Las Vegas, Nevada
Time to head back to the US. It's Vegas time!
First stop, the airport. It's not as cold today, so we walk for a while and then get a cab.
We basically hang around the airport for a few hours and read etc. Then about a 5 hour flight.
Just before we take off, the plane's wings are sprayed down with water to get rid of the ice. That's reassuring...
The landing into Vegas is amazing. So bright. And since everything is flat in Vegas, the strip stands out a mile.
We touch down and shed a few layers of clothes. We head to our hotel and the cab driver gives us all the facts about the town. It was almost like a pre-recording.
We are staying at the LVH, where Elvis performed for a number of years. It's not quite on the strip and seems to have had its day. But it's cheap and there's a monorail stop, so we are laughing.
We grab a bite to eat and have a quick gamble. We are both tired and a bit jet lagged. We gained 3 hours and it's 3am back in Montreal now. We crash and are eager to walk the strip first thing tomorrow.
Day 2
We wake to a beautiful day in Vegas and admire the view for a bit. The weather here is pretty mild in winter, so a long sleeve shirt and jeans should do the trick. We head towards the strip on foot.
Music is playing all along the street. People are drinking (it's 10am). The strip has us gawking along until we decide enough is enough and it's time to gamble.
We sit down and get ripped off by an electronic roulette machine and some dodgy form of blackjack at Casino Royale. Ah well, we grab a chip and enter The Venetian. A much more respectable looking casino. It has recreated the city of Venice to a T. The gondolas, the tower from the square (name escapes me). It's pretty impressive. On the inside they have a mini Venice as well. The roof painted to look like the sky. It's actually quite a spin out.
Anyway, can't stand there staring at the ceiling all day, time to play some poker. I sit down and get a good run of cards and a table of half-wits and quickly win enough to pay for the rest of the day. We head on down the strip with a spring in the step.
The table service is great. Beer and water on demand for a small tip. Although if you are playing a table game, it can sometimes turn into an expensive beverage pretty fast!
We duck into most of the casinos as we head south. Some of them are more kitschy than others. Planet Hollywood is a sight with every dealer barely fitting into their tops.
There are people all along the strip giving you "free entry to a club". We grab one for the MGM Grand and decide to check it out later on. We know there is probably a catch, but we'll suss it out anyway.
We stop in at Hard Rock Cafe and grab a bit of food to top up on energy. It's tough work gambling and taking in everything in a town like this. Every time you enter a casino it takes a while to figure out how to get back out! Well played Vegas... Well played.
Next stop New York New York. Yes, it looks like the Manhattan sky line. Very impressive. And with a bit of Dutch courage we get on the roller coaster and scare ourselves stupid. It's awesome.
Across the road to The Excalibur. Not the classiest of casinos but my research has told me that the poker is good there (drunk tourists). Plus it looks like a Disney castle from the outside. We head there and I win a bit more.
Hooters is nearby, we head over. Much smaller and smokier than the rest, and Planet Hollywood had it covered in the other important dimensions...
Ok, time to check out this MGM place that looks so grand. It is. It's absolutely huge. People everywhere, and not just here to gamble. We cruise around for a bit and play for a while. We wait to see what the club is going to be like.
Before we realise, the line up for the club is about 100 meters long. No joke. We jump in line though, to see how it's going. It is moving, but we are estimating 30 min wait at least. Jeff runs out of gas (being the 28 year old he is) and we catch the monorail home.
I think we got the better of you on day one, Vegas. We'll be back for more tomorrow though.
Day 3
Another picture perfect day in Vegas. No wonder everyone here is so happy. We start out early wanting to get a table at a breakfast place called Hash House a Go
Go. This restaurant also features on Man v Food. We tried to get in yesterday around lunch time and there was a line for miles with a 45 minute wait.
We're earlier today and only have to wait about 15 minutes for a table. Walking to our table we check out everyone else's breakfasts. Pancakes the size of manhole covers, waffles with fried chicken on top piled to the ceiling. We are salivating.
Jeff tries to order two things for breakfast, the waitress kindly informs him that would be too much. Jeff ends up with blueberry and granola stuffed pancakes with bacon and eggs. Courts goes with one of the signature dishes of chorizo, potatoes, jalepenos and poached egg with a biscuit on the side (what we would call a scone, basically). Washed down with bottomless coffee and we leave full and happy campers.
