Vegas Baby

This week we went to Las Vegas, it is about an hour and a half from Bullhead City. Unlike the guys from “The Hangover” Victoria and I do remember what happened in Vegas and why let it stay there? We stayed at “Circus Circus”. It is an older casino right on the strip. It does show its age but our room was nice and clean.

We didn’t spend too much time there because we wanted to see the sights of the strip. We are not gamblers so we did not spend our time or money in the gaming rooms. Victoria has never been to Vegas and it has been 20+ years for me so just seeing everything was fun for us. We walked the strip looking at all the lights and sights.



This is inside a hotel



We went into a couple of the resorts to see them. These places are HUGE. Every one of them has some sort of theme and the architecture to match. We kept getting lost inside each one. They all have a shopping area and restaurants and some sort of entertainment to watch. I can see how people who stay at one of these resorts never have to leave it. They all have almost everything you need.

As the day turned into night the strip came alive with all the lights from the casinos. The way this place lights up with neon is amazing. It also came alive with all the characters that roam the streets. You do see some odd sights on the streets of Vegas.

Here's a couple of odd balls

We spent the rest of the night walking and soaking in the sights. We stopped in front of the Bellagio to see the famous fountain show. The fountains are very cool. The water goes over a hundred feet in the air and dances to a choreographed show set to music.

Upon waking the next morning I set off to find us our morning coffee. Our room was on the 5^th floor so I went down the elevator to the second floor. I walked a long hallway past all the shops and restaurants, most of which were not open, down an escalator, then down another long hall until I found Krispy Cream. I purchased two large coffees and made the trip back to the room. The round trip was about 20 minutes. Like I said these places are HUGE.

We headed out of our room in the late morning. The day before we had purchased tickets for the local bus that goes up and down the strip. We used it a bit the night before but mostly walked and our feet where soar. The bus was a great way to take in a tour of the strip. We boarded in front of our hotel and road all the way to the end. We stayed on when the bus turned around and road all the way to the other end. After the first turn around we were able to get the front seat on the upper deck. It provided great unobstructed views of everything. We stayed on all the way to Freemont St. and made the return trip up the strip. We went past the “Pawn Stars” shop and the line to get in was almost around the corner.

We ended out first class bus tour at Caesars Palace. We went into Caesar’s and roamed the halls for a while. It was now mid afternoon and we were hungry. How about a BUFFET? We decide on the Bellagio. It took about a half hour to get seated and I was getting grumpy. That happens when I am hungry. I was thinking “this better be worth it”.

Worth it, that is an understatement. This buffet had every kind of food you can imagine. Several pastas, salads, oriental food, seafood, chicken and prime rib just to mention a few. As I sat down with my prime rib (my third trip) I said to Victoria the only thing they don’t have is crab. Just then the guy at the next table sits down with a plate full of king crab legs. Time for round four. The crab was the only thing that was disappointing. It was cold and had been frozen but everything else was super. If you go to Vegas we highly recommend this buffet. Oh, did I mention this was the lunch buffet.  We ate more than we would normally eat in three days.

After grazing the buffet for a couple of hours we wondered the halls of the resort looking at the beautiful gardens and sculptures and walking off some of the pounds we had surly gained. We then hoped a bus back to our room to rest up.

We went past Fremont St. earlier on the bus and knew this was a sight we needed to see. Hop anther bus and in 15 minutes we are under the famous lighted walkway of Freemont St. The two of us walked the street looking at all the interesting sights and people.  It was fun to see some the old Vegas and Freemont had a bit more wilder and slightly seedy feel to it. We took the bus home after another long day.

We checked out of our hotel about 9:30. The one other stop I wanted to make was Rick’s Restoration. That is the place the show American Restoration is made for Discovery Chanel. Unlike Pawn Stars there was no line. We walked right in and had a short tour of the shop. There was a couple of the guys form the show working but we were not allowed to take pictures.

Rick was supposedly there and was going to come out for us to meet him. We along with several other people waited for about a half an hour but he was a no show. Oh well. We had other things to do that are more along our idea of fun than the glitz of the Vegas strip.

Red Rock Canyon is a short drive from Vegas and is part of the national parks system. It is beautiful. The red sandstone mountains are such a contrast to the desert.

We hiked down a steep trail into the red rock formation. The canyon is narrow at the bottom and has fantastic formations and unearthly colors in the rock. Victoria and I are amazed ever time we venture out into the wild places of this area. We carefully made our way through the lower area and climbed up to the sheer rock walls were we watched people scaling up them.

We walked up the trail to another area and soaked in the beauty of the mountains. Victoria and I carefully made our way down the hillside and then back up to the parking area. We drove along the scenic roadway making stops along the way for the different vantage points of the red rock.

It had been a busy few days in sin city and the surrounding area. We have seen some interesting natural and some not so natural sights.  After leaving Red Rock we made a stop at Bass Pro Shop. There are still a couple of things we want to get before heading to our summer job in Wyoming. We both were tired and ready to head back to the comfort and familiarity of our little Rollin’ Home.