Viva Las Vegas

Las Vegas! (Adam): Mon, 05 Feb 2007 4:27 PM

Hey Everyone,

Hope you're all doing good and enjoying yourselves. I am still way behind with these emails so i'm gonna try to get thru Las Vegas in this one, it might be quite long.

We stayed a night just outside Las Vegas in a town called Laughlin so that we could make it into Vegas early the next morning. Laughlin is a pretty crazy place, full of hardcore gamblers who just wanna waste their money without all the glamour and entertainment you get in Vegas. It's right next to the Colorado River and there's a casino there called the Colorado Belle that's shaped like a gigantic paddle steamer.

In Las Vegas we stayed in the Flamingo hotel and casino. The hotel was really fancy and we spent some time the first afternoon wandering around the gardens seeing the flamingos, fish and other rare birds. They also had some of the biggest Carp i have ever seen swimming around. We started to explore the world-famous Las Vegas Strip and we hardly knew where to begin. Nowhere else in the world is so much stuff crammed onto one street. All the big casinos are along the strip and they all have shows going on and big attractions as well as hundreds of slot machines and normally several bars.

We started with Venice coz it's next to the Flamingo. Some of you are gonna be shocked at what i say next but it has to be said: i preferred Las Vegas' Venice to the real Venice in Italy! Before you stop reading please let me explain why. For starters the Las Vegas one has all the main attractions reproduced exactly alike in size. The main difference is that they are all next to each other instead of hidden all over the maze of streets that make up the real Venice. Secondly the canals in the Vegas version don't smell bad, they actually smell quite nice. Thirdly the gondola guys in the Las Vegas one sing Italian love songs as they punt people around the canals whereas the ones in Venice just yell at each other. Fourthly even though it's Las Vegas it's nowhere near as crowded as the real Venice, there are no beggars and no one trying to get their hands in your pockets. The last point i'll make on the subject is that the Las Vegas one is not covered in pigeon crap.

That night we explored Treasure Island. Sadly didn't find any buried treasure but we did get to watch the Pirate Show. It was horribly tacky and basically involved a ship full of scantily-clad women kidnapping a young lad from another pirate ship and 'torturing' him by dancing and singing around him. His shipmates come to rescue him on their ship which is actually a full-sized pirate galleon that comes around from behind some rocks in the pool in front of the casino. Sadly they are tricked by the practically-naked women and their ship is promptly blown out of the water by cannon fire and sinks. Also sadly we were standing in the wrong place because we didn't realise all the women would be on the other ship... We all expected the show to be for kids because it was only 8pm and there were loads of little kids lined up by the rails to watch so it was kinda surprising when the women came out looking ready to shoot a porn movie. Plus it gets pretty cold in the desert at night so i hope those girls were getting paid well.

You seem to be able to squeeze an incredible amount of stuff into one day in Las Vegas and i haven't even finished the first day yet. At the Mirage we watched a volcano erupt from the top of a waterfall. Flames shot high into the air above it and there were some impressive pyrotechnics shooting across the water of the lake in front of the hotel. Finally we took a quick look around Caesar's Palace which i think is the biggest casino complex in Vegas at the moment. We watched the fighting statues show in there and i have to say it was pretty lame. At the same time i have to tell you that it was free so we enjoyed it anyway...Oh yeah and in Caesar's Palace they have curved escalators, i can't remember if i mentioned the shopping centre that me and Carly went into in San Francisco which also had them but i'm telling you now the novelty takes a long time to wear off.

Oh i forgot to mention that our second day in Las Vegas was actually Christmas Day. So we exchanged a few presents in the morning and then resumed our exploration. We actually went inside the Mirage this time to see their famous White Tigers (which somehow the Americans actually call 'white lions', clearly wrong as they look exactly like tigers but white with black stripes instead of orange with black stripes). Unfortunately only one tiger was on display that day and it looked incredibly bored of being stared at, i don't think anyone told him it was Christmas either.

We took a look around the Bellagio which had the most extravagant Christmas decorations ever. Somehow they still looked good rather than just being outrageously tacky. We dragged Mum on the rollercoaster at New York, New York and she didn't stop shaking for the rest of the day. It was pretty extreme and quite a big step up from the water rides she enjoyed at Seaworld and Universal. At MGM we witness a whole new level of stupidity, I didn't expect to ever see this even in America - two grown men were actually teasing a lion. They were inside the glass enclosure with a lioness and kept taking the ball she was chewing on and teasing her with it, unbelievable. We moved on because none of us had any desire to see the guys get ripped apart on Christmas day even if they were absolute morons.

Scott was pretty annoyed with being in Las Vegas 19 yrs old and not being allowed to drink or gamble but luckily we discovered something he was allowed to do - see a strip show! Yeah you work it out, you can't drink or gamble and ruin your own life until you're 21 but you can endanger the lives of others in a car at 16 and pay women to dance around naked for you from 18 up. Some things in this country are pretty backward i feel. Anyway so Dad buys me and Scott tickets to see the Fantasy show at Luxor for a Christmas present.

