Days 6- 8: Aug 31st - Sept 2nd- Viva Las Vegas!

Day 6: The Road To Vegas

It was about 7 hours from Tucson to Las Vegas and by this time I was looking forward to resuming our night-owl schedule. My face was fire engine red and my forehead and ears were burnt to a crisp. We passed over the Hoover Dam at night and I got a nice pic of the back of it (see above). They were doing some construction and I never got a front view. By the time we got to the hotel, showered and ate, it was after midnight, but we went exploring anyway.

Day 7: Casino

The Luxor is nice and I was blown away by the vastness of it. I played a few of the different slot machines but never found my way to a table. I was looking for the $2 Blackjack, but never saw anything under $10. The slots weren't paying too great, but it was fun. I won enough to keep myself amused without spending a fortune. That night, we did a walking tour from the Luxor through the MGM Grand, past New York, NY, through the lobby of the Bellagio and over to Caesar's Palace. They were all beautiful, but I think Caesar's was my favorite. We had a nice breakfast there at about 5am and took a cab back and went to bed.

Day 8- Friday, Sept 2nd

I convinced Fernando to go to the hotel spa with me and get massages. He had never had a professional massage and was hesitant but I needed water desperately and convinced him without too much urging. Our massages were just 25 mins each but it was so worth it. While Fernando was getting his, I used the hot tub's waterfalls and precariously placed jets to soothe myself, alternating with the cold pool to bring my blood pressure back to earth. I tried 2 of the showers; one had mango soap and shampoo and the other was grapefruit. Now I was officially on vacation.

That night we did our video tour of the strip and drove to downtown to check out that scene. Freement Street gave me the feeling of a place that was past its hayday and is propped up by only its history. It didn't photograph well... I don't know, we had a fine evening. We ate at the Gloden Gate diner and played some slots. They had some $2 blackjack tables but I wasn't really motivated anymore. We passed a table when one guy had just won and he said "Alright!" and his friend next to him said "Yay! You won $2!" That was a fun Vegas moment.

Other than odd looks here and there, we had only one camera-related incident: I strolled through the casino with it on the way out. We got a few minutes of casino action on tape before a burly guard told me there's no filming in the casino, sir.

All in all, Vegas was fun and we hardly did anything! It was beautiful to look at, especially since we like to stay up late and sleep in.