Viva Las Vegas

The two hour drive to Santa Monica turned into a four hour drive, courtesy of  ever-present Los Angeles traffic. I truly did not like LA one bit. The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard reminded me of 42 street in NYC of yester years. More bong and sex shops than anything else. Very seedy feel to the place. Bell Air and Beverly Hills were impressive only if you are into gawking at other people’s houses. We did find a restaurant that was located inside a old train car which was very cool.

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I dreaded a  300 mile drive to Las Vegas. Not only because it was through the desert but because my GPS told me to go through the downtown LA at 9AM. I was afraid that a 4 or 5 hour drive would turn into a 7 hour one. After looking at the MapQuest I decided to go another route, taking a freeway about 30 miles to Encino which was above LA and then trying to shoot over downtown. Although we got into about ½ hours worth of traffic, we managed to miss an ultimate travelers disaster in LA were a tractor-trailer flipped on a road creating a traffic jam for the ages.

Driving through the desert is really uneventful although I have to admit that when you do it the first time, it’s kind of cool. You will see sand twisters all around you, miles and miles of rock and sand without much vegetation. We stopped in Mojave Desert just to take few shots and sample the heat. To say that we got into the air-conditioned car quickly would be exaggerating. It must have been a 120 degrees in there! You felt you could fry an egg on the hood of the car.

After about a 5 hour ride with a pit stop for coffee refills we arrived in Las Vegas. Kids were remarkably well behaved, I only had to threatened them twice to kick them out of the car in the desert and drive away

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Las Vegas

We checked into MGM and were immediately impressed with just quickly can you go broke here. We did managed to behave ourselves however and spent most of our time walking the strip, visiting different casinos with kids and laying by the pool. The lazy river was well liked by kids and adults.

My impression of Las Vegas was, don’t bring your kids! Don’t get me wrong, I loved the fact that my kids go to see it but the place does not cater to families. Which is cool, I really didn’t expect much anyway. But the pool complex was teeming with young guys and girls, all floating down lazy river with a bottle of beer in their hand. We liked MGM very much but Bellagio was a sight to see. From its spectacular water fountain display in the front of the casino that is synchronized to music to its botanical display inside the casino, the place is truly marvelous. You can’t possibly see the darn place in few days, you’d need a least a week.

Since I can’t sleep past 6 am I’d be playing in casino till the family woke up and then we spend the day together. Lance Burton magic show was excellent at Monte Carlo. But what is up with Cirque du Soleil with 4 different shows in 4 different casinos, and every one of them at $120+ a pop for cheapest ticket? I’ve seen their show at Madison Square Garden few years ago and wasn’t that impressed. Oh well, to each its own.

One thing that bugged me to no end was ridiculous number of street hawkers who were intent of giving you a little card to a strip joint in the evening while walking the strip. Truly disgusting when you are traveling with the family.

Everything they say about dry desert heat is true. In daytime it would be 112 degrees and at midnight a 100. Yet you never felt sticky or unbearably hot. Fortunately people in Las Vegas want you to feel as comfortable as they can and keep the pool temperature at a very refreshing levels so all you need is to slip into their pool for a moment and you felt refreshed. The people at Marriot should take some lessons from them. Not only at pool temperatures but also offering free wi-fi (or free wife if you prefer )in the rooms and more parking.

Strangely enough there is a massive Bass Pro shop store on outskirts of the town. It would be a last place where i would expect it to find it. I am guessing lake Mead is a popular boating destination.

All in a  , a great place to visit….with your wife or the boys. Cant wait to get back