I realise this is getting very long and i have only covered the first two days so i think i'll split it into two emails and let you guys get on with your lives. Right now Carly and I are going to the Washington Zoo to see the Pandas that were given to some president or other by the Chinese government.

Take it easy,

Adam

Las Vegas! (Carly): Mon 05/02/2007 2:09 AM

So is everyone sick of me yet? I really hope not because I'm home in less than two weeks and I would hate to have bored everyone silly with my news before I see you!

We took two days to drive from San Diego to Las Vegas because Dad wanted to check into the Flamingo early to get adjoining rooms! It meant we stopped off in a nearby gambling town - Laughlin. It was a fun night and gave us a look at what Vegas was probably like before they started putting in big attractions to draw the families. It was a tiny strip in the middle of nowhere, just fast food places, gas stations and casino/hotels. The whole place revolved around gambling - there where even machines in the petrol station! it had its advantages though, Dad said it was the cheapest hotel of the trip and when we arrived they gave us a ton of food vouchers. One was for ice creams, we got giant waffle cone frozen yogurts (with more ice cream than you get in Costco) for half price and they were only 70pence to start with! It was a bit sad though to. The casinos were filled with hard core gamblers mostly a bit shabby looking and aged between 30 and 70. They looked lonely to me - well it was the 23rd December a time to be with family not alone in a casino.

The next morning we drove into Vegas. The Strip was an unbelievable sight! We had plenty of time to try and take it in as we crawled along in the traffic to the Flamingo. Inside the hotel there seemed to be gold everywhere, it was a complete contrast to the run down look of Laughlin. We admired the flamingos outside and were sad because the penguins have been moved to a zoo. The swimming pools were amazing with tons of flumes and bars, it was a real shame they are closed in the winter. That night we had a look around the Venetian. It was unbelievable. Outside they have copies of the palace, bell tower, the Rigatto bridge and a lion on a podium.

My advice would be don't go there if you've never been to Venice as it makes the real thing look very dirty! The hotel was amazing with shops, restaurants and a canal inside why would you ever leave?! Also the gondoliers sing to you as you are going around, probably makes up for the fact that they are not really pushing the boat along! (I think they run on a runner or are motorised!)

Next we went to Treasue Island where we saw the 'Sirens of TI' show. I expected something for children what with the pirate ship, but with all the scantily clad sirens luring the pirates to their boat it wasn't exactly appropriate material for the many kids that were there. That was another thing I couldn't believe - the number of children in Vegas. Its an adults playground who would take their children there for Christmas?! I know you're probably laughing and thinking my Dad but come on we are all legal adults in the UK! That night we also saw the volcano at the Mirage and had a good look around the Forum at Caesar's Palace. The thing about the hotels is that just when you think wow nothing could top this you see another one with more amazing things! They certainly know how to pull out all the stops in Vegas!

Well now I've given you an indepth look at our Christmas Eve and I've decided not to ruin all of the surprizes for those of you who may go to Vegas! Trust me its worth the trip even if you have not intentions of gamboling - I think I bet a grand total of $20 in the 5 days we were there!

Lots of people have asked me about our Christmas Day. Lets say it was not at all traditional. Santa brought Mum and Dad some beautiful Chinese dressing gowns and Scott some chopsticks but from there on our day was nothing like Christmas!! We went on a rollercoaster that left Mum shaking for the rest of the day, ate ice cream for dinner and I didn't drink any alcohol until 11.55pm!!!! It was a wild day!

We did it all in Vegas - went in every hotel and casino, saw all of the animals and I went on all of the rides! Up on the Stratosphere there are 3 rides at the top of the tower 900 feet above the ground. "Big Shot" shoots you up in the air and you free fall back down, "Insanity" spins you out over the side of the building and then tilts so you are forced to look down and "X-Scream" shoots you along one short piece of track off the side of the building - it looks like you will fall off of the end and it really gets you by stopping (you thin you're at the end) and then going further forward! The guy working on X-Scream couldn't believe that I went on alone and I had to explain that my Dad and two brothers were too scared to come with me! Dad and Adam did do the first two though, while Scott was "looking after Mum"!

Wow its so hard not to spill all of the beans but this is pretty long and I meant it about not ruining the experience! One of my favourite parts was a free Craps lesson that I went to with Dad and Adam. There are lots of rules and it gets quite complicated but all three of us were left itching to play. Rather than humilate ourselves and lose a lot of money we decided to buy a craps mat and practice at home for a few years! I can't wait to try it out when I get home. It definitely made me appreciate how easily people get hooked though, the whole place is so exciting!

Believe me I have found it impossible to describe the fun that is Vegas, you'll just have to go and find out for yourself!

Love Carly xxx