Las Vegas

[D_kian]

Las Vegas is a bit like the Twilight Zone. Even those who’ve never seen it have heard a lot about it from those who have. There is also a lot of information available on the web. So one goes to Vegas for the very first time feeling one already knows all there is to know about it. A feeling that couldn’t possibly be further from the truth.

Vegas has to be experienced to be believed. Parts of the city, namely the Strip, ressemble nothing so much as an open theme park with traffic running through it, complete with themed hotels, attractions, rides, shopping malls and even transportation from some venues to others. A theme park, one should add, almost striclty for adults. For of course one of the main draws are the casinos.

But the casinos are not the draw they once were. For one thing, gambling is more widely available in America than it used to be. In addition to Atlantic City, NJ, there now is river-boat gambling in the South, plus the casinos at Indian reservations. In Europe casinos have always been available in several countries (Indeed, the most famous expression regarding roulette refers to a European city). In Mexico slot machines are kind of legal now (long story), and several slot parlors have opened recently.

The other big draw in Vegas used to be the evening shows, most of them featuring scantily clad or topless dancers, or extravagant magic shows. Those are still around, but a more varied offering is available now, nicluding Broadway musicals, comedy shows, variety shows, etc. The extravagant magic shows seem to have gone away, at least since the unfortunate incident involving Sigfried & Roy.

Now there are a variety of big draws. A Las vegas mega resort hotel is like nothing else in the world. Some have their own amusement parks inside, some have only (“only,” he says) a roller coaster, some have themed rides or simulators, some have replicas of famous landmarks one can ride, some simply have unusual or unique attractions like dancing fountains (breathtaking), exhibitions, laser shows, etc. About the only things missing are a nightly fireworks show and a parade. They all have small shopping malls, except for those that have large ones.

These hotels, you won’t be surprised to learn, are huge. Most of them occupy an entire city block (some take up two). What you see from outside are mostly the “towers” containing the rooms. But inside, on the ground floor and in some on a mezanine or a second story, the rooms seem to be an after-thought as they occupy only a small part of the resorts’ foot print. When seeing the floor plan (and all hotels ahve maps at various locations), you can easily imagine the architect remembered the rooms when he was finished. That’s not so, but it can feel that way.

The size of these hotels contribute to a warning you’ll receive from any experienced traveler: “things are much farther than they seem.” The resorts are so tall and so broad, the signs so huge, that they appear to be closer, particularly given Vegas’ flat topography and transparent air along with abundant sunlight. Everything is clearlya nd sharply visible, and the size muddles one’s sense of scale. A simple illustration is this: at one end of the Strip you have McCarran airport, at the other is the Statosphere Hotel. Well, you can see the Stratosphere’s Tower clearly and with a surprising amount of detail from the airport. It seems to be just a couple of blocks away, rather than miles away.

All this means you walk, and walk, and walk a lot in Vegas, so wear very confortable shoes. Not just from hotel to hotel, although that counts a great deal, but within each hotel. The casinos dominate the ground floor, and are close to the Strip entrance. Everything else is rather far away. Remember you are inside a space encompassing an entire block or more. To make matter worse, there are few benches or chairs anywhere. About the only places with chairs are the casinos. You can sit down and not play, but few people choose to do that. Besides, if you’re not playing then someone wanting to play the slot machine you chose can ask you to move. Bottom line, you wind up very tired every day. I highly recommend taking an afternoon nap (which I relaized too late) so you can enjoy the city at night (chich I didn’t really do). the Vegas signs are legendary, as well they should be. Nor do you want to fall asleep at one fo the expensive shows you bought tickets for.

I’ll post more later.

[JASKN]

The size of these hotels contribute to a warning you’ll receive from any experienced traveler: “things are much farther than they seem.”

This scale thing is true, and it seems to go for everywhere out West. Unlike the Midwest, there is usually nothing obscuring one’s view except spread-out, barren hills or mountains, separated by huge flat areas; small rocky hills, large rolling hills, big rocky juts, huge “old” jagged mountains… they are near or far, one can never tell because the houses and trees are scarce, or nonexistent, and the shadows on the hills always look the same, no matter the distance away.

Happily, I noticed this about Vegas early on while I was there, so I was not expecting shorter walks than I got (for me, half the being tired is just not knowing what I’ve gotten myself into).

How about that massive construction in the middle of the Strip? Incredible, and beautiful! Did you catch the architects’ model in the Bellagio?

