Las Vegas, Nevada

After we saw Hoover Dam, we headed back to  The Strip and parked in the same lot we had in the morning because parking for over-height vehicles is very limited in Las Vegas. Nearly all parking is now in garages with only six and a half or seven foot clearances, not very accommodating for our nine-foot, two-inch tall truck. The complication was that the mall closed at nine o’clock, a full hour before the show was scheduled to be over. So we will have to walk back to the truck on the street rather than through the mall.

We spent a lot of time at the Venetian today mainly because it is one of our favorite Casinos in Las Vegas and because we had tickets to Rock of Ages in the evening. 

The Palazzo

This part of the Venetian was not completed when we were here last time and it is full of a ton of fabulous shops.

The Lobby of the Palazzo

Mary in the Lobby

Waterfall in the Venetian

It seemed that every time we got lost in the Venetian, someone would tell us to go to the waterfall and turn right, left or behind the waterfall so it is important to know where the waterfall is! lol

Floor Plan of the Venetian/Palazzo

We figured out when we arrived back home that the waterfall is right in the middle of the Venetian and the Palazzo and that the Palazzo shops eventually turn into the Canal Shops so it is seamless inside and also very confusing!  We tried walking from the Palazzo Shops to St. Mark's Square and ended up doing a complete circle through shops and ending up right where we started.  That is one of the times we asked for help and we were told to head to the waterfall!

Fall decorations

This is the entry in the Palazzo Shopping Area of the Venetian

Palazzo

More of the Palazzo

The Grand Canal of the Venetian

St. Mark's Square

A Statue in the Square

Some of the hourly entertainment arrived

Oh, the statue was alive - I thought I saw his eyes blinking!

Entertainment

He's walking on stilts

This guy was good

We must have sat in the wrong seats because Lee became part of the entertainment.  Somehow that happens to him often.  I didn't get very good pictures because we were sitting on the side - the chairs in front were full.

My hubby is a good sport!

This Grand Hall leads to the Venetian Lobby

Does feel like Venice!

Lobby of the Venetian

Ceiling above the Casino Staircase To The Balconies Overlooking the Canal

Another canal outside the Venetian

In Front of the Venetian

The Mirage

Lee in the Lobby of the Mirage

The Mirage near the Volcano Show

Caesar's Palace

Caesar's Palace

Caesar's Palace

Caesar's Palace

Serendipity's

New York New York

New York New York

New York New York

Excalibur

Excalibur

The Luxor

The Luxor

Mandalay Bay

Skyvue Las Vegas Super Wheel

This huge Ferris Wheel stands behind the Venetian.  This is the World's largest Ferris Wheel at 550' high.  It holds more than 1000 people!

New Construction in Town

The Flamingo

Margaritaville

Harrah's

Trump Tower

The Wynn

Entrance into the Wynn

Waterfall next to the entry to the Wynn

Heading to the Lobby of the Wynn

Loved the floor of the Wynn!

Wynn - all dressed up for Autumn

Lamps near and above the restaurant in the Wynn

Entry into the Wynn

Louis Vuitton in the Wynn Esplande Shops

Louis Vuitton

Rolex

You can spend like crazy at these shops.  Of course, Mary has a Rolex so we didn't need to shop.  Well, hers came from Mexico and cost a whole $20 but, you know what, it looks just like one of the ones in the window!

Night descends on Las Vegas and it is a splendiferous sight!

I was attacked by a pirate near Treasure Island. 

Lobby of Treasure Island

Treasure Island

The Sirens of TI (Treasure Island) Sculpture

Pirate Ship Illuminated By All The Lights in 

Front of Treasure Island

We managed to go out the wrong door and we got in the mess of people waiting to see the Pirate Show and then it was cancelled because of the high winds.  We  weren't heading for the show because we've seen it several times but it had the same effect.  We were in an angry mob of people heading up the strip!

As we neared the Venetian heading over to see the Rock of Ages show, their billboard illuminated it so I managed to get a picture of it.

From the overhead walkway heading to the Venetian

Us at the Rock of Ages Theater

There aren't any bad seats in the Rock of Ages Theater so our discount tickets were good.  We were right on an aisle but off to the side.  We recognized most of the songs from the show.  Unfortunately, the bass was so loud that unless it was a quiet romantic song, we couldn't understand the words from the songs and that was really disappointing.  The romantic songs were wonderful!  The rest were just loud!  So, our experience could have been better.  Next time we'll take in a comedy show.  Jim Belushi will be in town the end of the month.  We would have loved to see him!

