Las Vegas
 

We just arrived in Vegas. Below is a view from the hotel room. Our first experience in the city was getting ripped off by two taxi drivers.

We had to take two taxis from the airport because we had too many people and luggage. I figured they would keep each other honest. I even let the cabbie know I knew his cab number.

They both took the scenic route, so a $10 cab ride from the airport was $25 each.

Panorama of Venetian Hotel
 

This is what you get when you take a panorama shot on the fly without a tripod. Not too bad, but there are a few M.C. Escher sections.

And, no, we did not board that bus to the Liberace Museum. :headshake

Paris in Las Vegas
 

Eiffel tower in front of Paris casino.

Street Scene Paris Casino - Las Vegas
 

Street Scene Paris Casino - Las Vegas

Platters, Drifters, and Coasters and the Sahara
 

Platters, Drifters, and Coasters and the Sahara.

It was a great concert. We saw this show and the Fab Four Beatles impersonators.

My son's friends went to see Bite (NSFW) , a topless vampire show. My son said 'whatever' when I ordered the half price tickets and asked him if he wanted to go, so I didn't get him one.

The maitre'D gave them front row seats two feet from the edge of the stage. I thought Marci and I were going to be seeing something else that night so I did not join them.

Later on, Marci said "You know you could have gone to that show". :smack:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Vegas! Just looking at these pictures gets my blood pumping for some craps! I'm going to the senior citizen/white trash equivalent of Vegas this weekend. Yes, Laughlin. The casinos are no where near as spectacular as the ones in Vegas, but they have lower limit tables which insure more gambling time... and it makes me feel like a big spender when I use $5 chips. Plus you have the advantage of being on the Colorado River with all of its activities. Fun!

Thanks for sharing your pics, rl.

The next time you go to Vegas, I HIGHLY reccommend catching the free show in the lounge at the cheesy, rundown Boardwalk Casino. Purple Reign They're awesome!

the laughlin table limits are the same that you will find at The Sahara, Palace Station, etc.

It is only on the main strip that LV has high minimums. The worst are the Bellagio and Wynn!. i thought Wynn was absolutely overrated and gaudy. and $20 minimums on roullette at 11AM on friday? please.

i spend most of my time at the Aladdin. i like that place a lot.

i wish i had known you were going to be in LV rich, i might have been able to run up that way and grab a beverage. it would be nice to meet a cellarite.

Yeah, I thought The Wynn was ridiculous. We walked around for about 5 mins on opening weekend and that was plenty. It’s pretty on the inside, but nothing spectacular. And I agree about the Aladdin. They have an awesome buffet, too. :yum:

Best casino buffet in town is the Rio. Period.
Best all around buffet is at Yolie's, down by the HardRock.

The Sahara has $1 and $2 blackjack tables open on weekday (Sun-Thurs) nights and a little po-dunk hotel/casino in Henderson called The El Dorado has $.25 roulette ($2 inside minimum) and free drinks too. Blackjack tables are usually $5 min tho.

I've never been to "The Wynn", must have opened after I left. Steve Wynn is such a pompous ass. As if 14 billion dollar casinos weren't enough, he has to open another one named after himself. Turd.

My favorite themed casino is the Luxor, and their buffet ain't bad, but it's nothing to write home about, either.

Also, Rich, most of the casinos run complimentary shuttles to and from the airport, so if you're staying at a "big name" joint, ask the desk if they do, and save that $50 on the way back to McCarren.

And for god's sake, eat at Yolie's before you go. $25 a person + drinks, but it's worth every penny. And go hungry.

edit: Oh yeah! and if you like outdoorsy stuff, go to Mt. Charleston, the horseback riding should be up and running by now, and hit red rock canyon. Beautiful!!!

i've even played the Sahara's $1 minimum tables at 1 am on a saturday.

Wynn's just opened in the last month or so - the week before i went last time, whenever that was. he has already announced his next project - a new hotel casino with the sole purpose of making The Bellagio look like a slothouse.

yikes. i personally think the flower theme in the Wynn is over the top, the Bellagio is too stuffy, so i don't have any interest in the next big thing.

Who in the HELL is that in the lower right hand corner mooning the stage?!! S*c? Tha's just nasty..:vomit:

>>>>:)<<<<< Obligatory smilie. just kidding, right?

We made the Rio seafood buffet. All-you-can eat split lobster tails and shrimp for about $35, with desserts that you would be willing to buy from a bakery.

We didn't gamble much, but we went to shows and restaurants at many of the hotels and walked through the casinos.

The Sahara definitely had the most reasonable tables. The Aladdin had a great shopping area in a ring around the casino. Lots of interesting vendors.

I didn't get to Yolies. We limited ourselves to the strip mostly because of our first bad experience with the taxi. The $5 all day bus pass took us all up and down the strip. It was all working well until the Friday we were going to leave just before Memorial Day weekend. There was complete gridlock in front of the MGM Grand so we paid the extra money and took the monorail back. We might spring for the $10 monorail day pass next time.

We are considering a timeshare in Vegas. The $13k timeshare we were shown sells on the resale market for $5-6K. We walked out of the timeshare presentation after 3+ hours. We came close to buying but they said 'We don't negotiate prices'. That made saying no very easy. We went to a different timeshare presentation where they wanted $27,000 for a slightly remodeled 1980's hotel which looked like a Best Western (no offense intended). They were going to build a huge new unit behind it but were only selling timeshares in the existing building. I checked at the front desk and they were renting these $27k rooms for $69 a night, $110 on the weekends.
We got some dinner vouchers for attending the presentation and were able to purchase discount vouchers for the Platters-Drifters-Coasters show, so that one wasn't a total loss.

Counting the two timeshare presentations we went to in Florida about 9 and 15 years ago, this makes a total of 4 presentations. We have decided to do it, but on our terms.

I won't go into details until after the deal is completed, but I think shopping around and using the Internet for research really helped a lot. I wouldn't have had access to this much information 9 years ago.

If we close the deal, we'll be back in Vegas next fall. See ya then Lookout.

for timeshares i highly recommend Sedona Pines in AZ. very reasonably priced. uses the RCI points system, no home resort network, no weeks, just raw points, and Sedona is a GOLD CROWN (top priority destination) so when you want to use your points anywhere else in the world, you are bumped to the head of the line.

any vacation, any resort booked less than 45 days out is a MAXIMUM of 9,000 points. prices are negotiable and very reasonable. very low annual fee - $350. that is where i bought after much research. I haven't regretted it for one minute - i absolutely love it and recommend it to anyone considering.

prices change and fluctuate - but i bought mine ( a low level plan) 2 years ago for $7,000. that gave me 54,000 points every other year (effectively 27,000 points/year) and i have never used more than 9,000 on trip. more importantly, i've never been told that there wasn't room for me at my desired resort. the book of member resorts is a couple hundred pages thick. ROCK ON!

I like having a deed, so I went with a major hotel chain. I like the fact that if they screw me and a few thousand others over they will take a hit to their brand reputation.

I have transfer privileges to RCI if I want to go there.