Viva Las Vegas, Vol. 1

For the record, I broke out into my own rousing rendition of "Viva Las Vegas" when we landed at the airport. Joel did not like it.

Alright, kids - here's the Vegas skinny. Long story short, Joel and I have both gone before and decided that since we'd both stayed on the Strip the last time(s) that we went, we were going to stay downtown this time. Good decision. For anyone that's planning a trip to Sin City, I highly recommend staying downtown. For a couple of laid back folks like us, it was perfect. Drinks were A LOT cheaper downtown and it was just a more mellow place to hang out all together. Plus, there's a Motel 6 downtown so it cost us as much for 4 nights there as 1 night would have cost us on the Strip. Score.

New York, NY

Wynn. One of the newest hotels on the Strip. Pictures do not do it justice.

The Stratosphere. No - we didn't go to the top. No - we didn't ride the rides at the top. Apparently you missed the entry where I'm scared of clowns and tall corn...

The pool at The Mirage. Yeah - pool. That's not a typo. I'm standing at the edge of the pool and it's built around this circular aquarium. That tube down the middle? It's the water slide. Did I mention that it's in the middle of the hotel surrounded by palm trees with no roof above it?

Fremont Street - Downtown. This is the coolest s**t ever. This used to just be the regular downtown area with bars and casinos, etc. But there was so much foot traffic that they closed it down to vehicle traffic. The area where everyone is standing used to be a road. The "roof"-like structure up above is a lighted ceiling. They show light shows on it like every 15 minutes. The "roof" only goes that one way - so if you look to either side, it's clear sky. Forward - light show. Side-to-side - palm trees and sky. It's only covered over the part that's closed to vehicle traffic.

Live band playing. Fremont Street.

Ok. This concludes "Viva Las Vegas" Vol. 1. Tomorrow I'll post all of our pics from Madam Tussuad's Wax Museum... because there's a ton. PS - It was by far the most fun thing that we did on our entire trip.