Still in Las Vegas

Yes, we're still in Las Vegas, but will be moving along soon.  This was our first Thanksgiving with no other family members at the dinner table to share the turkey and stuffing, no dogs waiting for dropped scraps under the table, and none of the familiar chatter about work, kids, school, football and other subjects of conversation.  We missed all that but we did enjoy our Thanksgiving.  We had a very nice dinner at Boulder Station’s Feast Buffet and, as usual, ate way too much.  Unable to walk all the way back to the parking lot, we were forced to rest for a while at one of the many penny slot machines and Bonnie managed to triple her $20 investment and walk away a happy gambler.  It was a very good day indeed.



City Center complex on Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas is a fun place to vacation for three days or three weeks.  It’s impossible to run out of things to see and do . . . and it’s not all about gambling.  As "senior citizens on a fixed income", we were very conservative, played only penny slots, and probably came close to breaking even overall.  We joined the Players Club at most casinos.  In exchange for our email address, they gave us a credit card sized casino card and usually $5 or more in free play.  It’s nice to start off with the casino’s money, but knowing when to walk away is really the key.

There are lots of shows to see, including ventriloquists, comedians, singers, old style burlesque, feather dancers and seven different Cirque du Soleil shows.  Show prices are mostly around $100 per ticket but some of the big name artists demand much more.  Garth Brooks just finished a three-year engagement with his fans paying around $250 to see him.  Country singer Shania Twain rode horseback into town, followed by 40 more horses.  Las Vegas Blvd. had to be closed in the heart of the strip to make her grand entrance possible.

We wanted to see one of the big shows, so we found a discount ticket operation and got some good seats to see the Blue Man Group at the Monte Carlo.  It was a fantastic high tech production with lots of visual effects, comedy, loud music and creative drumming.  We didn’t spend much time on the strip but were satisfied to see the Blue Man Group and the Rat Pack, both good shows.

One of our favorite TV programs is Pawn Stars, which is about the operations of a Las Vegas pawn shop.  The program takes place at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop.  We stopped by one afternoon to look it over and see what they had to sell.  It’s a fairly small shop but full of interesting items.



Gold & Silver Pawn Shop - (Pawn Stars TV Show)

When the Pawn Stars buy things that need to be fixed or restored, they often send them a few blocks away to Rick’s Restorations, which is another interesting place, and which has become another spin-off TV program.  We got a free tour of the restoration shops and saw some of the items that they brought back to life.

Items for sale at Rick's Restorations

Christmas comes early around here.  Thanksgiving has taken a back seat and many stores have had decorations up for weeks, as in this JCPenny's store.

We saw an advertisement for a Christmas lighting ceremony on Nov. 13, so we went to Ethel M’s Chocolate Factory to check it out.  We took a short tour of the candy-making operation, tasted a sample or two, and walked through the extensive cactus gardens.  Christmas lights were strung all over the garden and most of the cacti.  As darkness approached, visitors were entertained with music and songs until all the colorful lights were lit.  Santa showed up to chat with the little kids and everyone was given a pair of 3-D type glasses that made the lights appear even more spectacular.  This whole thing felt a little premature since it was 70 degrees and still a week before Thanksgiving.  But, it was fun.

Christmas Lights in the Cactus Garden at Ethel M's Chocolates

Electric Chair from Sing Sing Prison

One of the most interesting places in Las Vegas is the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, more commonly known as the Mob Museum.  Located on three floors of a former federal court building, this museum includes an impressive number of photos, documents and artifacts of organized crime in the U.S. and especially Las Vegas, including the restored courtroom where Senator Estes Kefauver held some of the famous hearings on organized crime in the early 1950s.  Las Vegas had more than its share of mobsters and criminals involved in its early days as a gambling destination.

Mob Museum - lots of artifacts from mobsters and gangsters of the past

About 20 miles west of Las Vegas is Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  It sounded like an interesting place to visit, so we drove out there and spent the day hiking around the rocks and canyons.



Bonnie on the Rocks


Where the mountains meet the desert in Red Rock Canyon



Fremont Street with video screen canopy

The Fremont Experience is a not-to-be-missed adventure in downtown Las Vegas.  A five-block, 1,500 ft. long section of Fremont Street has been covered with the world’s largest video screen.  It’s 90 feet wide and suspended 90 feet above the street.  After dark each night, 12.5 million LED lights and a 550,000 watt sound system puts on an incredible overhead show.  Between the hourly shows, entertainers perform on three stages, people ride overhead zip-lines, artists paint pictures and many other things are going on all evening.  The Spazmatics (rock music) were playing when we were there.  Spider Man, Elvis, robots and plenty of other “unusual” people wander Fremont to the accompaniment of loud music and flashing neon lights.  It’s definitely a unique experience.

 



We closed out our stay in Las Vegas with a drive over the hill to Boulder City to the Nevada State Railway Museum.  We went for a ride to the summit of Railroad Pass on the historic Nevada & Southern Railway train.

View of hills and desert from the train

After three weeks in Las Vegas, we probably won’t need to return for some time.  It’s known primarily for its night life and gambling, but it also has a more human side.  We found it to be a friendly city (except for aggressive drivers), easy to get around, lots of good shopping, an active university, interesting museums, excellent cultural facilities away from “the strip”, and lots of community organizations working to improve the lives of its nearly two million residents.

And now it's time for us to move on down the road . . .