Time to check out some more casinos and add to the chip collection. We hit up Caesars first. It is very lush and rich and features a giant water fountain in the hotel lobby and a massive fish tank with sea horses in one of the casino restaurants. Of course. We just wander round and grab our souvenir. We didn't come here to just collect chips, it's time to do some gambling. We head to the Bellagio where Jeff heads to the poker room and Courts tries her hand at some roulette (after deciding that a $70 manicure is not a sweet deal, considering she got one in Philly for $12). To sum up the Bellagio in one word: hiss. The casino is nice to look at, I suppose, but it is extremely overated. No character, nothing really to look at. The service in the poker room was crappy if you're not one of the richies who can afford to play at the $40/$80 blinds table. I guess hosting all the professional poker players makes them a bit snobby. Oh well, we went, we lost, we got a chip.
We head to the Mirage next, much nicer atmosphere. This casino hosted the famous Sigfried and Roy shows and some sort of dolphin show. No tigers or dolphins this time of year though. We grab another chip for the collection and eat lunch at a place called BLT Burgers on recommendation. We were not disappointed.
Time for a break from the strip, we head down town to check out some outlet shopping. The place we go to is a replica of Harbour Town but with better shops. Courts buys a couple of things with Jeff's winnings then we head to the hotel for a nap (Vegas is a tough town, Ok?).
Feeling refreshed, we head across the road to the Rivieria which has been tempting us since we arrived with their $1 Blackjack sign. We head in, immediately get seats at the table and are served drinks. We're at a table with some pretty interesting characters and the dealers are really fun and helpful for the amateur/can't count players (Courts). The waitresses here are much more attentive. Considering this casino is off the Strip and seen better days, we are surprised at how much better it is than the pompous Bellagio. We spend a few hours here then head to the Strip to find a place for some dancing.
Along our way we are stopped by some guys who gives us some 'VIP' wristbands for entry to the Bank. At the Bellagio. We are wary but we are looking for something like this so off we go. We get there, line-up for ages even though there is hardly anyone waiting to get in and even more people are coming out. We finally get recognised as having the wristbands and get moved to the VIP line where we wait a bit longer. Finally, we are granted entry... for $20 and that gets you two 'free' drinks. WTF? No thanks. We walk off deciding never to go to the Bellagio again.
We head off to the Cosmopolitan, the club type place there is closed. Boo. The Casino is nice at least, and it has $1 chocolate wheel. We check the place out, chat to an Aussie (they are everywhere in Vegas), grab our chip and head home for a reasonably early night.
Day 4
Vegas is as close to the Grand Canyon as we are going to get on this trip, so it's now or never if we are going to see it. And the Hoover Dam for that matter.
It's a day trip out to the canyon by bus without a whole lot of time to stay and look, aparently. We decide we don't want to be away from the strip for that long, so we book a small plane to take us over. Yes, we know we both don't like flying, but we like the strip more!
So we get picked up and taken out to Boulder City, where there is an airport. This city was built for the construction workers of Hoover Dam back in the day, and is still one of only 2 cities in Nevada that outlaws gambling.
A quick safety briefing and we are off. About 10 of us in a small plane called a Cessna Caravan. It takes off without any effort and we make our way to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. The flying is smooth and the views are incredible. We can easily spot the strip in the distance. The lake is huge. In the distance we can see the mountainous ranges around the Colorado river.
Ok, fun fact: the Hoover Dam is the heaviest man made object on Earth. We aren't all that high in the plane so the views are great.
Ok, onwards to the main attraction. Within about 20 minutes we start getting our first glimpses of the canyon. We are flying just about at "ground level" in spots. But when the ground drops off, it's a sheer 1,800 meters down to the blue-green Colorado river. I'll let the photos describe the rest. There's no point me trying to explain the beauty.
Back we go, we get taken back to our hotel promptly. About a 4 or 5 hour round trip. Worth every penny.
Time to eat. We finally do a Vegas buffet. There is one at our hotel. For about $20 a head it's all you can eat and drink. The food is great. Huge selection. We get our money's worth and stuff ourselves stupid.
Fuelled up, we waddle off to the bus stop. We are heading up north to old town Vegas. Where all the old, original casinos are like The Golden Nugget - the casino which started Texas Holdem in earnest back in the 70s. Fremont street is the main strip here. A street with a cover and stuff going on everywhere. It has that stereotypical Vegas feel that you feel Elvis was signing about.
The casinos are dingy and filled with golden lights and cigarette smoke.