Now it was time for the walk back to the truck and the streets in Vegas are not real pedestrian-friendly, at least once you get off the Strip. To make matters worse, the weather turned much cooler and windier as the day went on so by the time we were walking the streets heading back to our truck – around ten thirty – temperatures were in the lower sixties and the wind was howling. With highs in the upper eighties just two days ago, we were unprepared for the change and endured a very chilly walk back to our truck. But we made it and got safely back to our RV though it was well after eleven by that time. 

Hoover Dam

Our first stop this morning was at Tix4Tonight, a discount show ticket vendor at the Fashion Show Mall on The Strip. We parked in a small surface lot right outside Macy’s Men's store about a quarter mile off the Strip and walked inside the mall to the Las Vegas Blvd entrance where the ticket discounter was located. After conferring with one of the Tix4Tonight representatives and then with each other, we decided on two tickets for the 8:00 show of Rock of Ages appearing at the Venetian. Since seats are reserved, Tix4Tonight only sells a voucher for the tickets. Once we had the voucher, we went straight to the Venetian to actually pick up the tickets so we’d have a good choice of seats.

With tickets in hand and the day to kill until 7:30 when the theater doors were scheduled to open, we decided to drive to Hoover Dam to see the new bridge over the Colorado River gorge just downstream of the dam. We were somewhat surprised to find the visitor services at the dam in full operation in spite of the government shut-down. Mary went on the internet via our smart phone and determined that the dam is not operated by appropriated funds but by funds that come from operation of the dam, most notably the electricity generated. National Park Service facilities in the area were closed and barricated as expected. We drove the new road and crossed the bridge high above the river. Unfortunately, because of the high barrier walls, you can’t see the dam from the road when travelling east. We went to the first Arizona interchange and turned around for the return trip. There is a walkway along the dam-side of the bridge which was being used by a fair number of tourists. We took the first Nevada exit that gives access to the old road down to and across the dam. This is the tourist route.

There may not have been many on the bridge but the dam was crawling with tourists. They were like ants. We drove across the dam stopping many times for pedestrians in crosswalks and parked on the Arizona side, the only location of over-sized vehicle parking. We wandered around but stayed fairly close to our parking spot and took some pictures of the lake side of the dam.

The water is down probably sixty feet or more below where it was the first time we visited the dam with Danica in 1997. The water level has been low for several years as we discovered the last time we were here in 2010. 

After getting some pictures, we got back in the truck and drove back to Vegas.

National Park Deprived!

We awoke to a new America - one in which all national parks were closed! This will only be temporary until the children in Washington stop their bickering and decide to do their jobs! In the meantime, we, like lots of other folks I'm sure, are caught in the middle of this squabble. So we decided we'd take advantage of the disruption of our plan to head to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We decided to get to a Camping World to have them look at our main air conditioning unit which has started vibrating like there's a bad bearing in the fan or something. There are two Camping World locations in the Las Vegas area, one in South Las Vegas and one in Henderson. The Henderson store was marginally closer to Valley of Fire so Lee decided to head there.

But before we left Valley of Fire, we drove over to the Visitor Center again to visit the Gift Shop. Mary wanted to get some postcards to send to the grandkids. The remaining stock in the gift shop was a little disappointing but we found a couple postcards and a park decal for the truck back window. We said a last goodbye to the Visitor Center (for this trip anyway) and went back to the campsite to hook up and head out.

The Camping World wasn't real busy although their service department was booked until Friday so we made an appointment for 11AM and drove up Boulder Highway to the Roadrunner RV Park. It's not a bad park though we're right on the inside of the wall along Boulder Highway which is a pretty busy six-lane boulevard so it's a little noisy especially during the day and early evening. But the price is good ($16/day plus tax) and we need to be somewhere in the area for our appointment with Camping World on Friday.

Las Vegas is not our favorite desert location - it's a big city in the middle of the desert and it's HOT. It encompasses two of our least favorite attributes of a location: big city and HOT. I think this place is built on the sun. Oh well, we'll be able to survive until Friday and maybe by then the situation with respect to the national parks will be clearer. We can only hope.