Got into Vegas mid-afternoon and booked into Bellagio...figured it was worth goin' all out (or is it in? whatever) Actually, not much more than the Holiday Inn for the off-season. Plus, if you're too lazy to walk, you can always rent a segway.
I was happy to finally see a nice example of Chihuly glass.
Walked around some and became somewhat overwhelmed after about an hour. The constant people, crummy music, heating vs ac, weird smells got to us. It was a strange feeling - a juxtaposition (hopefully that's right - stretching my vocabulary here) between this and the calm, quiet of the desert drive beforehand.
It was certainly interesting to see, but maybe we did it wrong. Trying to amuse ourselves with the overpriced Monet exhibit, overpriced drinks and then overpriced dinner just seemed, um, overpriced for the amount of fun. At least we weren't foolish enough to try anything from the minibar!
We had thought that we might stay a couple of nights, but were happy to pack it in the next morning and set out for the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
On our way, we stopped off at Lake Mead (the white line you see is where the water has dropped - I think the guide said something like 10' a year - he encouraged us to conserve water and drink booze instead - a solid fellow indeed!) and the Hoover Dam.
The Hoover Dam reminds me of some sort of 60's James Bond set (surely they must have filmed at least one of those suckers here?) I kept looking around for Sean Connery, or at least a satisfying super-villain. No luck.
For lunch, we hit the great tourist trap Roadkill Cafe in Seligman, AZ/Rt 66. Whatever, it was still leagues better than that friggin In-N-Out Burger.
We drove the rest of the way and caught a bit of the Grand Canyon just at sunset, almost devoid of other humans + hot cocoa made for the perfect end to our day!
