Sin City is everything they say and more. It's luxurious, scummy, classy, trashy, bright and beautiful, dirty, fun and scary - all in one big neon ball of mess in the middle of the desert.
With temps in the low 40's all week it was either stinking hot just standing outside, or freezing in the air-conditioned casinos! Our bus trip (6hrs) was awful. We were sitting in front of a pimp gang member and his drunk prostitute girlfriend. D slept it away while J had to listen to trash talk about drugs and guns and sex the whole time.
But things were looking up-We were lucky enough to score a nice suite in the Circus Circus casino for 4 days at the same price we have been paying hostels. Nice. Big screen telly, king bed our own bathroom with tub, room service and SPACE and PRIVACY! This casino business really blows your mind. We had an amusement park with water slides and rides and shops and 10 restaurants, the hotel as well as all the gaming areas INSIDE our casino. Nuts.
Then there's the other really ritzy ones like Venetian with full on canals and gondolas, the mandalay bay has a beach inside, Bellagio has thousands and thousands of fresh flowers and a huge garden as well as the Cirque du Soleil theatre, New York has a mini Statue of Liberty, Manhattan and trees growing inside, Ceasars Palace has roof pained with sunny clouds so it always looks like daytime, and big statues and excellent shopping! Treasure Island has a lagoon out front with huge pirate ships where there is a nightly (strip) show with the girls and guys and fireworks and splashing water and cannons and sound effects and all that jazz. There is no expense spared at these places. Everything is cheap or free while you are gambling! There are no clocks so unless you go outside you have no idea, and alcohol is cheaper than soda (when you have to pay) so its hard to resist really! For 4 days straight we lived on slushy margharitas which we either nursed as we did the rounds of casinos playing slots, or drank while lounging beside one of the two lagoons at our hotel!
Bumped into Shane form Mission Beach one night in a casino. This is a guy we first met in Vancouver, then Seattle, then Portland, then San Francisco and now Vegas! Crazy. We bumped into him and Craig (Wales)again the next day when we checked into the same hostel in the Vegas ghetto. You see, the rates for the nice hotel rooms go sky high over the weekend, so we had to get out! Honestly, don't want our folks to worry but this was a very very shady place. Just the usual crime and drugs and prostitution. Anyway, there were always at least 4 police cars at work so kind of felt safer. Dani wanted to cry after living like a princess for a few days, then having to stay inside after dark! Lots of action from the bedroom window though. At least the hostel had a nice pool and spa so we had an international water volleyball tournament which kept us occupied.
Went to the Grand Canyon for a day trip. It was very grand. It was breathtaking. It was wide and long and rich in colour and wildlife and we loved it. On the downside we were on a tour bus for 17 hours and spent a total of 2 hours at the canyon. Suffice to say there was no time for hiking, not very impressed Mike. We visited Hoover Dam also which was cool.
And that was that.
By the way, there was no quickie wedding at a drive through chapel!
