Vegas Baby, Vegas!
I just flew back from Vegas and boy are my arms tired!
What a town! Everyone should go to Vegas at least once. Everyone should see the Grand Canyon at least once. Every should go to see the Blue Man Group as often as possible.
I got to Vegas on Wednesday, October 2 for six days and my first vacation in almost 8 years. My very dear friend Leigh picked me up at the airport and we headed to the Luxor where I had booked a room. At check in, I was offered an upgrade to a jacuzzi suite in the pyramid, which I eagerly jumped at. The rooms at the luxor are HUGE. I usually stay at the Embassy Suites when I travel but was not going to miss an opportunity to sleep in a pyramid without being dead Egyptian. Also, there's no point to going to Vegas without staying at one of the casinos. Everyone I know had suggested a different place. MGM, Bally's, Ceasar's Palace, but I had to stay at the Luxor if only for the preferential seating at Blue Man Group.
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My
partner in crime, "Vegas Style"! |
After getting checked in and freshening up a bit, Leigh and I did a little exploring. We looked around the casino at the Luxor and found our way over to Excalibur. That is the first place I played the "Wheel of Fortune" slot machine. I'll warn you now, these are the "crack" of slot machines. It was a dollar machine, and after $80, it payed out $200. I cashed out and we preceeded to walk to New York, New York and MGM.
A little note about walking around Vegas. Take very comfortable shoes, and make sure to eat a good breakfast. The sheer size of casinos makes them look deceptively close when viewed from the street. I never measured, but from the entrance to the Luxor casino to the Excalibur casino (which is right next door) is approximately a half mile. The strip is eight lanes wide and a "city block" is almost a mile.
I enjoy walking around seeing things in person and walked the strip a couple of times. At one point, we walked from the Luxor to MGM, then took the tram to Bally's where I played Mom's "Wild Cherries" slot machine. From there we walked to the Bellagio (wathced the fountains), over to Ceasar's, then to the Mirage (wathced the volcano) and Treasure Island (watched the pirate ship), back to Ceasar's. All I can say is, poor Leigh. She kindly offered to drive anywhere I wanted to go, but I insisted on walking. By the time we made our way back to Ceasar's it was a little after 1 in the morning. We would have been there sooner, but I got us lost in Treasure Island and we walked out the wrong door. Rather than go back through, I took us around the block to get back to the strip, after all, how far could it be? About a mile and a half, it turns out. Add to that another mile to get through Ceasar's (stopping to play "Wheel of Fortune"). We grabbed a cab and headed back to the Luxor only to collapse in exhaustion.
So, if you've got the time and comfortable shoes, walking is a great way to see the strip. Otherwise, bring cab fare, a lot of cab fare.