May 30, 2004 - Las Vegas, NV

Well, happy Memorial Day weekend to you all.  Particularly those of you who like all 3 of my brothers and one of my sons served our country like I did.  My oldest brother was a WWII vet, Ken from Korea, brother Bill and me Viet Nam, and son Rick managed to serve as a submariner when we were between wars.

While in Las Vegas, we took one of those "tours" for a timeshare condo.  Pretty tough sell, getting us to buy some vacation place, eh?  We got $100 worth of coupons for food at the Treasure Island casino, which means we "earned" about $50 per hour.  We did like the place, and the view from the top floor lounge of the Polo Towers was great.  Close enough to the "strip," but not really on it.  In the picture on the left, those tall towers are the New York, New York casino, the MGM Grand is obvious.  On the right is the Boardwalk casino and one of the many free parking lots, and it's a big one.  We always parked in some parking garage so we could get in the shade.  All parking is free in LV--just follow the "self-parking" signs.

Dead center in the picture on the left is the lake in front of the Bellagio which offers a wonderful (free) fountain show, and on the right is the rooftop swimming pool at the Polo Towers where we didn't buy a timeshare.

The airport, and the other timeshare building on the strip.  The mountains are always in view, no matter which direction you look. 

Friends Diane and Bill and their new Dutch Star.  We met them for the first in Livingston, TX, at the Escapees Rainbows End park.  Been in touch via e-mail since then.  Tried the Hilton buffet for "linner" one day with them.  That's "lunch/dinner" which is our favorite way to do buffets.  Their traveling companion is so friendly it made Barb and I miss our little guys again.  We're just not quite ready to give up any of our independence yet it seems.  The extra toes on her front feet are cute too.  They keep all the furniture covered in deference to the fact that she really does own the place.  And that's the way it should be with these little guys!

Do cats ever really become "domesticated"?  Ever alert, she's not about to let me wander around with the camera without watching pretty carefully.  And then you can see one of the reasons we became friends with Bill and Diane.  When we met them, I was convinced I'd lived long enough without a high-speed internet connection, and Barb was convinced we were going to have to do something as well.  Gotta love that woman's patience with me and "our" toys.  Anyway, at the time we met I was researching the manual mount for the dish, and Bill was full of information for me.  They left the rat-race a bit early, having realized who wins that race, and are ex-computer industry people.  Fun to be with.

The casinos have lots to offer people who'd rather keep their money in their pockets, and we enjoyed poking around them.  The cockatoo is being a "big fierce bird" for the crowd, and the parrot is showing off its 4 toed feet for us.  These birds live a pretty good life in their special rooms.  Get the required "rain" every day, no smoking allowed, all the right food, etc.

New York, New York, and the MGM lion are distinctive landmarks.

The "Brookline Bridge" (I think) at New York, New York, and then it's into the M&M's showplace--had to do this for Ilene K. who's a real M&M's fan.

The branded and unique gift selection is great!  We even watched a 3-D movie "I lost my M in Las Vegas" complete with stuff flying through the air at us, air blowing on us from under our seats, etc.  The columns of colors--yep, all M&M's; you pick the flavor.  Each picture is half the columns.

Shrek got in on the act, and, of course, Elliot Sadler's NASCAR car.  Made watching the race yesterday a bit more fun after seeing this car.  How'd they get it up here on the 4th floor?  Yeah, that's a M&M bag Barb is holding.  Some grandkid is going to be on the receiving end of something in there I'm sure.

The entrance to the store from inside the mall, and then another shot of New York, New York.  That place takes up several blocks of real estate, complete with a roller coaster and everything.  Never did manage to get inside the place.  Just too much to see/do for only three weeks of visiting here!

The best way to cross Las Vegas Blvd. (the "strip") is with these pedestrian overpasses.  So I stopped and took a shot looking each way.  The billboards are all digitized and often with sound.  This part of town is truly a 24/7 activity sort of place.

The fierce competition between casinos to have lavish themes has produced some pretty garish stuff, as well as some well done tasteful buildings and decors.  We're in the Luxor, which as you can quickly tell has an Egyptian theme.  The entire building is housed in a glass pyramid.

Buildings inside buildings.  The guest rooms in here are all on the outside of the pyramid, so every balcony has an unobstructed view of what's below.  You can see some of the inside structure with the rooms going up at an angle.

The Luxor has several different pools, but as usual there are more people out of the water than in.

The attention to detail in this replication is incredible.  Good thing the casinos makes a "decent" profit, as a lot of the artwork is pretty expensive stuff.

I really like the MGM lion for some reason. And the side entrance to the Excalibur which is full of knights and that kind of stuff.  Again, lots attention to detail.

The outside entrance to the M&M store, and one of the biggest Coke bottles we'd seen.  It houses an elevator for the Showcase Mall, which is attached to the MGM casino.

Construction is an on-going process here in Vegas.  Because of one of the sidewalks being closed, we "had" to wander through a combination of casinos to get where we wanted to go, and no, that guy doesn't look a bit like me.  No beard!  It's actually supposed to be Caesar and he's surrounded by a pool in one of the "tunnels" of Caesar's Palace.  And the evening light turned this building on fire.  Not sure which casino it is, but it's under construction, whatever it is.

One of our favorites to wander through was The Venetian.  Complete with indoor and outdoor canals.  Some pretty fancy shops lined these canals, too.  The detail work on the gondola caught my eye.  No expense spared.  Gee, I wonder where they get all their money.......

The back of the same gondola, but wait.  What are those two little buttons on the floor back there?  AHA!  They're switches for the electric motor propelling the boat.  Forward and reverse.  All the gondolier has to do is steer.  What a deal.  More illusion, for sure.  This gondolier was singing to the family, clapping his hands getting the infant in daddy's arms to grin, while mamma was videotaping the whole thing.

Isn't every day I get to shoot a woman in the shower!  I got a wooden smile for my efforts.  The carvings in this shop were so realistic it was amazing.  Made me think of my brother Ken who has done some wood carving in the past.  Bet he'd like to see this.

Notice the wood jacket with black wallet in pocket.  The sales person advised that the wallet was so realistic that it has been taken a few times and they've had to replace it.  We were encouraged to take pictures in the wood carving shop (which had some neat glass blowings too), but had just left a shop with signs asking us to refrain from taking photos or videos.  Then into a fancy mask shop where I didn't see any "NO PHOTOS" sign.....until after I'd taken this shot of the horse and pussy cat, and an attendant politely pointed it out to me.  Dang shame, too, because they had a 1/3 replica of a 1953 Ferrari F-2 car, too.  Working model, with a 1500cc engine and would do a reported 75 mph.  For only $75,000 too.......

A wedding gondola, much like the ones Barb remembers from her trip to Venice many (she says too many) years ago when she lived in Europe.  And then there's Barb being serenaded--maybe not.  The Venetian is another huge place, full of shops in addition to the casino and hotel rooms.

The paintings looked original, but from way down here we couldn't tell for sure.  Again we were impressed with the "cost not a concern" decor of the place.

HA!  Even the world's second oldest profession is alive and well here.  Busking--street performers.  This guy (mime) would make mechanical noises as he'd move, and he paid attention to anybody dropping money in his bucket.  Another great free show!  Oh, in the "for what it's worth" department, speaking of the oldest profession, prostitution is legal in Nevada, but not in Clark county which is where Las Vegas is located.  So there are people all over the place handing out brochures and cards with girls' numbers (and their pictures) offering to come to your room for a private dance.  Yeah, right.  And what tour of the strip is complete without a quick jaunt through Harrah's?  Complete with Buck, Winnie, and their little dog who's name I forget.