Belated Vegas Report

So now that things have calmed down a bit, we continue with our regularly scheduled programming.

Vegas... what a town. It's really hard to describe, except to say that it is all about excess. And I'm not talking about just booze and gambling (of which there is plenty) but about everything. Everything in Vegas is amped up. Extreme. Whether its partying or relaxation. You will find it here in its pinnacle.

Welcome to Sin City

I hate using this analogy but it truly fits: Vegas is Disney World for adults. The powers that be here have created worlds. It is an architectural, technological and entertainment marvel. The fact that it has been built in the middle of freaking nowhere only adds to the allure.

In a land of excess, the Wynn is the most majestic of all.

The Las Vegas people come to visit is essentially divided into two areas: The Strip, aka. Las Vegas Boulevard, is where the biggest concentration of mega-hotels is located. Paris, New York, The Bellagio, The Venetian, The Mirage and all the rest are all there. Each hotel is a world unto itself and after trying it myself, I wouldn't attempt any major walking tours. Each hotel is huge and designed to be self contained. You really don't need to leave the premises (and that is by design) unless you want to sight see the other hotels. It is very tempting to do so. Every hotel is beautiful and you want to take it all in but be forewarned: switching hotels is very walking-intensive. They all look like they are close to each other when you see it all on TV but they are so humongous that the actual walk is pretty long. My suggestion? Don't try to hit several hotels in one day. Pick the ones you really want and do one each day. Can you do more? Yes, but it can be exhausting pretty quickly. We walked from a hotel I can't remember right now, to Paris, to the Bellagio to try the Buffet and it was quite the hike.

The Strip

If you want to walk around, I recommend the other area of Vegas: Downtown. This is the original Las Vegas if you will. Before The Strip, before the mega hotels, this is where Elvis and Sinatra and The Rat Pack hung around. When you think of films like Casino, this is the Vegas it depicts. When the big resorts came in, this area almost died but some people worked very hard to keep it going. They closed Fremont Street to traffic (which you could call the "original strip") and installed what is essentially the biggest LCD Television in the World as a roof over it. The result? The Fremont Street Experience.

Fremont Street in all its glory

While not as glitzy (or technologically advanced) as the stuff in The Strip, this I found the perfect place to take in Vegas. With the huge LCD acting as roof, you walk around even during the day (which is scorching hot by the way) without getting sunburned and since it's closed to traffic there are all sorts of performers, characters and freaks at all times doing something. There is a real "anything can happen" atmosphere there that I found exciting. Plus everything is closed together and within walking distance as opposed to the Strip.

Me? Well, I loved seeing so much stuff going on around me and totally loved every minute of it but I'm a bit of a geek by nature. The one night I went to the Strip, while everyone was partying and carrying drinks around I was carrying my camera and tripod (the resulting night shots you are seeing in this post) just so I could take a nice picture of the Bellagio fountains which were spectacular I might add. Although I kept having this recurring thought where Sarah from Run Ginger Run and Dani from Weight Off My Shoulders and their respective significant others, join me and my wife on a local brewpub crawl. (of which there were 
plenty) Because bloggers... that's how we roll.

I carried a tripod for miles... for this shot.

And then there was the day we went to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. But that's another post.

Not that you would want to, but I do take pictures from all the places I've been, if you head over to my Flickr account, you can take a look at them.