[D_kian]

How about that massive construction in the middle of the Strip? Incredible, and beautiful!

Lovely. I took several pics of half-finished buildings.

Did you catch the architects’ model in the Bellagio?

No, I didn’t even know about it. Where is it? I may go again next year, and if not I’ll certainly go to Vegas again soon.

[JASKN]

OK, I’ve found some photos which approximate how great this new project in Vegas is, for anyone interested. You’ll just have to take my word for it that from street level, both in the day and at night, this site is breathtaking, which isn’t as evident in the photos. The models at the Bellagio of the finished buildings were effective in this regard, too.

Before and after shots:

At night (this was so cool!):

http://tominvegas.blogspot.com/2007/09/las…t-not-best.html

The finished project (again, not as cool from this vantage point), and keep in mind, the highway swings into the back of the site, which you can’t see here. It looks futuristic :

And here is a site with lots of photos. The most expensive privately-funded project in history, at $9.2 billion!

And another note: Vegas at night, with all of the incredible, large-scale lighting, is like a different city. It’s awesome!

[Capitalism_Forever]

Thanks for sharing your experience of this great city.

We should not forget to mention why all these great projects are taking place in Vegas and not elsewhere: Because Nevada is one of the freest states, and I would even argue THE freest state, in America. I like to think of Las Vegas as a giant exhibition showcasing the magnitude of achievements American entrepreneurs are capable of–as long as you let them.

[D_kian]

Thanks for sharing your experience of this great city.

You’re welcome. I’m far from done, too.

We should not forget to mention why all these great projects are taking place in Vegas and not elsewhere: Because Nevada is one of the freest states, and I would even argue THE freest state, in America.

Maybe. There’s no state income tax, no corporate tax. There is a 7.65% sales tax 8and that generates several billions from what tourists spend alone), and I suppose there are other fees and taxes. if there’s a property tax, then the Strip must have a tax bill sky high. And of course gambling and prostitution are legal. I don’t suppose there are many laws restricting the sale of alcohol, either, beyond not selling to minors.

But that’s not all. It helps that Vegas is a place where people go to have a good time. Other such places, like Orlando and Anaheim, also gather lots and lots of capital investment. Orlando certainly has seen a lot of contruction well beyond Disney’s parks and hotels.

[D_kian]

I’d better post about “Star Trek: The Experience” now.

It’s located at the Hilton Las Vegas, right where the monorail drops you off (no walking!) It consists of two rides, a Trek museum, Quark’s Bar and Grill (really!) and the Promenade Shops. All in all it’s the miniature version of Trekkie Heaven.

The museum is a winding path from the entrance to the ride staging area. It contains lots of props and costumes used in the various series and movies. It’s impressive in it’s own way. The props look, suprise!, exactly like the replicas of them you can buy online. Howver they are very well preserved and have little cards explaining what they are and in which episodes they were used. Alas, there are no sets preserved for all eternity.

The rides are quite good. First I rode “The Borg Invasion in 4D” The 4D is technobbable non-Trekkies can comprehend. It’s really a 3D movie with some motion effects. You start off benig greeted by the Doctor from Voyager to Copernicus station in the Delta Quadrant, where some sort of research concerning the Borg is going on. There’s also a live actor wearing a Voyager science uniform (that’s a Trekkie’s dream job, I suppose) who takes you through the ride. The Doctor gets interrupted by an invading Borg vessel, whereupon the group of tourists gets transferred to a shuttle.

I must give credit here. The girl playing the Starfleet officer (she was very pretty, naturally) gives an excellent performance, staying in character even when the audience bursts into laughter at the absurdity of the plot. So does the other cast member you meet on the way to the waiting “shuttle.”

The movie, in 3D as mentioned, is about what you’d expect. We run from the Borg, the Borg capture us, they try to assimilate us, then Voyager rides triumphantly to the rescue and we’re all saved. Fair enough. but what makes it more than a standard adventure 3d movie, aside from being set in space, is the theater’s effects. There are three aspects worth mentioning:

1. Some of the movie is projected over the audience’s heads on separate screens (not on a wraparound screen). So you can look up and see some fo the action from time to time.

2. The theater has some otion effects, ro at elast it felt that way. It doesn’t move like a motion simulator would, but I think it does move a little.

3. When the Borg try to inject their nano-probes in the audience, actuators hidden in the seat lightly prick your back and thighs. That made everyone in the audience gasp, except for those who actually yelped or screamed. That’s a good, immersive technique.

