Las Vegas #club100

Did you miss me? I was in Las Vegas. 4 nights and 5 days, which is MORE THAN ENOUGH time to spend there. The trick to Las Vegas is to be there only long enough to complain that you are leaving already. Longer than that and you probably have to wear a barrel home.

Las Vegas, besides being a gambling Mecca, is like a pretend vacation to places that most people will never get the chance to travel to. Most of the hotels on the strip are tributes to other places. Like the New York, New York Hotel. It is meant to provide you with the sense that you are wandering around in New York--not the real New York, just an idealized version of New York that includes tall buildings, Italian restaurants, and piano bars.

When you are ready to try someplace new, you just hop across the street and you are suddenly in Paris looking at a fake Eiffel Tower while eating at a French bistro. I mean, it's not actual haute French cuisine, but it tries.

Las Vegas can be expensive, but it also offers some free activities. Most of the hotels on "The Strip" have devised some feature to draw in the crowds. People still crowd the promenade in front of the Bellagio to watch the water fountains erupt in their dazzling display. This attraction is sort of dull these days, but it was quite exciting almost 30 years ago.

Las Vegas is always changing. If you make 2 visits 10 years apart, you are sure to be visiting a completely different city. They seem to rip down the hotels and build new ones at quick pace. I think that I have visited Las Vegas about 6 or 7 times in my life and I can truly see the changes.

The first time I visited, the theme was all about value for money. Hotels would lure you into their property with free shows and food. Gone are the days, however, where you can get a good quality steak for $1.50. Now, the eateries are a destination in themselves and are focused on the talents of celebrity chefs. I mean, there always were exciting meal choices in Las Vegas, but now we need to pay for the privilege.

Take Circus Circus, for example. This classic Las Vegas hotel is on the seedier end of The Strip, but it is budget friendly and family oriented. Parents can sit at a slot machine while the kids play in the midway arcade and watch circus acts. One of the attractions this hotel offered (pre covid) was their value buffet. It was probably in 1996ish when my husband and I paid just $3.00 for an all you can eat buffet. We actually did not eat that much from their line-up of cheap eats, but it was almost free!!

Speaking of food, there are still many budget friendly places to eat--possibly more now than ever. We couldn't beat this delicious In -n- Out Burger for yummy freshness. It was also much MUCH cheaper than the king crab and prime rib buffet at the Wynn. That cost $69.00 per person!

New on this visit is this London Eye type contraption of party pods. It must be pretty expensive because no one seemed to ever be in it, but the pods are big enough for small parties, complete with cocktails and dance music. --ok I looked it up. It starts at $26 per person, so pretty much the same price as most other attractions.

I actually laugh at some of the attractions. I mean, you can do almost anything you can imagine in Las Vegas, but sometimes the attractions are silly (in my opinion).

Take this "Ice Bar" for example. All I could think of is that I can give people that icy cold winter experience for a fraction of the price requested here and still make a ton of money. This attraction involves lending you a coat and gloves while you wander around in a fancy refrigerator sipping frosty drinks. Come to my house right now friends and I will let you sit on my patio while I serve you drinks. For an extra 5 bucks I will teach you to make snow angels! Heehee.

Speaking of frosty drinks, I indulged in this giant chocolate martini. Don't even ask me what I paid, but I did win big at the slots so its okay.

I have so much more that I can share about this vacation, but I think I will save it for another post. I do want to know, however, if you have been to Las Vegas, would like to go, or even if you are appalled by the extravagance of it all. Tell me in the comments.

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