But really, Vegas was an easy one to write about. There's so much to see and do, and this was just a small portion of what was available to us for our last two days vacation.
Wednesday, June 5
After our somewhat trying evening yesterday, we decided to pack in early back to Las Vegas. It was time to eat, drink and be merry.
Honestly, there was so much left to do at Grand Staircase, we could have stayed to hike the Calf Creek Falls, or the Peek-A-Boo hike, or even drive further out to Capitol Reef National Park. And we probably should have, since the landscape in this region can change vastly every 70 miles or so. But we were a bit stressed out from the drive on those darn blue roads, not to mention the car was no longer managing the heat so well. The engine attempted to overheat a few times on the way back to Las Vegas, and we had to stop to let it cool down - which is a tough thing to do on a 40˚C unless you can find some shade. Homage to Tucker Max
We decided to stop at Chick-Fil-A for a burger, another franchise on Mike's list of "What I love about America". This somehow made the list though neither of us had been there before, I think it was mentioned in the Tucker Max books along with In-N-Out, Mike's other favourite franchise. It didn't disappoint, I think there's something addictive in dipping sauce for their crispy fries. Now thinking about it, it was suitable to stop at these places on the way to Las Vegas, since "I hope they serve beer in hell" was set there. I hope Mike isn't aspiring to be like Tucker Max...
Guns
Our next stop, with the car failing us, was the Gun Store. Mike's been there before and just had to take me there. If you like guns, and have never shot one before, and want to try, this is a good institution to try it. It's pricey, but much cheaper than anything I've seen in Australia or Canada for the same thing. Mike did the Zombie package, and got to shoot 5 different guns. His favourite was the Glock Carbine. Lucky me, I got to take a few shots with the Glock too. Officially, the package is only valid for one person. But the guy cut me a brake and let me shoot one of Mike's rounds. On top of the zombie package, Mike also had a shot with the Desert Eagle. They used .44 magnum ammo instead of 0.50 though, because our supervisor said the 0.50 would damage his car parked on the other side of the wall.
Cheap Hotels
Well, we made it to our first hotel in Vegas - the Excalibur! We hadn't planned on returning a day early, so we booked a room here for $30 (plus a $15 inescapable resort fee). Well, the parking here was not intuitive, and our poor car suffered a lot with the lack of shade, we were barely able to get it into the shaded parking area when we finally found it (you have to drive in the entrance, take a left towards the parking sign, but instead of going to the outdoor parking follow the road around the hotel to the right, behind the pool you will see their covered parking).
We gave the car a much needed rest, checked in and found our room. For $45 I can't complain, but there's really nothing special about this place. The location was great for what we needed.
Orientation
Now if you haven't been to Vegas before, here's what to expect - everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is really really far away. That hotel across the street? Give yourself at least 15 minutes to get there. Going to a show that's 3 hotels down the street? Expect a 30 minute walk, plus the time to navigate your way to the ticket booth.
I've been to Las Vegas in February before, back in 2007. It was perfect weather every day, around 25˚C and sunny, cooling down in the evening. But in June, it reminded me that this place is a desert. It reached 38-40˚C, dry heat (which is a relief), and barely cooled down at night. I could easily wear my swimsuit out at night over there. Because of this, and I hang my head in shame as I say this, I could not bring myself to consume alcohol. I can't imagine how awful it is to be drunk or hung over in that heat, with that sun.
To make up for this, we gambled (which I ordinarily wouldn't do). I don't have any triumphant stories so that's all I'll say on the topic.
A Show
Of course we had to see a show in Vegas! With so many to choose from, we had our hearts set on Cirque de Soleil. Alas, most shows had their blackout dates on Wednesday and Thursday, just our luck. Our options were the heavily decadent and pricey "O", or Cirque's Criss Angel show, Believe. We got section A seats for section C prices for Criss Angel through a lasvegas.com, but there's several websites offering promotions so it's worth comparing them all. Honestly, this is the first I've heard of him. But he made it really easy to know who is was, since much of the show is him bragging about how successful he's become as an illusionist.
I'm pretty certain the audience participation was genuine. It just so happened, the girl who walked in ahead of us, there with her father, turned to us to scream "how awesome is this!!". Possibly one of his craziest fans. While we were almost the first people seated, I saw her try to take photos, and the staff not only told her off but forced her to delete the photos. She was, through her loudness, selected to go on stage for one act in the show. I'm pretty sure she was genuinely crazy for him, he had to joke that she was so enthusiastic that people would think she was planted.
The costumes and small amount of acrobatics provided by Cirque was spectacular as always. The illusions were well done and there are some tricks that I am still baffled by. I really did leave thinking "but, but... but how?" There was just a little too much time spent on self congratulations, but I think this was to provide time to set up the next illusion and take a breather.
Thursday, June 6
We transferred to to the Aria, our pre-booked hotel for our last night in Vegas. We spent the day exploring the Strip. We went a little further than Bellagio. The Bellagio is a must-see extravagant hotel, and having actually been to Bellagio in Italy, the hotel does strike a reminiscent chord. Be sure to walk past on the half hour to see their water show - that's easy to do since it takes over 10 minutes to walk past the hotel. We also spent a lot of time in the shopping centre at Monte Carlo and Caesar's Palace. The shops at Caesar's Palace feels like walking outdoors at twilight, with the sky painted on the ceiling. Similarly, the Vanetian shops simulates an outdoor plaza, with a river running through the shopping centre. There are gondolas offering rides up and down the river, indoors.
Back at the hotel, we settled into our swimsuits and headed to the pools. We lasted about 40 minutes in the sun, with sunscreen, before feeling the sunstroke tiredness. The pool was refreshing, and there were several pools at the Aria to choose from.
Buffet Dinner
After an exhausted day of essentially doing nothing, we became impatient for dinner. We decided to go to the local Aria buffet, even after I had painstakingly selected a few premium Vegas restaurants that I had wanted to try. Going back in the sun to go to another hotel and restaurant seemed too much of a commitment.
I will start by saying, I don't get excited by buffets. When I think buffet, I think of food that is dried out by heat lamps, luke warm by the time it reaches your table, and mass produced to the point of most dishes tasting the same. The Aria buffet was $35 each, and they had a selection of everything. Some options were a sushi table, a carvery that I still dream about, pan-Asian food, a salad bar, Mexican flavours, and of course the dessert table. Of course this list is not all inclusive. I made the mistake of starting with the beef brisket from the carvery. The mistake being, that the beef brisket was EPIC! Succulent and butyraceous, and complimented by additional BBQ sauce and the scalloped potatoes I grabbed on the way back to the table, no other dish in the buffet could compete with this masterpiece dish.
The dessert selection was reasonable, with fruity, chocolatey and custardy dishes. My favourite was the bread pudding and red velvet cake-sandwich in the shape of a macaroon.
I loved the Aria hotel, it is pricey for Vegas but the room was impressive - the blackout curtains were electronically controlled and automatically opened when we first arrived in the room. We had a walk-in shower, which is always luxurious. This is probably the best hotel room I've seen for this price.
We departed Las Vegas airport the following morning. We missed the drinking, missed the crazy clubs, we even missed seeing Hangover 3 as it showed in theatres in Vegas. In retrospect, we probably should have toughed out the Grand Staircase for one more day, because I regret not seeing the calf creek falls. But, the main problem here was only having 7 days. Seven short days to see the whole mid-west. I just need more time. I'll be back. And I'll take photos next time.
So concludes the 7 day tour to Southern Utah via Las Vegas.
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