Jeff plays some poker at the Golden Nugget but quickly bails. Everyone is too rich and people are getting annoyed at each other. Plus the room is a bit of a hole.
We suss out every casino and collect some chips. It was worth seeing, but we want to head back to the other strip now. The casinos are nicer and there is more going on.
We get the bus back all the way to the south end to Mandalay Bay. Jeff plays some more poker and has his flush cracked by a 200-1 shot. He cries. Courtney consoles. We move on. Oh.. the actual casino is very nice. And Courts wins some on roulette. So life goes on.
We head across the road to the Luxor; the pyramid with the light beam. Very interesting architecture. The hotel rooms are all along the walls of the pyramid on the inside. Very cool. We wander around and grab a chip.
We also check out the Tropicana before heading out north again to see Circus Circus. We are excited to see this place despite the cab driver on the first night telling us not to bother. It features in the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and we want to see it for ourselves.
It doesn't disappoint. Very circusy and dingy. And strange. Our kinda seen. And $3 blackjack! We also note that some of the chips they use are old and made of clay instead of plastic like every other casino. We play a bit and nab a few chips. We don't go so well, so we decide to head back across the road to the Riviera - home of the $1 blackjack.
We arrive and the dealers and yesterday's waitresses warmly welcomed us back. They must have had as much fun as we did the night before.
We don't have another party night like that in us tonight though, after our huge day. We play for a while and then call an end to it. Absolutely huge day. We go home and crash.
Day 5
We decide we want another day in Vegas, and a new hotel closer to the middle of the strip. So we check out of the LVH, head to Maccas to have a coffee and kill some time before heading to the Quad.
The Quad is right in the middle of the strip, opposite Caeser's. It's nicer than the LVH and cheaper. We drop our bags off and head to a place that has been on our list for a while - In-N-Out.
In-N-Out is a fast food joint with a small menu that many people claim is the best going round. We'll be the judge of that. We order a few burgers and chips. It's great. Cheap as well.
Back to the strip we go. We have a few more chips to collect, some casinos to see and some poker to play.
We head back to MGM first and Jeff plays some poker. Only one tourist at the table here. The rest are hard out professionals.
We decide to find somewhere a little softer. We stop by a few of the casinos we haven't seen before, like Aria, a 3 year old casino at the higher end of the scale. Very swish. A big poker room as well. But we have places to be, so can't sit down here.
We head back through Caeser's looking for a decent merchandise shop. We don't really find much so keep walking. We are heading for the Mirage. We get extremely lost and end up in the car park before eventually making it to the Mirage.
Jeff sits down at the poker table. To his left is a drunk kid from Philly who thinks I'm from England. He keeps referring to how he loved it over there and wants to try and transfer. England this, England that. Meanwhile, he's losing all of his chips to anyone with a pair!
While its nice to be at the glamorous end of town for a while, we want to spend our last night in Vegas somewhere we feel at home... back to Circus Circus we go! The pull of $3 blackjack is too alluring. We jump in a cab and he agrees that we are making the right decision. Him and his wife often come to Circus Circus for some cheap entertainment. He is also not sure whether to laugh or cry at our Aussie sense of humour.
We enter and notice that there is a flying trapeze act in action performing to a modest crowd. Gotta love Vegas. We watch and applaud then wander round and play some carnival games that are on the first floor. I guess that's to keep the kids busy while the parents play downstairs.
Ok, time for some real fun. Down we go to the blackjack table. We play for an hour or so and have a few drinks and collect some more chips. Seriously, I could probably retire on this collection if I ever moved back to Vegas.
On the way out we play a bit of electronic blackjack and win our short cab fare back home to the Quad.
It's been fun, Vegas. See you again soon.
Day 6 - travel to SF
Last day in Vegas. Time to get out of dodge while we've still got some money left. We check out at midday, grab a bite then decide to trek to the bus stop. 15 minutes later we realise we are no where near the depot and our bags are getting heavier by the minute so we hop in a cab.
We make it with about 5 minutes to spare and hop on the bus. A 5 hour bus ride through the desert and we've reached LA. We've a couple of hours stop over so we grab a sub and hang around the station for a few hours and do some reading.... on the floor, there are no seats in the station.
We board the bus at 11:30pm. It's about an 8 hour trip to San Francisco. We try and sleep as best we can but get too excited about the fact we're featured in the New York Times. We toss and turn most the night and arrive in San Francisco at around 7am. Not quite fresh as daisies, but nothing some strong coffee won't fix.