Day 14-Las Vegas. We left Flagstaff after such a good night out. Now heading for Las Vegas. Landscape becoming more desert-like. Temperatures rising rapidly. Stop for a photo opportunity at a scenic view stop over the Colorado, hundreds of feet below us. Next stop was at the Hoover Dam, you can just drive through and stop with no charge, out of there to Lake Mead. It’s the middle of the desert and people are sailing! Round and round in circles, or so it seems to find our hotel. Best room of the trip so far, we have a room at the end of the tower, so lots of windows. Our view is over the pool, Les’ view is over the golf course. Only ‘room only’ basis hotel, apart from Chicago. Try charge for everything here – only hotel to charge for wifi ($13.99 for 24 hours) and coffee in the room is $3.50. Get the monorail to the strip, but its still quite a walk once you get there. The MGM Grand is the last stop and you leave the monorail straight into the shops and casino. Next morning, as breakfast not included at the LVH, we got the monorail to The Quad (formerly the Imperial Palace, I believe) where the monorail listed the cheapest weekend breakfast buffet on the Strip. John and I left the others to their own devices (I.e. the slots!) and explored the strip on our own. We started at the end – the Mandalay Bay – great sandy beach and tidal wave in the pool area. None thing we noticed was that pool areas are restricted to residents and ticket holders only, good security. Next was the Luxor, amazing pyramid and sphinx to look at from outside, but the rooms are in the pyramid on the outside walls. The Excalibur is shaped on the outside like a fantasy castle from Disney. There’s a free tram to take you from the Excalibur to the Mandalay Bay, well worth it in 100 degree temperatures. Ran out of energy to do the rest of the hotels on the strip! So just wandered up to the Bellagio in time for the fountain show. Then back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and a margarita in Happy Hour. Went out to Circus Circus for the evening, with the acrobats and fun fair. Last episode to be posted tomorrow
