Weekend in Vegas

On the way to Las Vegas we stopped at the Hoover Dam for a quick look.  We weren't impressed.  First of all had to have our van searched by security before we were allowed to go.  Then it cost $7 to park (or you could drive back across the dam to Arizona and park for free - we did that!), and then there were thousands of tourists there.  The Glen Canyon Dam was much better.

Once we arrived in Vegas we went out to see a bit of The Strip just before dark.  We went into a couple of casinos and watched the fountains at Bellagio, but it was all a bit overwhelming after a long hot day of driving and we retired pretty early to our hotel (yes - a real bed!) so we could explore properly the next day.

Paris

Bellagio Fountains

The next day we were up and out early - probably way earlier than you're supposed to get up in Las Vegas, probably more around the time that you're supposed to go to bed!  Oh well!  We walked pretty much the whole length of The Strip - it is LONG!  We gave up on gambling after the third casino though.  I had lost $16 and Rosie had lost $8.  We're not very serious gamblers!  

We revived ourselves (Las Vegas is way too hot for all that walking around) at the Bellagio Buffet, which was amazing, and delicious.  Then we went back to our hotel for a couple of hours.

The strip in daytime

Well that's $8 we're never seeing again!

More fountains - they are our favourite part of Vegas...

...Oh, and the food - that's good too - this was one of my desserts at the buffet!

That night we went to see the Cirque Du Soleil show 'O' - the water circus.  It was awesome.  No cameras allowed unfortunately.  

Afterwards we spent some more time on The Strip at night.  We got caught up in a massive drunken crowd at the Treasure Island Casino where they have a free show of fighting pirate ships. The show was rubbish after 'O' and after fighting our way out of the crowd we had had enough of Vegas.  It's just all a bit too much and all of the excessiveness (if that's a word?) made me a bit sad.  At the buffet I saw one guy get 6 different desserts, he had one bite out of each and then they got thrown away.  The next morning we were were watching the news at breakfast about all the Americans going hungry because they can't afford to eat and the food banks being closed down due to lack of funding :-(  I ate all of my desserts by the way :-P

In summary, one day is Las Vegas is plenty - back to the wilderness for us!