The other ride is much better. Called “Klingon Encounter,” is a motion simulator ride with some of the TNG crew. I will skip the beginning because it’s both surprising and it really has to be experienced. So next thing you know you’re on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise 1701-D. There you get a briefing from William Riker and Gerodi LaForge, both whom for some reason are in the shuttlebay at the moment, and another actor in a Starfleet costume (again a pretty girl). The storyline here is that the audience has been abducted by Klingons using a temporal rift (or somethin to that effect), which caused Capt. Picard to vanish. Therefore one of the audience is a Picard ancestor. Therefore we all must be returned to the XXI Century.

Next you ride in a turbolift, which rattles and shakes because the Klingons are firing on the ship, and you end up outside an opened shuttle (haven’t we been this way before?). Another actor in uniform (a guy for some reason) asks if everyone’s ok and then does the funniest thing in the whole ride: he shows a safety film like every other you’ve seen in every other motion simulator ride.

Then the real ride begins (though Trekkies must regret not spending more time on the bridge). It’s also standard fare. Running from the Klingons, being fired on, maneuvering through the rings of a gas giant (novel but hopelessly unrealistic), until you find the time rift and take it back home. As in the Borg movie, there is some action above and to the sides of the cockpit in front. Nice.

You exit the rift over Las Vegas, which is a nice touch. You also find the Klingons followed. Next there is more evasion over the Strip, until the Enterprise appears and finishes the battle over Las Vegas. Then the shuttle crashes through the Hilton sign and into “the simulators you were about to ride when this began.” Very nice touch. You get a verbal thank you from Capt. Picard (odd he doesn’t make more of an appearance).

Quark’s bar is a smaller replica of the one in the show. I wakled through it just to look. The food has Trek related names, but it’s standard theme restaurant fare. You get the much the same at the Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s or Hard Rock. There is plenty of better fare in Vegas. The Vegas buffet is legendary for a reason, plus there are a number of mid- and high-end restaurants in every hotel.

The shops do look like a miniature of the lower floor of the DS9 Promenade. The products are what you’d expect, wlthough they missed a chance to stock more mdoels, Klingon uniforms and prosthetics, etc etc. After all lots of Trekkies ought to pass through.

Right outisde the Trek Experience there are two, and only two, Trek themed slot machines. I suppose Trekkies prefer chess to slots

Overall it’s one of the best motionless ride combos, themed or not, I’ve ever been on. Better than Star Tours at Disney MGM Studios, for example.

Oh, there are also customed actors around the museum and on the staging areas. I saw a Klingon while waiting for the second ride. He did a funny bit telling jokes about dead Ferengi (that’s funny for a Klingon). Here’s a portion I remember:

“What’s funnier than two dead Ferengi?” When someone in the audience answers "three dead Ferengi, the Klingon assumes he’s a telepath. Then says “I’ve got a joke just for you, telepath. Here goes.” He stays quiet for a few seconds, then smiles. The gag is he’s thinking the joke at the telepath. I laughed.

There’s a backstage tour of the attraction, too. I’ll probably take it next time.

[D_kian]

I had to talk about the casinos sooner or later. They may not be the only draw, or even the bigger one, but they’re an entrenched part of Las Vegas’ identity. For one thing you can’t avoid them. Every Strip hotel, megaresort or not, has the casino right at the Strip entrance. Nor can you reach half the places in any hotel without passing through the casino. This is perfectly understandable, as 1) many people do want to gable and 2) casinos make a huge profit and enticing visitors to play can only help.

All the casinos are very similar. They all have the same slots, the same table games (blackjack, roulette, craps, etc), a Keno parlor and a sports book. There are variations in decor. Some use green felt, others use beige, the carpeting varies. They’re all a bit dimly lit. Some are larger. But in essence they’re all the same. Except for the casino at Paris Las Vegas. That one is a continuation of the shopping mall, and has the same sky blue with clouds ceiling. It also has a foot of the Eiffel tower replica poking through the ceiling at one point (it may be either structural or cosmetic, but it’s large and unmistakable); and I think it was a bit mroe brightly lit than others.

Aside from the hotels, there are stand-alone casinos like Bill’s, O’Sheas and others. The inside of these palces are the same as the casino hotels.

Of course that’s on the surface. Deeper in there are other differences.

