Dam Canyons and Poker!
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
76
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
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Las Vegas,
Nevada,
United States
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
So, we left LA to begin our jaunt to nearby Vegas. We got there approx 4:30pm and it was already starting to get dark. I had been to Vegas before and stayed in The Luxor and David had previously stayed in Excaliburs so we decided to stay somewhere completely different, like Circus Circus. However, inside, the foyer was heaving and there were only 3 staff on Reception so the queue was flipping mental and after 30mins of not moving we decided to sod it and go somewhere else. (David: This appeared to be a theme in most of the hotels: long queues and very few staff even though there was a massive reception desk. I can only think that it's done on purpose to make those in the incredibly well staffed and short VIP queues feel like they're getting value for money out of their VIP status.)
The Stratosphere was much better. After walking all the way through the deafening Casino to Reception, we were seen immediately and given the key card to a massive room almost on the top floor as we mentioned it was our honeymoon. The rate was ridiculously cheap! Sounds better than it was though. The room was so big that the bed was dwarfed and the room was just soul-less. I didn't want to spend a week in an airport-terminal-sized room shouting to each other! Plus these 2 Hotels were right at the end of Las Vegas Boulevard and would be quite a walk to anything else. We decided to head further up. Las Vegas Boulevard had completely changed since David and I were last there. The Strip, as it's known, is now like a building site!! There are massive new Hotels rising up from the dusty desert like Phoenixs from the fire! There is constant redevelopment.
Luxor's new bar. Too trendy!
Caesar's Palace was once a big resort but now it's like a flaming airport!!!! You need a car to get from one end of it to the other!!! Vegas is bigger, brighter, flashier than we had both remembered it to be. (David: I remember Excalibur being at the end of the strip, all on it's own surrounded by nothing but wasteland. Now you can hardly see the Hotel for all the other new buildings!)After lots of deliberation and driving around different Hotels, we eventually decided to just go to the Luxor for one night and then we could stay somewhere else for the rest of the week. By now it was almost 8pm and we were both hungry and tired.
For those of you that don't know, The Luxor Hotel is a massive black shiny pyramid and the theme inside is Egyptian with columns, Egyptian themed wallpaper, mosaics etc. The last time I was in The Luxor was in 1998 when my friends Elspeth and Philip got married (with the help of Elvis and some Hawaiian girls hoola-hoolaing!). Elspeth was one of my bridesmaids at my wedding in Cyprus. Anyway, it was such a hilarious holiday so I was quite excited about returning to this Hotel again. I had so many brilliant memories of us all there together.
However, I was soon really sad. The Luxor was all completely different. Well, it had been 10 years I suppose, things change. The following may make no sense to some of you so my apologies and please just bear with me while I briefly update the Els-&-Philip-possee: "Titti-fa-la" Bar is no longer within the Casino!!! Remember where we all met for drinks at night before we hit The Strip?? The Hotel bar is now some pink neon and black cocktail establishment.
Me on way to top of Eiffel Tower
The lobby was huge and expansive wasn't it? Not any more. A huge escalator now dominates it up to another level where they have fast food eateries and an exhibition hall. (Did they have those escalators and that level before??) Also, did the Luxor have a connecting moving walkway from inside to Excalibur and Mandalay Hotel on one side and Excaliburs on the other?? They do now which is actually quite good. But much more sad is the decay of the Hotel. It's just gone to pieces since I was last there. The wallpaper is scuffed. The lift doors shake and shudder as it ascends which is highly disconcerting! The mezzanine balconies looking down to the ground floor all wobble!!! Our room was great but it was very very tired and shabby. When we were there in 1998 it was so glitzy and new and fresh. David and I met a couple in the lift and they also hadn't been back to The Luxor for 10 years and they were just as surprised at the decay of the place. So sad. Anyway, on our first night's stay, David and I got dressed up and went down for a few drinks and a fiddle on the slot machines. Nothing too sensational for our first night there but it was good fun.
The next day, we did some shopping. I dragged David to The Fashion Show Shopping Mall at the end of The Strip. (was this there in 1998, E & P Possee?!). It's a massive mall with everything from Bloomingdales, Macy's, Borders to Victoria's Secrets, Zara and Guess. David and I separated and I went whizzing off to Guess and David went in search of shiny gadgets! Clothes in America are weird.
