Visiting the Las Vegas Strip

Carl had gotten a Groupon to get the oil changed and tires rotated on the Jeep, so Thursday morning, we headed to the shop and got those tasks accomplished. We were pretty far north in the city, and we had wanted to visit a couple of places on the strip so we drove all the way down on Las Vegas Boulevard.

They were doing a LOT of construction on the northern end of Las Vegas Boulevard.

The road was down to a single lane and both the northbound and southbound traffic were on the same side of the median.

The Sahara

Circus Circus

Another view of Circus Circus

Conrad Hilton - I don't remember seeing it before.

Trump

Palazzo, Venetian, Treasure Island

The Mirage

Another view of The Mirage

Caesar's Palace (note the "All Roads Lead" sign -- it will come up again later in this post)

Another view of Caesar's Palace

We went to the Bellagio, finding free parking in their self park area, and headed in to see some sights that we wanted to see.

We wanted to visit the Conservatory

It usually has figures covered with flowers

In the displays this year, they are still beautiful with lots of models, but they are not covered with cut flowers this year.

Gazebo

These flowers appear to be flower covered, but we think they were paper flowers.

There were, however, a lot of flowering plants.

Koi in the pond

Obligatory selfie

Chihuly sculpture above the registration desk area

We had thought that we would see the fountains in front of the Bellagio, but the mornings are used to clean the fountain pool.

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris casino hotel

Some of the other buildings around the Bellagio fountain pool

Paris and Planet Hollywood

Carl at the Eiffel Tower

An arch at the Paris hotel and casino

Casino inside (I think) Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino

Carl found a Las Vegas sign to get his picture in front of!

Looking up at the Eiffel Tower from street level

We decided to eat at Margaritaville

Carl didn't see the White Castle until after we had already eaten...

... or I am certain that we would have eaten there!

We walked up Las Vegas Boulevard to the Venetian to visit the Grand Canal Shops - there is a canal that runs through a shopping mall area on the second floor of the Venetian Hotel.

Another Las Vegas sign!

I think this is St Mark's Square in Grand Canal area

Another obligatory selfie

Such a pretty area

In an earlier picture for Caesar's Palace, I indicated you should look for a particular sign again -- this sign continually changes with amazing graphics.

Carl got up close to one of the wall displays to see how the pictures were being generated

Carl getting up-close

The "pixels" up close

When we got to this fountain, there was a young couple there who asked if we'd take their picture, and then they took ours (their bag and shoes are next to us on the ground!).

Caesar with a mask on

We enjoyed visiting the Las Vegas Strip, getting to see the specific sites that we wanted to see!

Some things...

First -- I want to say "Thank You!!!" to our faithful blog readers. We don't have hundreds of readers, but... we appreciate those of you who stick around to find out what the Williams family is doing!

Second -- I know that some of you follow this blog by email, getting an email in your inbox on days that we post an update. I really like that feature on blogs that I follow. Unfortunately, the tool (Feedburner) that I use to distribute the updates via email is going to stop providing that particular feature in July, or, that is what they have indicated. They made an announcement on April 13, and I have been looking around for a replacement, and, so far, I have found nothing. Other users of Blogger are likewise looking, and, I am watching some of their sites to see if they come up with something. I will post here on the blog if I find something different and get it implemented. I can also pull a list of the email subscribers from Feedburner and, if I implement something else, give you the option to subscribe through the new tool.

The net on this story at this point is.... if all of a sudden it appears that Carl and Patti and Miss Kitty and Gracie have been removed by the rapture or zombie apocalypse, you may want to go to the URL of the blog directly (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/) and see if we are still doing posts but no longer sending emails. I still have 2 months to look for a solution, but, right now, it isn't looking hopeful.

Finally, some pictures from the last couple of days....

Carl has been sad that Sweet Tomatoes closed their doors, particularly missing their Cream of Mushroom soup. I found a copycat recipe online, and, as is our custom, made it differently than the recipe was written, but, it came out really good! Tuesday was a little bit of a cooler day, so we were glad to have some soup.

Wednesday came out a bit warmer... we enjoyed sitting outside especially as long as we could be in the shade and there was a breeze blowing. You can get an idea of how close we are to the coach next to us...

We have had two open spots on the driver's side until Wednesday -- several coaches came in on Wednesday afternoon and a lot of spots have filled up.

There is more space between Gracie and the coach on her driver's side... I think because of the tree back there, they needed to park over a bit on their site.

The Las Vegas Thousand Trails is certainly not a "pretty" campground with great views, but, it is good for a campground that is in an urban area and close to shopping and places to get things done.

Things I've overheard that are likely to only be heard in Vegas

I went on Tuesday to the Aveda training school here in Las Vegas to get a facial. The services are performed by supervised students. I had gone there in times past when I've been in Las Vegas and I appreciate the service that they provide. Plus, there was a Groupon available, and a special on the Groupon site for even more off on the price, so, heck, it was nearly free!!!

In the school area, the separation from one esthetician and her client and the next esthetician/client is just a cloth curtain. While everyone generally tries to be quiet, sometimes folks aren't thinking and are a bit louder than they need to be. After I was settled and my esthetician was out getting the materials for my facial, the client next to my area arrived, apologizing for being late (they try to get everyone started at about the same time so the noisy part of introductions and questions/answers is over), and, she was a little, uhm, loud...

Two things I heard that made me think, "Hmmm, I must be in Las Vegas":

• The esthetician was asking the client about her skin composition (oily, normal, dry) in various places (nose, chin, forehead), and then she asked the client about whether her muscles were tense or relaxed in various places (arms, legs, shoulders, low back) -- the client indicated that her muscles were tense all over because "I lost all my money at the casino last night!" (Sure hope she has enough left to pay for this facial!)
  
• The client went on to share that she had an appointment for make-up to be done after the facial, because, "I *think* I might be getting married later today." (As far as I could tell, she was totally serious -- other things she had said indicated that she was not from Las Vegas, and that she had come to Las Vegas with someone, and... I guess they had talked about getting married, but she wasn't sure whether it was going to happen or not.)

After that, I didn't hear much from the next door cubicle... I wonder if they moved her somewhere else or if she relaxed for the facial and had nothing more to say.

Anyway, I was thinking... now, that isn't something I would have overheard in Dallas, or Mesa, or... really anywhere else other than Las Vegas!

Las Vegas!

On Monday, we drove from Kingman, AZ to Las Vegas, NV. We plan to stay in Las Vegas for 6 nights, leaving on 5/2. While here, we want to get some shopping done, make sure that we have provisions and are ready for some dispersed camping and boondocking while in Utah.

Enroute, we passed the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, the highway had recommended that high profile vehicles use the left lane, and as a result, we could only see Lake Mead beyond the dam, not the dam itself!

Coming into Las Vegas from the southeast

Since the last time I was here, there is a new interstate from the Hoover Dam area (I-11)...

... and it hooks right in to I-515, which takes us to within a couple of blocks of the Thousand Trails campground on Boulder Highway.

When we got off of I-515, the Garmin told us that we were going to have to make a U-turn on Boulder Highway to get to the Thousand Trails. I sure thought that there used to be a cross-over in front of Thousand Trails, but, there isn't now. U-turns are not always possible with big motorhomes, but Gracie has a much tighter turning radius than Miss Doozie had, and she made it with no problem! It was also helpful that there was a huge break in traffic so we could take it really slowly!

The Thousand Trails in Las Vegas is definitely an urban campground, with gravel sites which are VERY close to one another. But, everyone is dealing with the same thing, so folks are kind and neighborly.