February 26 - March 5, 2017
I've been to Las Vegas three times
before and it's really just not my kind of place (the strip, that is).
But it was on our route and so we decided to visit again. After this
visit, I think I would like to come again but not to steer clear of the strip.
There are some beautiful areas like Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon and
Valley of the Fire State Park that interest me so much more.
We stayed at the Thousand Trails
campground which was just 4 miles from the strip. It was just a step
above a parking lot but did have a pool that opened mid-week.
Our first night in town, we went to the
Fremont St area. We thought it would be fun but it was loud with one
band after another and for 2017, the light show did not seem all that
impressive. The kids said they would rather leave Vegas early and
hike the Grand Canyon (keep in mind that they do not like to hike).
From then on, we went to the main
strip. One night we took the kids to the Tournament of Kings Dinner
Show at the Excalibur Hotel. They LOVED that and we all had such a
good time.
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| (The Black Knight-our table section rooted for him) |
We also visited the:
Paris Hotel-for a dinner buffet and to
travel up the Eiffel Tower,
Bellagio to see the water show,
the Mirage for the volcano eruption, the Venetian to see the gondola boats and
enjoy some gelato,
and Planet Hollywood to watch the Variety
Show (which was ok for the most part but did have some HILARIOUS
moments).
Other places that we visited in the
area were:
the Ethel M Chocolate Factory where you
could watch the chocolates being made through large picture windows.
On the windows, they had descriptions of the processes and equipment
used. The chocolate was delicious but also quite expensive. In addition to learning that I cannot afford to eat their chocolates, I learned they are the gourmet division of the Mars
Company.
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| (She has the tedious job of drizzling chocolate on apples, but she made them look beautiful.) |
The Pinball Hall of Fame-This place is
great. It is a huge room filled with pinball machines and a few
other arcade machines. There were many machines that are only 25
cents to play with machines also in the 50 cents 75 cents and $1
ranges as well. We had so much fun and I didn't feel like we were
spending a fortune on games. It was also cool to find out that it is
run mostly by volunteers and much of the money goes to support the
Salvation Army.
And we visited the Las Vegas Museum of
Natural History with the Farnsworth family that we met in Florida a
couple of years ago. Whitney (mom), Cache and Brenna were fun to be
with for the morning. In addition to testing out some cool tools in
the Egypt section, we got a really interesting lesson on hissing
cockroaches from one of the staff. And best of all Jordan made a new
friend who loves the pioneer times as much as she does.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation
Area was beautiful as well. We went one evening after Greg was done
working so our time here was short. But we were able to get out and
hike a short distance and climb up the boulders. There is a 13-mile
drive through the area which we did but did not get to explore it
much.
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| (Looks like a cliff dwelling huh?! But this is actually a pocket not too much bigger than me.) We also visited Hoover Dam where we took the Dam Tour,   
And last but certainly not least was Valley of Fire State Park. It was so beautiful!
    
(The two pictures above are on a trail called The Wave. So cool!)
So as I said, I had plenty of time on the strip but would like to explore the surrounding areas a little more. Next up is the Grand Canyon!
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