Viva Las Vegas!

Pam - I got the job of blogging our time in Las Vegas.  Between the camera and the iPhone, we took a ton of pictures!  I decided to just post the pictures and add some comments to them.  Hopefully, I will get all of the casinos correct!  We basically walked THE STRIP from one end to the other and acted like tourists!  We gawked, attended all the outdoor free shows and took lots of pictures!  We did attend two indoor shows that were awesome!  The first was "The Million Dollar Quartet" that was about Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins starting their careers at a small recording studio and getting together one night and singing together.  It was based on a true story.  The actors who played the parts were tremendous!  I highly recommend this show.  The second show was "Vegas the Story".  This was about all of the old casinos that were torn down with their "ghosts" of years gone by.  Once again, the actors and dancers were spectacular!  We got to see can-can dancers, typical Vegas showgirls, tap dancers, comics, "Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Elvis" and on and on!  The lead dancer was spectacular - she had all the nuances of the old show girls, and she did a solo number that was just amazing!  And then we found out that she was from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and had been dancing in Vegas for 10 years!  We spoke with her after the show and I think she was happy to talk to some hometown people!

Anyway, on with the pictures!  These are from our first day/night in Vegas - we just strolled about half way up the strip and took lots of pictures

Our campsite at the Las Vegas KOA - it's just a huge parking lot with hook-ups and picnic tables!  It is located directly behind Circus Circus Casino.  Location was good, we just walked thru the casino and we were on the strip!

At one casino, there was an area where all the dealers dressed up as some famous entertainer.  Guess who this is?  HINT: MJ

One of the Blues Brothers

Harley-Davidson Cafe - on the left is a huge motorcycle bursting thru the sign.

Treasure Island also known as TI.  Free show with pirate ships (all outside), girls in skimpy outfits and hunky guys with no shirts, pyrotechnics, fireworks and no plot!!  Very Vegas!

Everyone just stands outside and watches the show!

We had dinner at Gilley's and Mike posed with this Southern gentleman!

Just looking down the strip - the Mirage is in the foreground.

Lots of glitz and lights!

The Forum Shoppes at Caesars Palace.

Fountain at Caesars Palace - and no, that's not Caesar in the foreground!

Looking up at Caesars Palace from the drop off at the hotel lobby.

Inside the Palace

The lobby area of the hotel.  Yeah, they are over the top!  Caesars Palace is my second favorite casino.  It is a feast for the eyes!

The casino Paris - yup, that's the Eiffel Tower!

More casino Paris - that blue thing is supposed to be a hot air balloon.

Caesars Palace across the water.

The gardens and waterfalls at the Wynn casino.  Lots of waterfalls in Vegas.  Hmm, desert, drought, waterfalls, man made lakes, go figure!

Big waterfall at the Wynn.

"Our" casino, Circus Circus.

Entrance to the casino - lots of lights!

Day two - we thought we'd spend some time by the pool (til it got cloudy and cold) and then we went back to the strip to catch the casinos we didn't see the night before.  This time, we bought a 24 hour bus pass to take us up to our start so my feet wouldn't hurt!!

Posing with the vicious MGM lion!  I looked all over for the real lions, but they told me that MGM Grand got rid of the lions about 1 1/2 years ago!  Bummer!

Lobby at MGM Grand

This was an advertisement on the wall of the MGM Grand hotel!  It was huge!

Looking across the street at New York New York.  Outside was cool, but we weren't really impressed by the inside.

Outside the Rain Forest Cafe and this giant lizard attacked Mike!  Ha Ha!

Day three - we got out and about early in the day because I wanted to go to the Venetian to go on a gondola ride.  Little did I know that we would have our choice of a ride outside or inside!  It was such a beautiful morning that I chose outside.  Our gondolier was an Italian girl with a voice of an angel!  She sang Italian arias to us as we cruised along!  It was perfect!

And now you get to see my very favorite casino/hotel in Vegas - the Venetian!  Don't you feel like you are in Venice?  Just wait....

See the gondola in the background?  That's where we are going....

In our gondola

Heading towards the bridge...

We were told "you must always kiss under the bridge for good luck!"  

Heading back to the dock.

And then we went inside the Venetian!  When you first step inside and look up, this is what you see!!!

Then as you go up an escalator, walk down the hall and bam!  You are in Venice!  This is indoors, and look at the clouds!

This is the indoor canal and shops

This is an INDOOR picture!  Can you believe it?!

A huge shop that smelled sooooo good.  And I didn't go in!  I was such a good girl!

Walking into the Palazzo

As you can tell, their theme was beautiful flowers

At the Forum Shoppes (Caesars Palace) to see the Fall of Atlantis show (turns out it was broken that day!)

Going up....

And looking up

And up

How cool is this?

And they have clouds too!

The fountain with the moving statues

The Atlantis circle

Guess who's performing at the Flamingo??????

Fountains at Caesars Palace

The Bellagio

The Bellagio is famous for it's dancing waters.  They go off every 15 minutes.  I love them!

Entrance to Mandalay Bay casino and hotel

Their fountains.  What drought???

Indoor tank inside Mandalay Bay

Cool shark

Entrance to the Luxor

Okay, I'm going to take a break here, even though we haven't gotten to the evening pictures!  I figure you need a break and I've been uploading pictures for hours!!  I'll pick up where I left off on the next post!  Hope you are enjoying the pictures!