Since American Airlines merged with U.S. Airways, I thought it was a good time to cash in my frequent flyer miles before they messed with them. We had not been to Las Vegas in about 30 years, so we thought it might be a good choice for a short jaunt. I got travel insurance, as my 96 year old Dad had checked himself out of assisted living, and is back living alone with an assistant coming over. He was doing pretty well at the beginning of our trip, but stay tuned.
We snagged exit row seats which were pretty comfortable. We also got priority boarding, which helped a lot. Everything went swimmingly during the flight. I had gotten a round-trip shuttle from the airport to our hotel, and that went fine, also. We had a room at the Mirage. It’s a nice place. We were so busy during our stay, however, we hardly saw it. Our room had a lovely view of both the pool and the Strip. We walked across the street to a reduced-price ticket booth and got some great deals on “Divas Las Vegas” (a drag show) and “The Blue Man Group.” I had wanted to see “Love,” a Beatles-themed Cirque de Soliel, but it wasn’t playing while we were there. We rode around a bit on the Las Vegas monorail. We got a 48 hour pass, which is a good deal, but I think the hop-on-hop-off bus may be even better. In order to get from the monorail station from the street, you have to walk circuitous routes through hotels, right through the smoky casinos and the annoying people who want to direct you to the timeshare desk. We did a really fun thing the first day. We got on what is now the highest observation wheel in the world, the High Roller. We had been on similar ones in London and Singapore, and they are building one in the D.C. area which we are looking forward to riding. These are like slow ferris wheels with glass pods which take you around for views of the city. We got on just before sunset and then watched the sun dip behind the red mountains, and the lights of Las Vegas twinkle on. After our wonderful ride, we started walking back to the hotel where “Divas Las Vegas” was showing. By this time my ankle was swelling up, so we stopped in a Starbucks. What an oasis away from the noise and walking too much. “Divas” was a fun show, then more walking back to the hotel, and through the smoky casino to the elevator to the room.
When we awoke the next morning, Hubby wanted to take a picture of the city lights. Just as he raised his camera, they started to wink off. 06:00 must be the magic hour. I had arranged for a bus tour to Hoover Dam, so we went out to wait at the appointed bench with our cups of Starbucks for a 07:30 pickup. Most of Las Vegas is asleep at that hour, so we pretty much had the birds and early-morning light to ourselves. Jason the guide and Fiel the driver took us out of the city. Civilization quickly fell away and the desert took over. I was looking out the window the whole trip at the red cliffs, sand, and scrubby bushes with a big dumb grin on my face. The company we were travelling with was Comedy on Deck. Our guide provided us with a lively commentary on the area, Las Vegas, Boulder City, and the dam. We saw the historic Boulder Dam Hotel, built in 1933 to accommodate visiting government officials and project managers. We also saw the Historic Boulder Dam Theater, now owned by Desi Arnaz Jr. The major part of town is a series of small homes built to house the workers, and a casino which was a big deal before the Las Vegas building boom. Our first scenic stop was on the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, officially the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, for a gorgeous view of the dam and Lake Mead. It was the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States, and includes the longest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere. Crossing the Colorado River, it links Nevada and Arizona and is named for a hero from each state. Walking up the many steps for the best view, (ow my ankle!) I am again reminded of how fascinated I am by the desert and cliffs, and know I have scheduled too much city time and not enough desert time on this trip. We reached the dam itself in a while, and saw the introductory movie and took the government interior tour to view the eight generators in the Nevada power plant. The reason for the dam was to improve agriculture. The power plant is how they paid the dam off, and what now provides the money to maintain the structure. And what a structure! There are shiny brass doors everywhere, and brass handrails. There are two giant spillways to divert water from cresting the dam, one on the Nevada side and one on the Arizona side. Each spillway is large enough to float a battleship. The dam is 726 feet high. Its crest is 1244 feet long. The crest width is 45 feet. The base width is 660 feet. We walked on top of the dam. There are four towers. The middle two are elevators and are decorated with bas-reliefs which show the multipurpose benefits of Hoover Dam: flood control, navigation, irrigation, water storage and power. After the dam tour we stopped for lunch, which was the closest to a real meal we had had since leaving home. We had been so busy, we were just grabbing a pizza slice or such as we ran from activity to activity. We next stopped at the Ethel M chocolate factory. The factory is fine, and they give you a little sample, but I was eagerly distracted by the cactus garden they have outside. Many of the cacti were in bloom, and we were having fun watching the many lizards which live there. More time, more time! We got back to the city in time to do a little walk around the hotel gardens and pools, which would have been lovely, but the entertainers out there had turned their amps up to 11. We showered and got on the monorail for our dinner/show package featuring the Blue Man Group. Diner was a real meal with protein, vegetables, and a starch in a quiet setting. Quite a change from the way we have mostly eaten on this trip. The Blue Man Group is performance art, and hard to explain if you have never seen them. But very exciting. After the show, we caught an inter-casino tram to the Bellagio to see the dancing fountains. While walking through the hotel, we came upon their conservatory, with interesting exhibits, butterflies and plants. Finally we made it outside and caught several of their fountain displays. Quite fun! We tried to find a crosswalk somewhere to get back across Las Vegas Boulevard to the monorail with no luck. After walking quite a ways back in the direction of our hotel, we realized that in that part of town there are no crosswalks. One must enter the hotels, go through the casinos by circuitous routes, and find the elevated hamster trails which will take you above the streets. We could see the lights of our hotel in the distance and just decided to walk back. The last time we were here the thirty-or so-years-younger me walked from one end of the strip to the other with no problems. The me I am today? Not so much. By the time we reach our hotel it was getting close to the time that the last volcano-eruption show of the night was going to play outside of our hotel. So we joined the throng out on the sidewalk for the music, fire, and everything. It was just as good a show as it was billed to be. By this time we were pretty worn out and it was darn late. We wound our way through the smoky casino to the elevator to our room and were looking forward to a little rest room and bed. However, when we got there, our key cards wouldn’t open our room. So we took our weary bodies back on that long hike to the front desk to get them re-programmed. Then we hiked back to our room. Hubby got the pictures he wanted out the window of our view, and we checked our text messages. My 96 year old, legally blind, Dad was working with a tractor part and somehow broke his wrist. He now has a cast up to his elbow and his same old stubborn attitude that he can do anything he could do when he was 50.
The next day Gimpy-Girl and Hubby enjoyed another quite morning with most of Las Vegas asleep, then flew back home. Everywhere, airline and ground personnel kept asking me if I needed a wheelchair. However, we had good seats, and if I can just stretch my legs out and wiggle around a bit, that helps a lot. It is nice to be home getting some rest with our cats cuddled up with us.