It’s a well-known fact that all games are so designed to give the house a statistical advantage (BTW the word “house” in reference to the casino comes from the word “casino” itself. “Casino” is a word of Italian derivation which means “little house.” Therefore casino=house). This serves two purposes. 1) it insures the casino makes a profit and 2) it keeps the games honest; that is to say, the casino will make money without cheating, so it doesn’t cheat. But not all casinos set the same percentage as advantage in all games.

The easiest example are slot machines. These can be programed with very specific odds. So in average they will pay, say, 96.7% of the time, which gives the house a 3.3% advantage. Other games have fixed odds, like for example roulette, and the house advantage comes from the types of betting allowed. For instance, there are an equal amount of black and red numbers, but there are also two green numbers (0 and 00). A bet on black pays even money, but the odds of black hitting are not 50/50 due to the two green numbers on the wheel. On average, the house will take in more than it pays.

Naturally everyone enjoys winning more than they enjoy loosing. Therefore those casinos with the most repeat business are the ones that give the better odds to the players in order to keep them coming back. Which casinos are these? largely those frequented by the locals. Forget the high rollers. They usually don’t mind loosing money and they come to Vegas only a handful of times per year. The locasl are in Vegas year-round and they play more often (those who do play). So the smallest house adbantage is wherever the locals play more often. I was given this advice, unsolicited, by three different locals.

The downside is such casinos are rather far from both the Strip and the Downtown areas. Transportation is not easy. And the locals’ casinos tend not to have other ammenities like the Strip hotels do.

I did chance upon one. I played ten dollars and after an hour and fifteen minutes I’d only lost five. Then it was time to go.

I did better elsewhere, loosing less money. That’s what ding better means. Remember, the house has the advantage, not you. The house will win and you will loose.

So why play at all?

For enjoyment, if you like that sort of thing. I found I like playing deuces wild on video poker, I enjoy a little blackjack, too. Straight slots don’t much interest me, nor does roulette. Craps I stayed away from because I don’t understand it; perhaps next time I’ll take craps lessons at some casino that offers them (lots of them do), and see whether I like it. I probably won’t. I did notice video poker and balckjack require a little skill, while roulette is random. The skills used keep you engaged in the game at all times.

So how well did I do? Well, I didn’t keep track. But I did some shopping, I got some souvenirs, went to Hoover Dam, up and down the Strip, went to one show (Penn & Teller), attended some pay attractions, visited Ethel M’s chocolates (delicious!) and its cactus garden, gambled and had money left over. So I did well enough.

Once only did I keep track. I tried out an automated blackjack table. It’s like a regular table, only with a screen instead of table, and another screen where the dealer would be. You play electronically and the dealer is a computer-controlled video. I fed it 20 bucks. After awhile I was up to 36 and decided I’d quit if I reached 40. That was a bad idea, as I went down to 7 dollars, then eventually climbed back to 14.50. That was when I quit. I then went to a video poker to play deuces wild, at 5 cents a hand. The low, low wager affords you lots of play time. I fed it $5 and played. When I was down to $4.35 I hit 4 deuces, which pays 200 times the bet, or in this case ten dolalrs. I quit with $14.35 That was my big payoff: $9.35 which equals one 24-hour monorail pass and exactly 35 cents.

The guy playing next to me saw the payoff and told me “Man, you should have bet five credits! You lost it!” I told him there’s nothing to do after placing the bet. But I didn’t think I lost anything. Sure, I’d been paid $50 had I wagered 25 cents. but I’d lost more had I been wagering more, too, so maybe I’d have quit by then. Besides, you cannot change the bet once the cards are dealt, so there was nothing to be done about that.

Anyway, I trust you see where I’m going. All my gambling sessions followed a simialr pattern, minus the payoff. I won a little, or more than a little, then lost, then won something but did not recover my losses, then lost again, and so on until I either ran out of money or quit, or got paid off and quit.

That’s how all gambling sessions go, because of the house advantage. You can score a big payoff (relative to the wager at least), but the chances of that are small. Most likely you’ll go up and down within an innexorable downward trend. Chances are very, very high you will loose money. Or, as I see it, you will pay money to amuse yourself with the machine, or the table and dealer and other players (if any; all table games can be played by a sole player if no others step up). That way you can bet little and have a good time without loosing your money.

