Welcome to Las Vegas 101.
Why would someone living in New York,
with a home page in Nashville
want to write about Las Vegas?
We first visited Las Vegas years ago. We bowled on a league called LV Travel. The concept was, bowl every other week, pay a little extra and go to Las Vegas at the end of the season! We even received our prize money on the plane!
Our first stay was at the Riviera hotel. The next time we went, we stayed downtown at the Golden Nugget. And, we've stayed at Imperial Palace, Westward Ho (not recommended), Maxim (ok if you get a great deal but off strip a bit), Excalibur, Boulder Station, Treasure Island and the Frontier. We will be visiting again in December 2000, staying at the MGM.
It's been interesting to watch the hotels spring up on the strip. And, also to see them come down. My daughter 'treated' us to the sounds of the Hacienda being imploded on New Year's Eve, courtesy of her cell phone! Plus, one of my favorite links has photos. We were also in Las Vegas when the plane was crashed into The Sands for the making of the movie Con Air. There are stars in Vegas but we haven't seen them but heard Evil Knievel paged at the Maxim where we and he stayed! Rodeos, concerts, grand openings of restaurants and sporting events are just a few of the special occasions when the stars come out to Vegas.
Besides spending as much time with our younger daughter who resides in Vegas as possible, we also like to visit nearby attractions. We plan at least one excursion each time, just to see all that we can see (and to get Ed out of the casino!!).
If you decide to visit Las Vegas, make sure you take the trip to Red Rock Canyon. The 20-mile or so round trip is worth it. They are now charging admission ($5/car) but there are trails and rocks and more rocks! Great photo opportunities and sunsets. Along the drive back, wild burros can be seen along the roadside.
Another neat place to visit is Valley of Fire with its rock formations (one looks like an elephant) and petroglyphs. I enjoy the cactus gardens at Ethel M's, plus you get a free piece of the most excellent candy from their factory! Make sure you go downtown to see the new Fremont Street Experience. We've never visited Liberace's Museum, but it's there too. Mount Charleston offers great hiking and skiing. And, there are ghost towns nearby; the Hoover Dam; Laughlin; Stateline (Primm); and Disneyland is only a few hours away (our first trip to Disneyland was in April '97). We've also visited Arizona and Utah (Zion National Park--go there!). The Grand Canyon is on our list of must sees, as well as a side trip to Reno/Tahoe.
We have our favorite buffets to go to, our favorite hotels to gamble in (yes we do leave some money there!), have some stories to tell about the times we won (Ed is better at winning than I), and also like to go to the local antique stores to search out that special piece of carnival glass that we collect. Many shops are located on Charleston and on Tropicana.
We normally stay for a week. Our flight time from New York is about 6 hours.
Las Vegas Website - Visit the Bulletin Board for more info too!
Las Vegas Hack Attack - The Ultimate Cab Drivers Guide to Vegas!
