Saturday, December 13, 2008

Leaving Las Vegas

We took the short 48 mile jog from Pahrump down to Las Vegas...the city where we got married so many years ago! Wow, it's really changed. As we drove down the Strip, the mega-hotels are adding on even higher towers. Amazing. It's getting to be a bit much, we think. And with economy, those casinos had better do real good!

We had a reservation at the Oasis RV Park on the south side of the strip. Back in 2000 or 2001, we stayed there in our little 24' travel trailer, and thought it was a great park. Like everything else, things have changed. It's a little older now, and unless you want to spend $50 a night (we don't), they put out in the back of the park, two rigs to a driveway. Yuck. Well we were there on one of our campground memberships, so it was about $11 a night. No ambiance, but the price was right.

Since we were to be there a week, we sent for our mail, which all goes to our Texas address. It comes to the local post office as "General Delivery". When we went to pick it up, there was a surprise for us - the post office we specified doesn't accept general delivery. Doh! Another lesson learned...call the post office before shipping. Our mail bounced around for about 4 days before it showed up at the only PO in Las Vegas that accepts general delivery.

We did a little casino hopping, and checked out The Palms, which is over near the Rio. Donna tells me that it's the "in" place, and the stars hang out there. Believe it or not, we didn't see anyone of any notoriety. It is a very nice place though.

In one of the tourist books that are everywhere, we found an ad for 1/2 price show tickets. We went to one of their locations, and found that there were discounts of up to 50% for selected shows. Donna really wanted to see Mama Mia, which was playing at the Mandalay Bay. The performance was sold out in the section we wanted (this was Friday). We thought we'd try back on Monday to see what was available then. While looking through the Sunday paper, Donna found a 2-4-1 coupon for Mama Mia, directly through the hotel. We zipped over to the box office, and got 2 tickets, center, row 13...not bad! I have to admit, the show was very good, in spite of all those ABBA songs that I tried to forget over the past few decades!

There was a big rodeo in town while we were there, and, again at the Mandalay Bay, there was a "Cowboy Marketplace". We thought it would be fun to wander around and check out boots, belts, hats, jewelry, and clothes...and tack...and horse trailers...and mega-trucks. We learned something - some of those big horse trailers are partitioned. There is the horse area, and the people area. The people areas have an interior that rivals many motor homes!! We had no idea.

Directly across I-15 from our resort is the Silverton Casino & Hotel. They were advertising 2-4-1 prices in all of their restaurants, so we thought we'd check out the place. Attached to the casino is a Bass Pro Shop. A very interesting combination! Upon entering the main door to the casino, you are confronted with a giant salt water aquarium. Lots of sharks and exotic fish swimming around. We quickly joined the Players Club, and headed off to the buffet for 1/2 price dining! After dinner, we toured Bass Pro, and then headed back to the casino for about an hour.

The weather was cold the entire week, with daytime temps in the 50's, and very breezy.

Now that we've been to Vegas again, we probably won't be back for quite a while. Maybe it's our lifestyle, but Tinseltown just seems to be getting, well, too gaudy. And the tourists seem to all be trying to impress each other.

We're spending 5 days back in Desert Hot Springs, California, before heading over to Huntington Beach for the holidays. After that, it will be 2009, and the adventure will continue!