Las Vegas, NV

23 July 2006

When we planned this trip, we decided to use Las Vegas as the place to just relax. We were going to hang around the pool at the campground and see a couple of shows. Well, we didn't quite live up to the plan. As you can see from the previous days' pages, we were always going somewhere. Today we lived up to our plan... one out of four days isn't so bad. This morning we ran a few errands and then did some overdue housekeeping on the trailer. This afternoon, we finally dipped our toes and the rest of the body in the pool. Basically, the afternoon was spent doing nothing. It would have been a shame not to use the facilities of this really great campground.

A final observation about Las Vegas. I had been here a number of times on business and was not overly impressed by the city. My only non-business visit was when Carrie and I used the city as a base for hiking trips. I had previously walked through the hotels on my way out to a meeting and didn't get much time to look around. On this trip we got to walk around the strip and go through some of the hotels. We did take advantage of the entertainment opportunies and saw two good shows. After walking through the hotels, I reached one conclusion. Once you get past the pyramid, Roman Forum, erupting volcano, Venetian canals and fancy lobbies, the hotel/casinos are all the same. They are cash machines designed to wring money out of gamblers. You can't get to your hotel room from the lobby without walking past banks of slot machines. I am convinced that I could take an individual on a tour of the casinos, blindfold him and take him to a random casino, that person would not know which one he is in. If you are into gambling, this may be OK, but that is not one of my or Susie's preferred pastimes.

We had a good time in Las Vegas seeing the shows and seeing the works of nature around the city. Susie and I would come back again and stay at this campground, enjoy the surroundings and perhaps take in a show. However, it will be a long time before we do so.