About 1.5 hours out of Prescott Valley in Seligman, AZ, we stopped at the Roadkill Cafe. Their motto is "If you kill it, we'll grill it". As you could probably tell, the place is a real dive... but we look at it as an "interesting" stop along the way. (But we WON'T be stopping there again.)
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It took us about 4 hours to drive from Prescott Valley to Las Vegas. It would've taken us about 40 minutes less, but officers "Hardrock" and "Coco" at the Hoover Dam were trying to earn their "crossing guard merit badge". The result was a 40 minute traffic backup.
But we made it! We're finally in LAS VEGAS!!! The "Rat Pack's" playground. This was our first trip ever to Las Vegas... and we were ready... but... was Las Vegas ready for US?! ;)
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We stayed at the Hilton. Our room was on the 21st floor and overlooked the front of the Hotel. From our room we could see nearly all of the hotels on The Strip... from the Stratosphere and the Sahara on the north-end, to MGM Grand on the south. The view was absolutely breathtaking.
A word of advice about being "only" one block off of "The Strip". As with everything in Las Vegas, "blocks" are larger than life. A block is 1/3 of a mile. We ended up taking the monorail (the Hilton is one of the stops) and driving to other hotels.
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The facilities at the Hilton were surprisingly nice considering the price. Everything was clean and well maintained. The "Queen of Bargain Shopping" came through big-time (as she always does)! Here Elizabeth and Jeremy check out the bed...though it looks like Elizabeth is ready for an extended test of the sleeping facilities.
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The Hilton is the home of the "Star Trek Experience". It consists of a themed casino, restaurant, museum/giftshop, 4D ride, and virtual reality movie making. It is difficult to gauge the size of that Enterprise. It was probably 30-40ft long.
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The Voyager and Next Generation Enterprise also hang from the ceiling. The place is absolutely monsterous!! A total of 6 ships were suspended, and there were numerous Borgs, Klingons, and Ferengi.
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On our first full day (Tues. 12/28) we took the monorail to the south end of the Strip (MGM exit) and began to explore northward. Here is a pic of the "Trop" marquee. (Those of us who have been to Vegas can say "Trop"... the rest of you have to say "Tropicana". :p
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The MGM Grand has a lion habitat inside the hotel complex. If you look carefully, you can see a lion laying on the shelf above the spectators.
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Outside the front entrance of the MGM Grand is a huge golden lion that is probably 40 ft tall.
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Another view of the MGM Grand from across the street.
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Across the street from the MGM Grand is the "New York, New York" casino hotel. Being New Yorkers ourselves, we were able to appreciate the attention to detail in the accurate scaled-down reproduction of NYC landmarks.
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At the southern end of "The Strip" (technically called Las Vegas Blvd) are a few walkways that cross over the Strip. Here is a view northward. Tom was a bit disappointed in how "closed in" the Strip felt compared to how it used to be (in films like "Ocean's Eleven").
As difficult as it was, he finally "got over it". :)
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Here's a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Inside and out, New York New York recreates the feel of NYC. Eva, Elizabeth, and Jeremy are walking to the bridge while I take a moment to take this photo.
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Across the street from New York New York is a mall of stores. "Everything Coca-Cola" has a huge coke bottle and shop with as you can guess, everything Coca-Cola. Next door is "GameWorks"... a high-tech arcade. Elizabeth and Jeremy had a chance to play some interractive arcade games such as bicycling, jet skiing, motorcycle driving, and race-car driving.
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The main lobby of the Bellagio features a blown-glass display on the ceiling. The Bellagio's theme was high class opulence. Tom wouldn't want to stay in this hotel because he felt like he would have to dress up in a tuxedo just to get a bucket of ice.
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The inner atrium of the Bellagio hosted a virtual forest of (simulated) snow and ice covered evergreens.
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Across the street from the Bellagio is the Aladdin hotel casino and the Desert Passage shopping center. The Aladdin is one of the famous "old school" casinos on the Strip, but the accompanying Desert Passage shopping center is absolutely amazing. It is a very extensive reproduction of a Middle East city. The place is entirely enclosed (the sky is actually a painted mural on the ceiling. This place is so large that there's even a partial but full-scale freight ship moored at a harbor!
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Further north on the Strip is Caesar's Palace. Enormous, Huge, Monsterous, Gargantuan.... these adjectives don't begin to describe how big Caesar's Palace is. Giant atriums, cities, etc. all enclosed. Here's only one of the exhibits... statues that surround a large aquarium (that is visible on the right side of this photo).
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Here's another section of Caesar's Palace. Huge "spurs" of streets outlined with shops. The sky here is also a painted mural.
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Inside Caesar's (Caesar's Palace to the rest of you) is an FAO Schwarz toystore. At the entrance is a 40-50 ft tall Trojan horse. Just amazing.
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Here's another crossroad at Caesar's. The theme of this display is Roman Mythology. Keep in mind this entire complex is indoors!
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Here is just ONE of the main entrances to Caesar's. The attention to detail again is simply amazing.
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Here's an evening shot of only a small portion of Caesar's.
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Further north on the Strip is "Treasure Island".
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The theme of TI (Treasure Island to the rest of you :p ) is that of Carribbean pirates. Believe it or not this is one part of the main entrance to the casino hotel.
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This is the other side of the main entrance. A full-sized ship in a mini-port.
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A different view of the ship at the entrance of the hotel.
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Across the street from the TI is the Venetian. A very rich-looking and accurate recreation of Venice.
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Here's another view of the Strip. Traffic on the strip is absolutely nuts. It isn't too bad if you stay in the lefthand lanes to traverse the Strip, but it can take 10 minutes just to travel .5 mile if you are in the right hand lanes!
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It is interesting to see the contrast between the ancient, classic look of the Venitian with the Carribbean feel of TI. And located in between is the hi-tech TI sign. During the day, it has slowly changing colors... but at night, it transforms into a video screen. Quite a spectacle!
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The canals of Venice are faithfully reproduced at the Venitian. Well, not too faithfully... unlike the real canals in Venice, these canals have no floating garbage and trash.
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As classic and ancient as the outside of the Venitian is, so is the inside.
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Next door to Mandalay Bay is the Excalibur. A towering castle and medieval themed casino hotel. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the Excalibur... but it is near the top of our list for our next trip.
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The Trop is a classic...and it's night lights captures the feel of "Rat Pack"-era Vegas.
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Here's another view of the Strip...this time at night. In the distance you can see the Eiffel Tower of Paris Las Vegas.
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Next to the TI is the Mirage. Another very upscale-looking casino hotel. The front of the hotel features a lagoon with a tropical island in the center. During the evening there's a volcanic erruption every 15 minutes. It truly amazing to see.
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Tom brought back "a little bit of Vegas"... a reproduction of the Welcome sign complete with flashing and chasing lights. A perfect momento of this big little trip.
Although the trip was only 4 days and 3 nights, we packed a lot of activities (and eating...Buffets... Ooh-Fah!). We found it ironic that although we don't smoke, drink, or gamble, we managed to have a wonderful family time in the smoking, drinking, gambling capital of the US. And this was all done on a budget and taking advantage of the free attractions each hotel had to offer.
Each hotel had free parking and really accomodated "hotel hopping"...going from hotel to hotel to eat, go to a show... whatever.
We had a great time and look forward to more trips in the future.
Until then... E-O-Eleven!
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