Unless you have skills that overcome the advantage. The one way I know a bit how is in blackjak. There’s a finite number of cards, even when the house uses a six-deck shoe. If you keep track of the cards, you can determine when the odds favor you. This is known as card counting, since you keep track of the cards by assigning them numbers (2-6 are one, 7-9 are zero, and 10-Ace are minus one, for example). This is a gross oversimplification, of course, and I should point out you have to carry it out in your head; if you pull a laptop at the table the dealer will ask you to leave. It also takes a lot of time and practice to acquire and perfect. I tried a simplified form of it and did no better than if I had not used it, aside from surprising one dealer when I stood on 12 when she showed 10 and I won.

So by all means go enjoy the casinos, just don’t think you’ll win big. Odds are you won’t. The one sure way of elaving the casino with a small fortune is to go in with a large fortune.

[Matus1976]

Great thread, I am a big fan of Las Vegas and wanted to toss in some of my thoughts. As mentioned here, Nevada is one of the freest nations in the US, it definitely is from an economic and civil perspective. Las Vegas is, also, one of the freest cities in the country. Las Vegas has a higher ratio of home ownership than any city in the country, it is also the fastest growing city, and less than 4% of it’s population are ‘native’ that is, most people who live there, chose to move there, and love it. It’s definitely noticalbe in the average attitude of people that live there. Also, it’s a beautiful metropolis smack dab in the middle of a worthless dessert! A true testament to human ingenuity. Gambling is not the mainstay attraction here anymore either, with a vibrant night life and world famous shows, one is sure to be kept busy on any night, and all night long. You can go to a new restaurant virtually every day. A 4 hour drive or 45 minute flight will get you to San Diego, and you don’t have to actually live in the people’s state. It routinely destroys relatively new buildings to make way for even newer ones! And the best part to me, is that it is a central location for a variety of institutions yearly conferences, great if you have a large diversity of interests. Personally I hope to move there in the near future.

[D_kian]

Naturally I went to Hoover Dam. I had two reasons for doing so 1) I’d never seen a dam up close and 2) without Hoover Dam there would be no Las Vegas as it is now, or as it was since the late 40s onward.

Nevada in general, as much of the American Southwest, is an arid region. Las Vegas, though, isn’t as arid as its surroundings. Back when the Spanish owned Nevada, Las Vegas (which is Spanish for “The Meadows”) was a transit point town because there was water in the form of artesian wells. That’s why a town was later established there, and why Las vegas functioned as a railroad town for several decades.

But the wells that contribute to Vegas’ name are not nearly enough to make it a major city that can host twenty times its own population in tourists every year. For that you need the vast reservoir named Lake Mead, made possible by Hoover Dam. This is even more true now than it was before the megaresort era. If you make a list of attractions that use water, you realize the man-made miracle necessary to make them all work right in the middle of a desert, artesian wells or not.

There’s a Dolphin habitat at the Mirage, which uses millions fo gallons of artificially salinized water. The fountains at the Bellagio, of course, which sprout from a vast but shallow pond. The replicas of the grand canals at the Venetian (there are two, one inside, one outside). There are a lot of fountains at the Ceasar’s Forum Shops, both inside an out, including one incorporating an aquarium. The shark reef at Mandalay Bay. The Flamingo and water fowl habitat at the Flamingo Assorted other fountain and decorative pools (there’s a long one at Bally’s through the monorail entrance). Not to mention the thousands of swiming pools at all hotels, some motels and lots of private homes. The fountains use treated water and recirculate what they use, so they consume much less water than it would seem. But that’s still a lot of water given the huge number of fountains in Vegas.

Now add to that the water used by nearly the 2 million population (including suburbs like Henderson) and the millions of tourists (the figure most cited is around 40 million a year) who visit Vegas.

That’s a lot of water.

Hoover Dam was built in order to tame the Colorado river for several reasons. The most important were to provide water for irrigation and consumption to Arizona and California, and to control the ocassional floods caused by the river, which were quite devastating. Also to provide water to Southern Nevada, but that was a minor consideration. It was decided to attach a hydroelectric plant to the dam so the electricity would pay for the dam’s expenses. of course this is not a proper government function, but at least it works.

Curiously, most of the electricity is meant for California and Arizona. Only 3% goes to Vegas, because that’s how much Vegas authorities asked for when the Dam was built, long before Vegas was developed. Vegas gets its power from coal-fired plants built locally. Of course vegas uses a lot of electricity, too. I passed one such plant on the way to the Dam, and I saw a lot of solar panels around it, too. Given the mostly cloudless climate, I suppose solar might be a reasonable complement there.