Excalibur and New York Hotel
It's all lacy, fru-fru, fussy, flappy collar stuff. Nothing elegant or simple! I didn't want trousers finishing mid-calf ("have they been shrunk in the wash?"), I didn't want a black cardigan with a lace doilie around the neck and I didn't want boots with tassles or a heel that looked like the ace of spades!! Grrrrrr. Evidently 1980's fashion has stuck in USA!When we got back to the Hotel early afternoon, we asked about the availability of shows. David really wanted to go and see Penn and Teller. I didn't know much about them but they mixed magic with humour and revealed magic secrets to their audience. We were in luck, they had seats!! And we had 4 hours before it started so we rushed to get ready then scooted off to the Rio Hotel where the show was, for dinner. After a scrummy tongue-swelling curry and two rounds of drinks followed by 2 more rounds of drinks and some slot machine poker, it was time to go in.
Inside we got another drink for during the show and then Penn and Teller sprang onto the stage to rapturous applause. Our seats were right at the front. The start was great, really funny but then, for me, it lost its sparkle a bit. This may have something to do with the fact that I fell asleep!!! Well, I'd had 2 wines and 3 G & T's!! I woke up near the end to David heaving with laughter. (David: Pfft) I'm glad he'd had a good time at least. Outside the theatre, after the show, Penn and Teller were allowing the audience to have their photo taken with them which was a nice touch I thought.
The Strip from the top of the Eiffel Tower
I said to Penn and Teller that I didn't want a conventional photo so I pretended to lick one's earlobe and the other I pretended to eat his face!! (I don't know who is who). Surprisingly, they were both quite amenable to my requests!! Sometimes alcohol is a wonderful thing! (David: Teller is not as short as you'd think he is. But Penn is sooo massive he makes everyone look short. In fact, Teller is taller than me. He did a great trick with a red ball. I don't think his height had anything to do with it. All in all, they were very good, except for an 'over the top' American patriotism thing they did with the flag, where they basically slagged off China so I'm glad Lois ate Penns face...!)The next day we checked out of Titty Fa-La's Egyptian Colony and decided we would spend one more day in Vegas before we drove off to the Grand Canyon. So, we decided to try out Paris Hotel to see what that was like instead. It was Beautiful!!! While at Vegas in '98, we had gone to Paris for drinks and now, with David, it didn't look any different. It still looked fresh, clean, tidy. Why couldn't The Luxor keep up the competition? After sprucing ourselves up, we headed down for some dinner, drinks and then I took David up the Eiffel Tower within Paris to see The Strip lit up. All the multicoloured flashing, sparkling lights were magical. Then, we walked up and down The Strip going into different Hotels and gambling and drinking before calling it a late night at a Roulette Table in Paris. Luck was on our side or should I say Jose was.
Me licking Teller
Jose, from Costa Rica, was our Croupier and he was such a lovely, warm man chatting and making us laugh. Our chips were rolling in and we called it a night when we were winning. Then we had a drink and returned to Jose's table and lost what we had just won!! Typical!! Still, we had had a fantastic night which ended at 4am!!!! The next day, we packed up, checked out and drove to the Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam. It wasn't that far away. I had heard of the infamous Dam but not extensively. We had already seen some whopper Dams during this honeymoon which were mind-blowingly fantastic so we were looking forward to this one too.
And it was truly incredible. Not quite as heart-stopping though as I anticipated. We went on a small tour around, underground and inside, quite amazing. All the work that went into it, the employment opportunities it gave to so many workers during the depression, (David: the last one!) the engineering and design feat was all really impressive.
The Grand Canyon was a great drive but a l-o-n-g one. We got to The Grand Canyon National Park at about 8pm. It was pitch dark and we had no Hotel booked. Quel Surprise. At the entrance to the park were ticket booths and barriers. The ticket booths were closed and the barriers were up. Great! Free entry for us then! Usually, it's $20 or so to enter The Park. Driving through the park was eery with only our headlights illuminating the road ahead. No other cars passed us and it was a full moon! but pretty soon we arrived at the Grand Canyon Village, a complex of Hotels, restaurants and shops teetering on the rim of the Canyon itself.
Me biting Penn
We decided to try our luck at El Tovar Hotel, described as a stately Hunting Lodge with lovely rooms. They had vacancies! Hoorah!! The Hotel was so cosy with log fires, a massive Christmas tree and decorations everywhere. Really Christmassy. The next day, we headed out to the Canyon for an explore. David had been here before. The weather was so freeeezzzzzing and the wind was blowing a gale!!! We knew no helicopters would be flying today so we decided to walk the rim of the canyon with everyone else. The views were absolutely and completely staggeringly stunning and the depth and length of the Canyon was just incredible. It was so beautiful. The wind almost threw us off our feet though which was slightly alarming as the edge of the Canyon was only a metal barrier away from a bone-cracking death down to the bottom! After the gale had rammed us around the rim of the Canyon, we decided to head back to the Hotel in the late afternoon and curl up in front of the log fire with a good book. It was bliss.
