Part Six~Viva Las Vegas !

Like I said in the last entry, we left Pahrump and headed for Las Vegas.  I was really excited because I had never been there.  Two years ago, I flew into the airport there, but had to catch another plane to Burbank, CA so never got out of the airport.  I remember seeing the Luxor as we landed but that's all. 

We finally found Sam's Town, where we had reserved an RV space. It's quite a ways outside of the strip but they have nice air conditioned shuttle buses that go back and forth every 30 minutes or so. We got settled in our camp spot, however we were really disgusted because they told us we had to head into the spot and the only thing we could hook up to was electricity.  The water and sewer connections were located on the wrong side of the camper for us to use. (And of course we were paying for those extra's) Anyway, we decided to just put up with it for one night and didn't want to waste time arguing with the staff there. It was already 5:30pm so we grabbed our bottles of water, cameras and head for the shuttle bus pick up location. It was a nice drive into town and soon we were let off at one end of the main Las Vegas strip (next to the former Barbaray Coast) and began our walking tour.  Bob has been there several times so had lots he wanted to show me. We explored a few of the casinos and then had to catch the shuttle back to Sam's Town.  The last shuttle back was at 9:30pm so we really didn't have much time in town the first night.  But it was enough to make my feet start hurting. 

 When we got back to Sam's we went in there to check it out.  There's this huge atrium area (I think about 9-10 stories high) with a big water feature where they show a fantastic light show...I think 4-5 times a day. It was very a beautiful and moving show.  I loved all the little shops around the atrium area.  We had dinner here and then headed for the camper.  The next morning, we got our showers and checked out of the RV park and parked the truck in the casino's RV parking area.  From there we took the shuttle back into town and continued our investigation of the various casinos.  My feet were really killing me by the late afternoon and Bob was looking in one of the casinos for the display of one million dollars.  I was really whining and at that point could care less about seeing one million dollars unless it made my feet not hurt.  Anyway, he finally said "you just sit here and I'll go look for it and I'll come back and get you."  So I sat down at a slot machine to rest my feet and people watch.  I finally turned around and saw that the machine was a 25 cent machine, so I thought...what the heck...I'll put in a dollar and see what happens.  Just as I put my dollar in, Bob came back and said "no don't just put in 1 dollar, put in at least 2."  Well, it was too late because I pushed the button and the machine was spinning.  And guess what ?  It landed on all the right things and I won $120.  WOW !! Needless to say, I cashed it in and that was the last of my "gambling" in Las Vegas.  So he found the million dollar display and we continued on.  We ate lunch in New York, New York's food court...such wonderful food and lots of choices at all the different little places.  Then we got to the Venetian and I was stunned.  It is so beautiful !  I loved the outdoor canal with the gondola's and the boatmen singing.  When we entered the building and finally got thru the gaming area we entered the Grand Canal shops.  Oh my gosh...such elegant places.  There was one perfume place where I sprayed a tester on my wrist and later that night wished I could go back and buy whatever it was I sprayed (although I'm sure it was way out of my price range.) We listened to the opera singers and different musicians strolling thru the area.  It was so beautiful, it was just overwhelming.  Since the canal comes thru the building, the gondolas were continually going by us as we strolled along.   We then made our way thru the Coke & M & M shop, went down to see the pirate ships at Treasure Island (however, we didn't stay long enough to see their nightly battle) and finally Bob's feet were wearing out too, so we climbed aboard a bus and just sat back and watched the activity from the bus windows.  We went all the way to then end of the bus route and then came back thru town to where the shuttle picked us up for the ride back to the truck.  It was on the bus that we met two sweet ladies from England along with their teenage daughters.  They had come to Vegas for a week and we had fun chatting with them as we rode along.  The day before they had taken a tour bus out to the Grand Canyon where the Skywalk had just opened and all four of them had braved the glass walk.  Once we got back to the camper...we left Sam's Town and headed for a Wal Mart parking lot were we parked for the night.  Both of us totally exhausted.  One really needs more than a day and a half to see Las Vegas leisurely.  If I ever went back, I would want at least 3-4 days so we didn't have to wear ourselves out, practically racing thru each casino, to see eveything.  There were many we never even got into.

My prayers that night were for my feet..hoping they would totally recover and I wouldn't be crippled for life.  But it had been a fun day.  I have some advice for the town of Las Vegas though; you need to put in more water fountains.  I was glad I carried my plastic bottle of water in my tote bag.  It was a warm day and we both got very thirsty during the day.

Until next time........Linda