What does "Las Vegas" mean to you? Gambling, wedding chapels, strip clubs, extravagant hotels/casinos, the Fremont Street light show, the shows, Pawn Stars? Well, we did NOT have much to do with ALL of the above. But we did do some sightseeing and at least viewed some of them from the outside!
We started our day walking through Circus Circus (we camped behind it in the KOA
campground!) and ended up stopping to take part in a short lesson from one of the dealers on playing Blackjack. The casino offers these free sessions every morning for some of the most popular games. Our instructor was helpful and freely answered questions from all the "students". We even were able to play a mock game to reinforce what we had been taught. (Of course we didn't get to keep our winnings!)We enjoyed that class so much that we decided to return for the next class on roulette. We had a little free time first, so we went upstairs to watch some of the circus acts (it IS Circus Circus, after all!). We saw two acts at that time; both were very good. The first was a clown doing tricks with a Diablo, a Westernized Chinese yo-yo. He made it look so easy, but the things he could do with it and how easily he could catch it was awe-inspiring. Here is a YouTube video of his act.
The second act was a male/female acrobatic act. Wow, was she limber! They both were also very strong and muscled, but definitely not like weight-lifters! (You could not DO those moves with a weight-lifters body!)
We then returned to the casino and took the roulette class. There were just three of us (the other student had been in the earlier class, too), so we got to ask lots of questions.
It was time to go do some sightseeing, but, as happens in Vegas, we were enticed by a nearby casino, the Riviera. Chris had been reading about roulette and the edge, the odds, the probabilities, etc. He had reported that a single zero roulette table was a little better deal for the players, so when Kathy noticed that the Riviera advertised single zero roulette, we had to go in and try our system on those tables.
And we did have good luck, though we can't attribute it to the zero-situation. We cashed out with seventy-some dollars. We only gamble for fun, not to make money, necessarily (although it's more fun that way!). So we always start with $20 only and leave the table if we lose everything. Big spenders, huh?
We then bought our bus pass and headed for Fremont Street. We decided to use public transportation because driving in Vegas and finding parking was not that appealing. But part way to Fremont Street the bus driver announced that if we wanted to go to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop we needed to get off at the next stop.
For those who don't recognize the shop's name, this is the pawn shop highlighted on the History Channel's Pawn Stars program. So, of course, we hopped off the bus and went down the several blocks to see what it was like in reality.
Guess what? It looks like a pawn shop; albeit they have LOTS of high-ticket things there. They also have lots of souvenirs about the shop and the show. And lots of tourists... But it was fun to visit the shop and look and the merchandise; we helped some other tourists by taking their photos. Our only regret was that we didn't see ANY of the "stars" of Pawn Stars!
While walking down the street later, we passed many wedding chapels. We've often heard of people getting married in wedding chapels in Las Vegas (we even have family who have!), but had not really seen them. Some of them actually look quite charming with a nice garden area for outdoor weddings. A few others look a little more seedy and/or less romantic.
OK, it's quite obvious that we are easily distracted when on vacation. I think that's three times so far that morning. Nevertheless, we started walking down the street towards Fremont Street. Part of Fremont Street is now covered, over several blocks, by a canopy. It's essentially an outdoor mall now. This area is now called the Fremont Street Experience and has a light and sound show every night using the canopy. We didn't stay for the show, so that we could go see some more of The Strip. (Pictures of Fremont Street.)
But we did stop long enough to have a beer at one of the bars with outdoor seating. Across the street was a new restaurant/bar called Heart Attack Grill. This place actually flaunts the fact that they serve up huge portions, high calories, etc. They let anyone 350 pounds or heavier eat for free.
We didn't go in, but stood outside. One of the young female employees, dressed as a
nurse, sat at one of the window tables looking out and waving or smiling at potential customers walking by.We could see other employees inside dressed as doctors and nurses. An ambulance sits outside the building.
The burger in the picture is the Triple Bypass Burger. It contains 4 1/2 hamburger patties, 8 slices of American cheese, one tomato, one onion. AND the bun is supposedly coated with lard. Livestrong.com claims this burger is 8,000 calories.
Because Chris, Ben, and Kathy have been on a new eating plan, since Labor Day, focused on eating correctly with correct portions (and we are losing weight!), we found the whole idea behind the Heart Attack Grill disturbing. In a time when the medical profession actually states that obesity is actually at epidemic proportions in the U.S., it almost seems irresponsible to actually promote it. It's bad enough that portions in most restaurants are still way too big and have way too many calories... this goes beyond that! OK, I'll get off my soapbox [kdr].
Admittedly, it was cute in a gimmicky-type way, but...
Video news report discussing Blair River's, Heart Attack Grill spokesman, death at 29. [car]
Another interesting attraction that is part of the Fremont Street Experience was a zipline running down much of the canopied area. The rates seemed to be pretty reasonable, but when compared to Chris and Blake's zipline experience in Wisconsin it was rather tame. They got to ride 5-6 different ziplines over trees and lakes, etc. But I'm sure the Las Vegas version is still fun.
We once again caught the bus and headed out to The Strip. We wanted to see what some of the other hotels/casinos that we have heard about looked like inside. It was getting dark, with a brisk, cool wind outside, so we just walked through a few: Venetian, Caesar's Palace, Mirage, and part of the Bellagio. We had been in Treasure Island the night before. Chris' favorite was the architecture of the plaza area of the Venetian (it reminded him of St. Mark's Square in Venice); Kathy liked the Roman street in Caesar's Palace because of the high vaulted ceilings painted like the sky.
At The Mirage there is a really great fish tank with all types of brightly colored fish. We also made a point of going to the fountain show outside the Bellagio. The fountains spray in elaborately designed patterns to the music of Frank Sinatra singing "Luck be a Lady." (YouTube video) This fountain was designed by WET Designs that designs fantastic fountains all over the world.
It was back on the bus to return to Circus Circus. After eating supper, we once more tried the roulette table. We spent quite a few fun hours, but can't brag about any big winnings. The fun came from the group of people around our table (mentioned in the first paragraph). On this occasion the bidding was fast and furious with most of the table covered with a variety of numbers of chips each spin.
We returned to our camper late and pretty much called it a night. Kathy hopes her doctor appreciates how much walking she did during the vacation!
No comments:
Post a Comment