That night we had a delicious meal in the Hotel restaurant (the gale was still so fierce that the glass windows of the restaurant were rattling and billowing in and out!!) followed by a game of Cards in the small bar. Then, nearby, the table of 6 American girls started screaming!! It was snowing outside and they clearly very excited by this which was very amusing. Had they ever seen snow before?! We couldn't believe it was snowing...at the Grand Canyon?!!!
The next morning, we woke to a white Grand Canyon!!! Well, actually, after we checked out, David and I went to inspect the Canyon which was only a few meters from the front door of our Hotel and the actual Canyon was still as dry as an autumn leaf but up here, outside the Hotel, the snow was deep and crisp and even.
Top of the Dam
We tried to build a mini snowman but the snow was odd. It was so fine and so soft that it didn't stick together!! I still managed to sock a snowball at David's bottom though. Nice! (David: What? The shot or my bottom?)We drove back to Vegas, where we decided to spend one more night before heading back to LA to Derek and June's. To get from the Grand Canyon to LA would have taken appox a million hours so we needed to break it up again. This time in Vegas, we decided to stay in Treasure Island. Once again, the queue was ridiculous with only about 4 girls on reception! The Hotel was great though, clean, fresh, tidy.
You know, David and I both came to the same conclusion though: the variety of the Hotels in Vegas is fantastic. You've got a Pirate-theme; Egyptian theme; Paris theme; New York theme; Circus theme etc which is all really exciting. However, once you actually get inside these Hotels, they are all exactly the same..drab carpet, dreary wallpaper, waitresses dressed like cabaret dancers!! Vegas has missed a treat. In the Luxor they should have the waitresses dressed like Egyptian-type women or in Treasure Island some of the staff should be dressed up like Pirates or Ship Damsels or in Excalibur Hotel they should have Suits of Armour about and in MGM Hotel their staff should dress up as celebrities. No imagination at all. ONLY in Paris did they show imagination with the Can-Can waitresses and Bell-Boy doormen. Much better. It's no good having a flaming themed Hotel and then going inside to find you could be in any big Hotel in the World with the same awful floral carpet.
Bottom of the Dam
After we checked in, we decided to go off and explore. One of the Hotels we went to for drinks and gambling was MGM Hotel. They showed some semblance of imagination here by housing a massive real lion inside a huge glass house which was surrounded by all the gaming tables and slot machines!!! My initial thoughts were "what the......?" and getting irritated by the fact that a big casino is not the place for a Lion, it should be out in the open hunting deer and rolling in the grass. However, the glasshouse was really massive and had a mini waterfall in, rocks, real plants, trees and hidey holes for it to explore. The glass was also incredibly thick which blotted out all casino noises. There were two keepers inside, one stroking the sleeping lion and one commentating to the crowds peering in outside. She said that there is actually a nature park nearby to Vegas with about 15 lions in and these lions come into this glasshouse on a rotational basis so in three days running you will never see the same lion and they are only ever in this glasshouse for about 5 hours at a time before they get returned to the umpteem acre park. In fact, they seemed to actively enjoy their time in the Casino. So it didn't seem that restrictive or cruel after all. This lion was massive and was just lying on his side half asleep while one of the keepers stroked him. Great to see. 2 hours later when we walked past the lion was gone so they had obviously returned him to the park.
The next day, we woke to Vegas in sleety-rain.
The Canyon
We got in the car to return to LA via Death Valley. 5 mins on the road and the snow came down. Heavily! We were still in Vegas and it was snowing! 3 hours later we were in Death Valley and it was almost a blizzard of snow!! Madness!! Death Valley was just stunning. So beautiful. But I was really looking forward to seeing the blisteringly hot cracking terrain of the Valley! What were David and I doing to the world's climate??! There was one really long winding road in Death Valley and it was snowing heavily and we were the only car on the road which made it really quite hair-raising in a horror-film type way. All of a sudden we hit fog and were shrouded in a thick white blanket forcing us to drive with full-beam lights on at 10mph. I was driving now and it was scary to say the least. After about 15mins of this, suddenly the fog vanished. Just like that. Gone. It was like I had driven through a wall. One side fog. The other side clear weather. It was the most bizarre thing ever. Behind, in the rear view mirror you couldn't see the road for the thick fog!!!! And now there was blue sky, no snow, no fog, sunshine. Incredible. Death Valley really was the most breath-taking scene of Climate roulette!! On the way home to LA, on the freeway, the sky suddenly went overcast with a massive thunderously black cloud and even with headlights and streetlights on it was virtually pitch black. Really scary stuff.We eventually got back to LA at about 8:30pm which wasn't too bad. We let ourselves in as Derek and June had gone out for the night.
The next couple of days we did some really cheesy tacky tours of LA but it was great fun!!!!!! Read our next blog: LA The Return for our tacky tales!
Love, us xxxxxxxxxxx
