Vegas was cool, but so much bigger than I expected. I tried to see all of the major casino’s, but didn’t even scratch the surface.
I started my Vegas experience with a bang (of course) and did a night chopper flight over the lights of Vegas. http://picasaweb.google.com/jamesc71/40LasVegasNevada
It’s was awesome and for US$100 with Grand Canyon Helicopters, I thought it was well worth it. Straight after this, I went and saw an awesome show called Le Reve, by the same producer as Cirque du Soleil’s ‘O’. The whole show was in this incredible purpose built round diving pool in a huge domed amphitheatre It’s near impossible to describe, so just have a look at this trailer on youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=R4f88xxDnro I have never seen a show like this and probably never will in Australia. It was unbelievable! If you ever go to Vegas, make sure you see one of these big shows.
I managed to see the huge light display called the Fremont Street Experience. It’s a massive tent like structure as long as six football fields that you stand under to watch a visual light and sound show. It’s so big that it’s like just looking up at the sky, watching TV – very impressive.
After this I hit a couple of bars and casino’s to try my luck. After 4 in the morning, it had been gambling roller coaster ride, but I was about $30 after mainly playing Roulette. And in Vegas, if you play any games, you get to drink free. So by this time, I was well on my way.
It was Thanks Giving here on Thursday, so I thought Vegas would be a good place to have Turkey dinner. I did some asking around and found out where the best Thanks Giving dinner was. Luck would have it that it was at the Wynns Hotel, the same place where I was seeing Le Reve. But what I wasn’t counting on was the 2 ½ hour wait. I didn’t have enough time before the show to wait and they closed the buffet during the middle of the show so I couldn’t eat it afterwards. As every restaurant in the Casino was overbooked, for my Thanks Giving dinner, I enjoyed a microwaved meat lovers quiche and a glass of red wine in one of the cafes on the edge of the gambling area. Oh well.
I enjoyed Vegas, but I wish I had more time there. As the first night was wasted as I was just so weary from the last 4 days of long riding and exploring the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, I couldn’t even think straight, let alone keep my eyes open. But if you had 2 full days and 2 full nights there, that would probably be the minimum time you’d need.
On leaving the Vegas, I tried to detour via the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately this was in the opposite direction I wanted to leave but it was something I wanted to see. After riding for about an hour, with heavy traffic I came around a bend to see the mountain valley and the water of the dammed lake – and a line of cars that went for miles. Obviously every Thanks Giving holiday maker had the same idea as me. After sitting in a traffic jam for about 20 mins, my clutch wrist was beginning to hurt and my hangover was getting angry. I couldn’t stand it any longer and by how slow the traffic was going, I thought it was going to be another couple of hours before we’d get to the dam. Forget it, time to turn around and cut my loses. I still had a 3 hour ride ahead of me and into Death Valley where I did not want to be after sunset, as it gets well below freezing out there and very quickly after dark.
