We stayed at "The Hotel", which is part of the Mandalay Bay complex-- nice joint. The rooms were comfortable, and they have a really nice set of swimming pools that you can visit during the day (which we of course took advantage of). Paul and Frances were at the Four Seasons, which is an even nicer hotel (in fact it seemed almost a little out of place in Vegas-- not seamy enough at all). We had dinner at one of the restaurants there on Friday night.
Saturday morning we all hit the swimming pools. I tried the wave pool and the lazy river with the kids, then eventually we migrated over to where Paul and Frances were hanging out. Around lunch time I proceeded to slink back to the hotel room so as to catch the Champion's League final-- Ethan came along, but alas, I think we were the only two serious soccer fans. This is a game is basically the soccer equivalent of the Superbowl-- "must see TV" for me. The final featured Manchester United vs FC Barcelona, two of the very best teams in the world (in fact I think they may in fact really be the top two, having eliminated scads of other excellent teams to make it all the way to the last game). It was a good match-- both teams with one goal at the half, then Barcelona opened it up in the second half scoring a flurry of goals to clinch the win.
In the afternoon a bunch of us ventured over to the "New York New York" casino to ride the roller coaster that they have there. True to its name, the casino was incredibly crowded-- felt like a train station. Alas, the kids and I stood in line for an hour but then wound up having to trudge back: they had to shut down the roller coaster due to a high wind advisory. Oh well-- maybe next time.
Saturday evening we cabbed it over to the Bellagio and had a very nice meal at one of the restaurants there, then went to see a Cirque de Soleil show ("O") which was really special. It's the only Cirque de Soleil performance that doesn't travel, since it has an incredibly elaborate set that incorporates a huge swimming pool (the diving performances are amazing).
Sunday we hit the road and went to visit the Hoover Dam in the morning, then lunch in the nearby town of Boulder City. The Hoover Dam is still amazing; it's hard to believe that it's nearly 80 years old.
After that we drove up to the see the "Valley of Fire", a park area north of Las Vegas that has a bunch of cool red sandstone outcrops and hills. Great climbing/clambering for the kids-- I wish we had been able to stay longer. It was fun, although a fair amount of driving.
Casino's haven't changed much in the last 20 or 30 years or so as far as I can tell. I think the last time I was actually in a casino was back in the 80's when a bunch of work friends and I visited Atlantic City. There's still the same oddly low lighting (is is daytime? night-time? who knows?), the noise from the slots, the men in slobby outfits, the women in "little black dresses", the undercurrent of cigarette smoke, the suspicious-looking crew of gamblers, and so on. In fact in some ways it seems as though the place is in a sort of time warp-- how many other places can you think of where you can gamble, yell, drink, smoke, cavort, and make trouble at more or less any time you feel the inclination?
Throwing away money at the gambling tables doesn't exactly hold a great deal of appeal these days for me, but it was interesting to wake up at 6:15 on a Sunday morning and venture out into the casino with a cup of coffee to find people still actively pursuing their activities from the night before.
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