Saturday – November 15, 2014
Las Vegas Casino Strip
Las Vegas, Nevada
Once again it is a bright sunny day, with the temperature in the low seventies; a perfect day to visit Las Vegas.
Our campsite at the Boulder Beach Campground located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is conveniently located 26 miles from Las Vegas. We planned our trip to arrive mid-afternoon and allow for time to see the Las Vegas casinos lit up at night.
We arrived in Las Vegas at 2:00 p.m. Our first destination was a visit to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, located a few miles south of the Vegas Strip. This is the pawn shop that is a featured show on the History Channel (Pawn Stars). This pawn shop is open 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days. Reviews state that there is always a long line of people waiting to enter the pawn shop. Today, was no exception. Sharon and I got into the line and waited about 10 minutes before we were allowed to enter the store. A security guard at the door insures that only a certain number of people are in the store at any one time. We enjoyed our visit there, but unfortunately, the main characters featured on the show; The Old Man, Rick, Corey and Chumley were not in the store during our visit.
Following our visit to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop we proceeded to the Las Vegas strip where all the casinos are located. The strip is approximately 4-miles long, with a six-lane street running the entire length. Casinos, restaurants, boutique shops and shopping malls line both sides of the street. Free parking seems to be available at any of the casino parking garages. We chose the MGM parking garage, since it was near the southern end of the strip and we wanted to walk the entire length of the strip.
Traffic and people congestion along the length of the strip appeared to be the norm from what we had heard. Bumper-to-bumper traffic and a mass of people dominated the area. Street performers were everywhere, doing there very best to capture a few dollars for their performances. We visited a few of the casinos; they were pretty much all the same – slot machines and gambling tables dominated their interiors, with bars and restaurants dispersed throughout. The poker, black jack and craps tables were packed with gamblers hoping this would be their lucky night. The video slot machines were busy, with mesmerized patrons pushing the buttons on the machines, looking for the winning combination of characters to appear on their screens. We are not gamblers, so our main interest was to see the legendary Las Vegas strip and add another U.S. national attraction to our "Bucket List."
The nighttime light show put on by the casinos is truly amazing. Each casino hotel is lighted up, highlighting the beautiful architecture of their casinos/hotels. The Mirage Casino put on a magnificent water spout display, timed to the music of Michael Jackson. The Venetian Casino presents another beautiful display of lights, grounded by the gondolas that transport visitors through the water channels at the base of the casino.
We really enjoyed our visit to Las Vegas. We walked a total of 9.9 miles. Before we departed, we made our first purchase; we treated ourselves to café mocha’s at the Starbucks, located within the Venetian Casino. It was quite a nice feeling to leave Las Vegas with only $11.35 less than we had arrived there with.
We stopped at an IN-N-OUT hamburger restaurant, in Henderson, Nevada, for a quick bite to eat. These hamburger restaurants are quite popular here in the southwest, offering a very simple menu: Double Hamburger/Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Hamburger, French Fries and soft drinks. Actually, the drink list portion of the menu is longer than the food list! Did I mention... this is one of Sharon’s favorite newfound burger joints! We arrived back at our campsite at the Boulder Beach Campground at 9:30 p.m.
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
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