Designer Shopping

Directly across from the shopping center in the last photo is this very excusive shopping center containing all of the high end designer brands you could ever imagine seeing in one place. It's handy for when you hit that enormous jackpot and feel the need to get rid of it all in one shopping spree!

Shop Til You Drop

The strip is a major shopping mecca. The photo shows a small part of a one mile long shopping plaza complete with its own indoor sky and changing weather. There is one section of the center where the clouds overhead will darken, the thunder starts and the rain showers down. It happens every hour on the hour. PS Even the Walgreens was great - 2 giant floors of tourist stuff at reasonable prices.

Meeting Famous People in Vegas

Okay, you may not think a Gladiator is a famous person, but there is quite a collection of impersonators roaming the Vegas Strip including, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Batman, Darth Vedor, Choobakka, the Minions from Despicable Me, one of the transformers, Las Vegas showgirls, etc. You can have your photo taken with any of these famous people but they do expect a tip - even though by law, they can't ask for money. My favorite sight was Elvis having a deep conversation with Batman.

Managing the City Touring

It is confusing and difficult getting around the Vegas Strip unless you want to cab everywhere. Doug was determined to explore everything so we covered almost all of it on foot. To go across the strip itself there are overpasses like this one about every 1- 3 blocks. If you are lucky, the escalators up and down are actually working. They walkways are usually crammed with tourists, musicians asking for money, and people frankly asking for money for drugs or beer. There are various monorails but most go only to a neighboring hotel and back. On the last day we did find a longer monorail that costs $5 a ride.

New York Las Vegas Style

The New York New York Casino and Hotel is a nostalgic trip through Manhattan. Even the skyline of the hotel looks like a conglomeration of various buildings throughout the city of New York. It comes complete with the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and a cab ride, that just happens to be one of the most frightening roller coasters I have ever been on. I thought it would be a great way to get a great overview of Las Vegas but I was too busy screaming for my life to see anything. I love roller coasters and this one is the best.

The inside is a tribute to typical city streets of New York with pizza parlors and outdoor eateries along the indoor streets.

The Sphynx - Vegas Style

Part of the Luxor's Egypt oriented theme is their version of the Sphynx. In a city where beauty is so important, they decided to repair its nose

The Luxor Casino and Hotel

Luxor is a must see - with all the Egyptian accents, it may be as close as we can get to Egypt for a while. They did a superb job of copying many of the ancient Egyptian architecture and monuments, from a pyramid to walls of hieroglyphics throughout the hotel. Evidently we missed one of the highlights - the Styx river voyage that carried you to your room. Too many people were getting drunk and swimming in the river so it had to be shut down.

The Vegas Strip

The newer main strip of casinos, shopping, and eateries is like Disneyland for adults, filled with bright lights. loud music, crowds, hustlers, impersonators, and millions of tourists from every part of the world. Here I am posing in front of Excalibur, the medieval themed casino. Over a dinner of mead and chunks of meat you can watch jousting matches of fully armored knights on horseback - for a fee of course.

Viva Los Vegas

Doug found a great package to Vegas with lodging at the Monte Carlo and American Airlines to get us there. For a first day in any major city in any part of the world, The Big Bus is a must. They are always British style double decker buses equipped with a knowledgeable guide to the city. You can spend the entire day on the bus and get on and off whenever you want at the various areas that interest you. It is a great way to get an overview of any city. To name a few, I have been on Big Buses in Edinburgh, London, Sydney, and Dubai and enjoyed each trip. The best by far was the guide in Vegas. He had to work nights as a comedian.

Surviving Boat Repairs

Since Doug left Australia and returned to the US last March our days have been filled with the drama of boat repairs. We continue to dream about cruising down the Gulf coast and across the Okeechobee River to the other side of Florida. Hopefully this will come true before he returns to Australia in March.
In the meantime, Mike the boat repairman has become a member of the family and we are gradually replacing all moving parts. After the holidays the waiting proved too much. Doug and I looked at each other and said the magic word - "Vegas!!!"