Holiday side bets in Las Vegas

Gambling is not the only attraction, in Las Vegas where The Strip has become the only 'day and night, night and day' scenic highway in the US. Headliner shows and free performances means there is a lot to see and do.

One big free 'must see' attraction is the Fremont Street Experience. It is a computer driven light and sound show that runs the length of the enclosed traffic free pedestrian mall. It comes alive every hour on the hour from 6 p.m. until midnight. Choreographed images are created with over two million lights and 540,000 watts of sound.

While waiting for the show to start we visited a small bar where the busy trade on the slot machine was fuelled by reasonably price drinks. We relaxed and had a good time as group played on piano, guitar and drums. Heading for the restroom to do what a mans gotta do, I found that there was no escaping the temptation of gambling. I was confronted with a slot machine. It puts a new spin on 'going to spend a penny'.

You may pass an army of slot machines and gaming tables en-route to your hotel room, but the money that stays behind, makes sure that hotels are comfortable and great value for money.

At Caesars Palace my room was vast, certainly larger than the top floor of the average house. After luxuriating in the big Jacuzzi I made the trek across to the window to look down 24 floors to the sparkling blue swimming pool. It was surrounded by white columns and statues crafted in Italian Marble. They had certainly captured the feel of 'the glory that was Rome' although the pavilion that that served hot dogs and bore the sign 'Snackus Maximus' might have puzzled Emperor Nero.

It was a magic 'Empire' and downstairs beyond the casino tables we found the Appain Way, a wide boulevard paved with slabs of stone and lined with of luxury shops. In that artificial world, where traces of white clouds on the blue sky are painted on a distant ceiling, there is no night or day. It is so easy to loose track of time. We joined the crowd to watch the special fountain show. The computerised 'dancing waters' complete with lasers and robotic statues is just one of Vegas' free attractions, (which is handy to know should 'lady luck' take a holiday.)

Other free events include the marvellous 'sea battle' that takes place on the lagoon outside the Treasure Island Hotel. The canons fire, each shot splashing spray high into the air as a pirate ship does battle with a British galleon, sinking it in flames before your eyes. The assembled crowd then moves up the sidewalk to outside The Mirage Hotel to watch the hourly eruption of a volcano. Steam and flames seem to cascade down the huge waterfall. In Las Vegas. They are certainly the masters of pyrotechnics and illusion.

So suppose you have a little win what can you do? Well after the shows and fine dining you can always take a trip out to 'The Fashion Outlet' at Primm Valley some 35 miles south of Las Vegas. Designer merchandise and well-known branded goods are sold there at an attractive discount.

Do well at he tables and you can go there in style. For me a gleaming long white 'Stretched Limo' made our journey on the long desert highway a very pleasant affair. We sank back into the soft leather upholstery and twiddled the knobs that changed the air-conditioned climate and the interior lighting. The soft neon trim cycled through pastel colours and pretty fibre optic stars adorned the ceiling. It all added to the enjoyment as the dead arid desert slipped by outside beyond the dark tinted windows. Out there, only snakes and lizards survived in the shade of the rocks. Naturally we made use of the champagne that was chilling in the ice bucket.

We had heard of a glass bottom boats on the Spanish Costa's, but never of a glass bottom helicopters. Las Vegas is just the place for them, particularly when the evening skyline became a magical blaze of neon lights. Papillion Helicopters have one that they use for tours of Las Vegas by night. Of course if you can't afford to lash out the dollars for that experience a cheaper alternative is to visit the America's tallest free-standing observation tower. We took the $9 dollar ride up in the elevator at the Stratosphere. (After negotiating the obligatory slot machines and the souvenir shops.) It flew us up within forty seconds to the observation decks. It is possible to dine there in 'The Top of The World' an elegant restaurant that revolves through 360 degrees 833 feet above the ground, but we just gorged on the view. The strip stretched out more than a thousand feet below us below us. The flashing neon signs and the lines of and car tail lamps seemed to merge like a cascading sparkle of jewels into the starry sky.

© Allan Rogers – Worldrover 2002
This article also appears on Allan Rogers' site at Worldrover. Reproduced with permission.