On Friday night, we flew from Anchorage on a near-midnight flight. Early the next morning, we landed in Las Vegas, where we would spend the next few hours. Although there are plenty of options to be luxurious, there are also relatively simple cheap options. So instead of taking a shuttle specifically for the strip or a taxi, both of which would have cost us at least $30, we took the city bus, the WAX bus, which was only $4 for both of us. We were also a little concerned about carrying our bags around all day, but there was also a solution for that. Hooters has a hotel (weird, right?), and they only charged us $2 to store our luggage for the day. Since it is both right on the strip and next to a bus stop, this was a perfect option for us.
The great thing about this city is that you can enjoy it at any hour of the day. We arrived at around 4:30AM, but we were still able to use all of our time. The sun comes up around 6:00, everything is open 24/7, and the best thing about being in Vegas in the early hours of the day is that there are hardly any other people out, so we didn't have to deal with crowds.
Tanya had a plan, of course, so we immediately made our way to our first stop: the Luxor. Actually, Karis mostly wanted to see this one. It's a hotel shaped like a pyramid, and everything in it is Egyptian-themed. In all truth, all the casinos look pretty much exactly the same. I think the actual rooms are themed, though. But it was a cool building. Inside, they have a Titanic artifact exhibit, as well as a Body Exhibit, both of which were closed. We were there at like, 6:30AM.
There was Excaliber, which is all castle and medieval themed. This was the first place we gambled. Karis hit a sweet spot, and left right on time. Gambling isn't that fun, of course, if you're not winning.
There is a Monorail that goes all up and down the strip, so we took advantage of that. We went down to the Venetian, which is all Italian themed. Then we headed over to Treasure Island, which was pirate themed. There were pirate ships outside, which was pretty cool. Everything down there was pretty close together, but the buildings inside were huge. It was easy to get lost.
When we got to the Mirage, Tanya's phone started ringing - a phone call from Karis's cell phone, which she had apparently absent-mindedly left in Treasure Island at one of the slot machines. Fortunately, a very nice lady found it and called the first number in the contact list, which is Tanya, and waited for Karis to go back and get it. We wish her all the best karma, and that it comes in the form of lots of money, because she was very sweet to do that.
After, we were able to enjoy the rainforest-themed Mirage. We may or may not have gambled at both places. It's hard to recall.
We then went over to Caesar's Palace, which seemed to be the biggest place of all. It was all Roman themed. Very cool architecture going on in Vegas, but a lot of it does look kind of like an amusement park. There are even roller coasters and a giant ferris wheel. We didn't do any of the rides, though.
Our last stop was at the Bellagio where we, of course, enjoyed a couple of short fountain shows. It is pretty cool how they have it perfectly timed.
By 1:00, we were pretty tired, despite our extra cups of coffee, our feet were sore from walking all over town, and we were extra hot and probably a tiny bit dehydrated, though we made it a point to keep drinking water all day. We decided to head back to the airport a little early, even though we didn't need to be there until 2:30. Too little sleep and too much heat, and although Vegas is fun (and probably even more cool when you can enjoy the shows in the evening), unless you have a lot of money to burn, activities are limited. If we come here again, it will probably be more for the shows and concerts.
Next stop: New Mexico!
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