Las Vegas

We arrived mid afternoon, we followed the GPS straight to our campsite owned by the Main Street Station Casino and Hotel. After we had booked in we went straight to the bar for a couple of cold ones, they have a micro brewery and served their own dark beer, and it was happy hour so they were half price (the more you drink the more you save!). The interior of the building re-creates Victorian opulence and old fashioned elegance with an extensive collection of antiques and collectables. We headed back to the RV to plug the electric in and turn on the aircon, it was 99 dec F and the reflected heat off the tarmac made it at least 10 dec hotter.

Wednesday we walked into North Las Vegas for a look around and a few cold ones, later we took the bus down to The Strip. First to Dave’s favourite the Nascar Cyber Speedway in the Sahara Hotel. Old race cars hung from the ceiling, memorabilia and posters where everywhere and interactive simulators are in service 24 hours a day. Dave made a purchase in the gift shop and we had another couple of cold ones admiring the scenery.


Then back outside for a walk along the strip to the Venetian where gondolas float down the Grand Canal, assisted by little propellers.


We waited outside the Mirage for its volcano to erupt into the night sky followed by a stroll through its giant jungle foliage atrium.


Then a quick sprint to Treasure Island to watch the Sirens Show, put on outside in a lake, two galleons battled, one sank and pirates tumbled into the water amidst explosions and smoke.


Next a rest in Caesars Palace with a margarita and then we walked back up the strip past the newly completed Wynn. The bus took us back to Main Street Station where the outside temperature display read 91 dec and 1am!!! The next day we tried to stay out of the sun, the forecast was for 108 dec and they were not wrong. The cool shops and casinos were very inviting; we bought some t-shirts and caps, had some $1 (50p) margaritas and finished back at Main Street Station for happy hour.


In the evening we returned to Main Street Station which is part of a group of Casinos and Hotels grouped around the Fremont Street Experience, a seven block open air pedestrian mall topped by an arched steel canopy with live entertainment and viva vision, the largest screen on the planet!


The roof is lined with hundreds of thousands of computer controlled light cells and twice an hour they dim the lights in the casinos and put on a show above your heads enhanced by 550,000 watts of wraparound sound. We put a few quarters in a slot machine in exchange for free drinks and then made our way back to the RV; we were leaving in the morning.

In the morning we headed North West on Interstate 15 out of Nevada, across the corner of Arizona, through the Virgin Mountains and into Utah, our 18^th State. We turned East in Washington onto Hwy 9 and into Hurricane our stop for a few days.