Okay, I know the title of this piece is a cliché, but the first music we heard upon our arrival at the Sahara Casino was ZZ Top's version of this iconic song. It set the mood for a great time in this crass and yet beautiful city. Las Vegas is larger than life -- you can travel the world and never leave the 4 mile long Strip. Our hotel anchored the northern terminus and Mandalay Bay Hotel, its southern-most point on Las Vegas Boulevard.
This was my second visit to the city, the first being with our son, Geoff, his wife, Melissa and our grandson, Elijah in 2006 (see Meet Me in Vegas). At that time, we stayed at The Orleans hotel and took a shuttle bus to The Strip. This time we travelled with our daughter, Meg and her husband, Mike, and stayed at their favourite hotel, the Sahara. It is the final stop on the monorail so very convenient to all the sights and sounds of Vegas yet far enough away from the maddening crowd.
Our flight from Calgary was uneventful but we had to rise at 2:30 am to make it through customs. Calgary's US customs are notorious for being slow, hence the early rising. However, as luck would have it, we breezed through in less than an hour and the plane took off right on time, 6:30 am.
Our flight attendant on Horizon Air entertained us with a safety demonstration which made our first foray on this airline fun. It was also Mike's first flight on a prop-driven airplane. We changed planes to Alaska Air in Seattle with little hassle. Meg spotted her suitcase entering the airplane so we knew one of them had made it on board.
We arrived in Las Vegas to 40 degree C temps. Both bags arrived as we reached the carrousel so there was no time to play the nearby slot machines. Meg told our cab driver to take us directly to the hotel as cabbies often do the trip down The Strip. If it is your first time you may not mind spending $45 on a long ride but we just wanted to get to the hotel which cost about $15.
We checked-in but Meg's room wasn't made up so they stored their bags with us then we headed down to the hotel's liquor store for 'one for the road'. Like New Orleans, Vegas has lax drinking laws so you can walk and drink with impunity. It seems like a civilized way of doing things.
At the monorail station, we got our 3-day passes ($28 but we had a $7 off coupon from the hotel) which are a real bargain if you plan on going back and forth on the train. Our first stop was an authentic Mexican restaurant, Gonzalez Y Gonzalez, Meg had discovered on a previous trip. It was housed in the shopping mall beneath New York, New York.
Vegas is more than just a gambling town. The food is excellent with many great restaurants and some famous ones with TV chefs. It also offers an incredible plethora of shops from trashy souvenir kiosks to high-end stores like Harry Winston Diamonds. A happy, carnival atmosphere permeates The Strip with street vendors hawking everything from bottled water to 'girls'. There are roller coasters, magic shows, animal acts, and arcades as well as slot machines and gambling tables. We saw Elvis several times, girls dressed in nothing much but wearing gigantic headdresses, and more tattoos than anyone could imagine seeing in one place.
After a delicious Mexican meal washed down with giant margaritas, we headed south towards Mandalay Bay to do the Shark Reef experience, passing through the Luxor Hotel and Excalibur (where we bought our tickets for the Tournament of Kings). We had to walk outside in the heat to reach Mandalay Bay and quickly learned to appreciate the cold air conditioning.
The Shark Reef was a nice sized aquarium where you could learn about the fish via a phone-like device. At one point, we stood under an arch of water that allowed the sharks to swim over our heads. It was a wonderful feeling, almost like you were snorkeling. The children shrieked with excitement when a ray 'flew' over them. But, by 8:00, we were tired and ready to head back the hotel where we had supper in the Nascar Café. It had great burgers and better beer. We then tumbled into bed.
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