November 21, 2005

November 21, 2005

Pahrump to Las Vegas, Nevada

YEAR 2 DAY 157

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

OH ... OH MY ! ! ! I don't know how to even begin to describe Las Vegas. Except, that along with Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, it is a place that everybody should experience once in their life.

This morning we received a phone call from our contact at New Mexico State Parks. She had no campground host positions available until May. All her campground host positions are filled until then. Well, that's no good to us. After regular morning routines, chores, and preventive maintenance, I phoned Manitoba Pharmacare to discuss our recent application for coverage. Then I went to the clubhouse to get online to check if both our Canadian $ and U.S.$ MasterCard statements were available. They were. I paid the Canadian one online, but wasn't able to pay the U.S.$ one online. I'll have to pay it by phone within the next few days. I sent an e-mail to Bank Of Montreal to see if they can set up my online Direct Banking to permit me to pay my U.S.$ MasterCard online. Then I sent an e-mail to the Good Sam RV Club Campground Host Program to advise them that there must be some misunderstanding between them, and New Mexico State Parks. Our application, through the Good Sam RV Club Campground Host Program was clear. We want a campground host position for January and / or February, not something starting in May.

I returned to the trailer, and we prepared for departure. We pulled out of Pair-A-Dice about 11:30 A.M.. We headed east on Hwy. 160 towards Las Vegas. While driving, the Good Sam RV Club Campground Host Program Co-ordinator phoned, in response to my e-mail. Joanne had a lengthy discussion with her, which was totally unsatisfactory. I was unable to avoid driving over a tarantula on the road. Just before Las Vegas we turned onto Interstate 15 into Las Vegas. We found our way to the Main Street Station Hotel, and their RV park about a block down from the hotel. Joanne had selected this as the most likely place for us to stay. We pulled into the RV park, then phoned the hotel to make a reservation for a site. Their sites are available only by reservation. We made a reservation, then immediately pulled into our assigned site. I unhitched and set up while Joanne walked back to the hotel to pay for our reserved site. The RV park is just a big parking lot in downtown Las Vegas, with oversized parking spots to accommodate RV's. Each site is fully serviced with power, water, and sewer. It's like parking in a Wal-Mart parking lot, but with full hook-ups. Fine ! Nobody comes to Las Vegas for the peaceful, scenic RV parks. We had a very late lunch. I took Bo for an obedience training walk. He did superb. Good dog, Bo.

We jumped in the truck, and headed for Las Vegas Boulevard. The Strip ! HOLY SHIT ! We entered The Strip at the north end, the old end. We parked beside The Riviera, across the street from The Stardust. We wanted to check out what shows were available at the half price ticket booth. There are 2 businesses that sell half price tickets to today's shows. There were no shows that we were particularly interested in, so we decided we'd drive down to the south end of The Strip and check out the other half price ticket booth. But first we wanted to see what a Vegas casino looked like. We walked across the street to the Stardust. HOLY SHIT ! Acres of slot machines and gaming tables. Gaudy carpets. A tacky, cheesy ambience. Restaurants and shops. Just about what I had expected. We crossed the street again and went into The Riviera. More of the same, but a little less cheesy / tacky. Woo-Hoo ! Penny slots. Joanne's favourite. AND ... with a maximum prize on the penny slots of a new Mercedes Benz ! As we left The Riviera and walked back to the truck, we were each handed a coupon for a free slot pull, and a free gift, at The Riviera. Okay, back into The Riviera we went. Got our free slot pulls, and our free gifts. Oh, goody, bling for Amelia, Joanne's 4 year old niece.

We got into the truck, and headed south on The Strip. The further south we drove, the newer, and larger, AND LARGER,, AND LARGER, the hotels and casinos became. The half price ticket booth we wanted was near The MGM Grand, so we found The MGM Grand, and parked in their parkade. On level 3 of 6. Must hold a bazillion vehicles. We walked into The MGM Grand. HOLY SHIT ! How is it possible to get that many slot machines and gaming tables into one place ? And where the hell did all these people come from ? You've got to admire Las Vegas's ability to think big ! We found our way out of The MGM Grand, and began to walk The Strip.

The second half price ticket booth also had nothing of interest to us. We walked, and walked, and walked, for about 5 hours. We went into The Monte Carlo, watched the dancing fountains outside The Bellagio ( HOLY SHIT ! ), went intoCaesar's Palace ( HOLY SHIT ! ! ! ), then crossed the street and went into Bally's, and The Paris, before finally getting back to The MGM Grand. I took a video clip of the dancing fountains at The Bellagio. It's the first time I've used the video function on my digital camera. Hope it worked. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the huge fire at what is now Bally's, what was then The MGM Grand, before they built the new MGM Grand. Each of these hotels / casinos seems larger and more elaborate then the one before. In each one we walked through the casino, the hotel lobby and public areas, the restaurants, and the retail shops. The Paris really does have the ambience of Paris, right down to the Eiffel Tower. Hard to believe. Just before we got back to The MGM Grand, we had a fast food supper at a food court. Back at the MGM Grand, we returned to a retail shop we had been to earlier, Houdini's Magic Shop. I had seen a couple of professional magic tricks that were of interest to me, and while we walked, Joanne encouraged me to buy them. We browsed through the shop, picked out some magic supplies I am running low on, and Joanne bought the 3 magic tricks that were of most interest to me, as her Christmas gifts for me. Thank you.

We were exhausted by then, and it was late. We drove back to the trailer at Main Street Station. I walked Bo. He really had to go ! Joanne fed Teddy and Bo. They were really hungry ! I did today's accounting, while Joanne perused some tourist info we had picked up. She went to sleep, while I worked on this journal entry.

Whew ... long, exciting day.

DSK