November 7th
2012
We did not make firm plans for our short stay and it did
cause us some tensions in the morning. We could not make the plan or decision
what to start with. J. wanted to get breakfast, but it was either too expensive
or too far, so we had a bit of cold and quiet time. At the end, we decided to
make small loop around town and Red
Canyon Park.
First, we got stuck in Strip’s traffic on the way to Flamingo casino. At least
parking in plentiful and mostly free. Some nice stores and creations along the
way. Like this pink Christmas tree:
Flamingo casino had free Habitat (mostly water creatures).
Actually, many casinos had some free attractions or displays. The Habitat was
between different casino’s buildings, included the chapel, and (closed) pool.
It was actually very cool. Obviously, there was bunch of pink Flamingos, many
ducks, some black swan, and many fishes. Really nice. One really annoying
thing: smoking (everywhere).
No real place to get breakfast. On the way back to parking
garage (people already gambling) some cafés and other places. One of them had
this fruit creation:
We left Flamingo and were heading to the Red Rock Canyon
Area. I had rough plan, but we got lost a bit. At least traffic was not too
bad. We got back on the road and found our way. There was a lot of new (or
newer) bridges and roads. Many new houses or whole subdivisions. A bit weird.
Another nice day. The park was relatively short loop along red rocks and other
different geological wonders. It was interesting, but did not have that “wow”
factor.
Along the way, we stopped at the Silverton Casino, which was
supposed to have big fish tank with sea creatures. No problem to find the
casino, It was on the edge of town, smaller and older and directly connected to
Bass Pro shop. Strange. We found the tank, but it was kind of small and not too
interesting. In the same area, we stopped at the shopping strip, because we saw
Café Rio (we learned about it in Utah,
but did not have chance to eat there, it is small chain). Decent Mexican food
(really fast).
We got lost again on the way to the chocolate factory (with
free tour). Well, I guess we saw some different parts of the town. We as well
drove by the airport and I found the landing airplanes very cool (we were
pretty much next to the runway). Chocolate factory. Again, big store and a lot
of M and M’s stuff. The whole tour was the walkway next to the production line.
It was not really too interesting.
Outside, there was a desert garden. It looked pretty nice,
unfortunately, they put lights and other Christmas decoration up, so it looked
trashy. Or just went with Vegas theme.
We were going back to the city. Again, the road got somewhat
confusing and we had to turn around, but at the end, we parked at the hotel and
casino called Circus Circus. We walked in, looked around (the gambling part was
very similar and somewhat tiresome). They were supposed to have free (short)
shows. We found that part of hotel and waited for 10 minutes for one of those
shows. It was girl dancing and doing “monkey business” with silk ropes. It was
pretty cool.
And … on the move again. We drove short distance to the Treasure Island casino. Pretty long walk from the garage
to the hotel (how they make money on valet parking). We changed the mind and
took tram to the Mirage casino. Yes, there is private tram (free) between some
of the casinos (probably owned by some company). We were less impressed then
yesterday. Huge entry ways, architecture and hundreds of slot machines. We
crossed the Strip and ended up in the Venetian casino. And … circled back to Treasure Island. Interesting … but …
We drove back to our hotel. The plan was to take the back
road, but we took wrong turn and drove some extra miles to get back. From our
parking garage, we wanted to make one more circle around casinos nearby.
Another crossing the street. Lights. Cars. And people. So many people. MGM
Grand was undergoing some renovation, so the entrance was a bit weird. We
walked through but it was pretty lame. We made quick stop in Hooters casino, lame
as well.
At MGM we wanted to see their lions exhibit. Apparently,
they had the habitat with animals as a free attraction. When we got there, we
learned, that they closed the habitat and there were no more lions (except this
one in lobby). So disappointing.
On the way back to our hotel (we were both pretty tired), we
walked through Excalibur casino (not much there either) and then New York (we had late
dinner there). J. wanted to do the roll caster in that casino, but just the
view of it was making me sick, so nothing happened. Oh … Vegas.
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