Last night it rained and when we got up this morning it was cloudy, overcast and the temperature dropped to 85. Our plan was to leave today and head out to The Valley of Fire State Park 55 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Since the temperature had improved and after some thought and discussion we decided to stay in Vegas one more day to visit a couple of the casinos we hadn’t seen or been to in over 25 years
Our first stop was Planet Hollywood. As it turned out it was quite nice and quite elegant. Not gaudy as we had expected. They have a full mile of stores and shops that would give new meaning to the phrase “Shop till you Drop.”
At one entrance they have an open area with thunder , lightening and rain – just like outside today!
After poking around Planet Hollywood we took a walk across the eight lane road to the Bellagio. We stayed at the Bellagio for our 45th wedding anniversary. It is quite an elegant place. They have a display of Chihuly glass – a famous glass-blower from Seattle/ Tacoma that is spectacular. If anyone is interested in seeing his magnificent pieces there is an exhibit one display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston until the first week in August 2011.
Chihuly | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
www.mfa.org/exhibitions/chihuly
The Bellagio also has a Botanical Garden Area that is changed seasonally. Once again, it was as beautiful as we expected.
After leaving the Bellagio we trekked back across eight lanes of traffic to get our car at the Planet Hollywood garage. The temps stayed in the high 70’s but surprisingly it was muggy. Definitely not the dry air of the desert.
We hadn’t been to the far end of the strip in over 25 years so decided to check out Circus Circus to see if anything had changed. Nope, it is the same dark, dank place we remembered. It is a real circus with a huge amusement park so there were tons and tons of kids there. We did watch the 15 minute circus act and then left. The two aerialist did their act without nets and he held all the props either in his hands or mouth. STRONG MAN!!!!!!
We then went over to the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino. Twenty eight years ago it was Stupak's Tower. The rooms in the tower were soooooo small you could barely turn around. Now they have a huge hotel attached with normal sized rooms.
They were building the tower to the rides at that time. Today was the first time we had gone to the top. The 360 degree views go on forever and are really magnificent. Up closer you can see the hundreds of vacant city blocks once slated for growth standing empty. A sign of the times I guess.
There are several rides on top of the tower all that bring you in contact with nothing. Just hanging over the tower edges. Standing in the observation tower looking down made my legs feel weak – not fond of heights. Needless to say I was not riding the rides. Ron could have and I would have been happy to take pictures but he wouldn’t go on them without me. Sorry, Ron.
After leaving the tower we went back to the MH. Ron took a nap and I played Mahjong. Later we went back to Sam’s and had another run at the buffet. For non-buffet people we certainly outdid ourselves.
Link to all photos from day:
We will definitely be leaving for The Valley of Fire Tomorrow.
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