Stopover in Las Vegas
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011May 30th-June 2nd
On the way to Vegas we stopped off in the Valley of Fire State Park. Just the name was draw enough to make this little detour. In fact it’s just more red rocks- though impressive, we’re a little burnt out on cool rocks and left after a picnic lunch and a quick hike to see some cool pictographs.
Neither Fabien nor I are really into gambling or shopping, but Vegas was a stop back in “civilization” for a couple of days. We got a a room at the Days Inn Wild Wild West Gambling Saloon just off the strip for a mere $27 per night. For this price, we also had a big American breakfast at Denny’s and a nice swimming pool and jacuzzi. It was just what we needed for a couple of days of R&R on a budget.
Part of our stay was catching up on mundane chores- haircuts for both of us, doing our French taxes, laundry, sorting pictures, etc. but we also had some time to go play in Vegas. We were amazed by how crowded the strip and the casinos were. I thought we were in an economic crisis (or maybe we are and gambling is a last resort solution.) We wandered through the MGM Grand where we got invited to screen some new TV shows- the line was long though so we passed. Then we wandered down the strip by New York, New York, Paris, the Venetian, the Bellagio with its cool fountains, Caesar’s Palace, the Flamingo all the way to Circus Circus where we caught a circus act and I tried my hand at skiball. We were surprised at how expensive food and cocktails are on the strip- I thought Vegas was supposed to be the land of cheap food and cocktails. Turns out you have to go downtown for that. Fabien ended up trying out a couple of hand of roulette and blackjack, got ahead a few bucks and kept playing thanks to my encouragement before losing 🙁 Now he’s sworn off gambling for 20 years and hardly spoke to me the rest of the night 🙁
For a little bit of seriousness, we did visit the Atomic Testing Museum and learned about Nevada’s nuclear testing site. There were lots of impressive and disturbing videos of mushroom clouds. Apparently in the 50s it became a tourist attraction, and tourists in Vegas would go out to watch them test nuclear bombs in the desert. Vegas really does have it all when it comes to entertainment.
Our favorite part of the stay was seeing Blue Man Group. The show is so original- even Fabien was impressed which is saying a lot.
Thursday morning after checking out of our oasis in the desert (the Days Inn), we drove to the Hoover Dam. It’s an impressive site, a massive wall of concrete, diverting the waters of the mighty Colorado River to the desert southwest and generating electricty for the region. We did a tour of the power plant and visitor’s center. Once again,we were surprised by the number of tourists. Then we picnicked next to the blue waters of Lake Mead before the drive to Death Valley. California here we come!
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