me on the Thursday night. We had heard that Fremont was more interesting than the Strip, so we booked the Friday night at the Golden Nugget. Vegas struck me as mostly trashy and tacky - way over the top and just not my scene. While exploring the Fremont area though we stumbled across what I consider to be the most civilized part of Vegas I experienced - the Downtown Container Park (707 Fremond St.) There we enjoyed some beers and Mexican food while children played in the massive treehouse playground area and a musician took to the stage. It was a really nice atmosphere. Just outside the park, there's a massive metal praying mantis sculpture that moves and spews fire from it's mouth at night.

We did some gambling at the El Cortez, which was like stepping back in time compared to the modern casinos you'll find along the strip. We were attracted by the $5 single deck blackjack tables. My partner won some money at roulette, his favourite game. We had some more beers at Banger Brewing (450 Fremont St.) where they have a $30 all you can drink deal from noon to close. Another nearby brewery we didn't have time to see is the Chicago Brewing Co. (202 Fremont.) Also on my list of things to do we never got to was the Neon Museum, which we realized too late you have to book ahead, and the Burlesque Hall of Fame (520 Fremont). We did more gambling instead, spending quite a bit of time ordering free ceasars (or Bloody Mary's as they are known in America) and playing roulette.

The Fremont Street Experience was kind of neat, they do this sound and light show on a huge open air canopy hourly from 6pm to midnight. It's really loud. They were doing a Greenday themed show when we were there. What I liked most about Fremont Street was there were a couple nice looking restaurants where you could actually get a healthy, vegetarian meal - so rare in Vegas where places like the Heart Attack Grill are much more emblematic. While drinking our beer at Banger Brewing, we watched many people wiegh themselves on the giant scale outside Heart Attack Grill to see if they would qualify for a free meal (anyone over 350 pounds eats for free.) After spending some time looking for a decent place to eat, we settled on a late dinner at Lillies Asian Cuisine back at the Golden Nugget, which was delicious and reasonably priced for a casino restaurant.

We were a bit disappointed with the Golden Nugget, because the pool area was under construction and I was looking forward to swimming with the shark they usually have in the tank right in the middle of the pool. But then I felt guilty for wanting the shark to be there, because really that's sort of cruel. Sharks don't belong in Vegas swimming pools for my entertainment. After one night in Fremont (which was enough quite frankly), we rented a car and headed to the Grand Canyon South Rim, where we had two nights booked at Yavapai Lodge. After checking in, we hiked some of the Rim Trail along Hermit Road before hoping on a free shuttle to get to Hermits Rest. Then we hiked to Pima Point for the sunset and took the shuttle back to Yavapai Lodge. The next morning we awoke before sunrise to watch the sun come up at Yavapai Point. We saw lots of elk and drove the length of Desert View Drive, making stops along the way at all the viewpoints. Shoshone Point Trail is an unmarked parking lot that has one of the most peaceful lookouts after a one mile easy hike. It helped it was just after sunrise when we stopped here. Desert View Watchtower was another nice spot, but busy - even early in the morning. Although most of the lookout points were crowded, it was easy to get away from all the people by hiking along a trail. The Tusayan Muesum and Ruins was a particularly quiet spot. The Grand Canyon was the perfect antidote to a week in Vegas, and also a place I had been wanting to see for a while.

After exploring Desert View Drive, we had a nap. We tried to rent bikes for the afternoon but they were sold out so we took the shuttle bus to Yaki Point and hiked more of the Rim Trail. Then we enjoyed an early dinner at the Arizona Room before strolling more of the Rim Trail and enjoying another sunset. The next morning, we were off early for the five hour drive back to Vegas. We stopped at the Hoover Dam and walked across the Bypass Bridge just before it started to get really busy. You can't see the Hoover Dam just by driving by, you have to park your car and actually spend some time to see it. Back in Vegas, we had one night booked at the Hard Rock Hotel before catching our flight back to Toronto. The pool area at the Hard Rock is huge, and some of the pools have sand in it so it's sort of like being at a beach. I also liked the vibe at Hard Rock more so than the faux glitz and glamour that distinguish so many of the other Vegas hotels. There's hard rock memorabilia throughout the hotel, and hard rock decor and historic photos in all the rooms. We took the free shuttle to the Strip and wandered around a bunch of casinos - Caesars, Planet Hollywood, Treasure Island, New York New York, etc. After such an early morning and long drive, I started to tire of the Strip scene. We walked 20 minutes or so back to the Hard Rock Hotel and ate at Hofbrauhaus across the street. At that point I was finished. I went to bed but my partner went to play a few last games of roulette - winning more money.

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Photos

El Cortez
Travel back in time by gambling at the El Cortez. Beware of second hand cigarette smoke.

MGM Pool
Despite a busy week of convention attending, I did manage to spend one lunch hour at the pool