The first thing I noticed about Hoover Dam was its size. It’s too small. Oh, it’s a big arch that supports a massive mass of water, and the top is wide enough for a two-lane road (the Dam has been featured in several movies, most recently in “Transformers”). But as it was built, sensibly, at a narrow point along a cannyon, it seems smaller than it really is.

The Dam straddles the Arizona-Nevada border. On the lake side there are four intake towers, two on each state. On the river side, that is downstream, there are two generator plants and two spillways, again one on each state.

I won’t go into the details of the construction, as there are far better sources online or at your local library. I’ll just remind you it was built early in the 1930s, with technology that barely deserves to be called modern. It’s a testament to the designers and the laborers that the Dam was finished ahead of schedule and that it still stands, good as new, over 70 years later (better than new, possibly, since concrete hardens as it ages).

The tour I took afforded only 2 hours at the dam. So much to my disapointment I skipped the tour of the generating plants, because I was certain I couldn’t take the 45 minutes for that and still see the exhibits at the vistors center. I was proven right, as I spent well over an hour going through them. I’ll see the generators next time. A work this fine is not to be taken in all at once, either.

The musuem deals mostly with the buiding of the Dam. It’s rather small, but each artifact preserved is a window into the past. There are recreations of work scenes, which do an effective job of placing the artifacts in context, and give you an idea of what it took to erect the Dam. I do recommend taking the time to appreciate it all. There’s even a full-size model of a generator. Nothing new there, except for the experience of standing inside it.

The tour guide and the Dam personel love to make puns with the word “dam.” The puns are pretty much institutionalized, I suppose. I bought an espresso cup with an illustration of the dam and the legend “Little Dam Mug.” The receipt says “Best Little Dam Souvenir Store.” The sales clerk wished me a “Dam Fine Day.” When the parks police came to inspect our bus, the guide said “There’s the Dam Police.” And of course I complimented the guide by letting her know she gave a “Dam Fine Tour.” It does get old by the end.

I took the tour with Showtime Tours through Expedia. It was quite good. The guide, who also drove the bus, narrates the tour live. She had something to say for everythign along the way, from the outlet mall near Showtime’s terminal, to the story of Boulder City (where the construction workers lived), to the uses of the Dam, to the vegetation along the road. She had a pleasant voice, a nice sense of humor and 95% of what she had to say was interesting.

After the Dam we stopped for a while at the Ethel M chocolate factory. Alas, the factory floor was undergoing renovations and there was nothing to see. That’s ok, as I’ve visited chocolate plants before, even a hand-dipped chocolate shop once. There’s also a cactus garden with different types of desert vegetation (interesting if not quite pretty), and a store selling the factory’s candy (delicious!)

Next we stopped at Sam’s Town hotel & casino (and RV park) for a buffet lunch. That was a regular Vegas buffet: lots of food, plenty of variety. It’s also one of the casinos favored by the locals, where I managed to loose only five bucks.

Overall the tour was better than I expected. Not only did I see the Dam but also the coal fired plant (I wonder if that can be toured inside as well). it helps to realize what a magnificent man-made Jewel in the desert Vegas really is, and to what extent it is.

[JASKN]

Unfortunately, we did not have time to tour the dam, so I went for the “visual tour” and tried soaking in as much as I could. One thing you forgot to mention is the beautiful sculpture of the winged men with the American flag in the middle. I was struck by these, which seem much larger and more regal in person:

According to this site, sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen considers these “Winged Figures of the Republic” to represent “the eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty. [… They express] the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment."

[D_kian]

One thing you forgot to mention is the beautiful sculpture of the winged men with the American flag in the middle. I was struck by these, which seem much larger and more regal in person:

I saw them, but I didn’t pay them much mind. The monument is on the road on top of the dam, and I traversed it quickly and just far enough to take some pictures (and to be able to claim I’ve been to Arizona).

What I did forget to mention is the High Scaler Memorial. High scaler is what the Dam’s construction workers were called, although it applies specifically to those who worked perched on the cannyon walls 8the most dangerous jobs).

The Memorial is located outside the snack bar, by the parking entrance. It consists of a big boulder with the bronze figure of a high scaler on one side, and a plaque with the names of those who died building the Dam on the other. I’ll post some pics later.

[D_kian]

Here’s the last part: the ambiance or feel of Las Vegas.

To begin with there’s the weather. It’s hot, but quite dry. For those of you who don’t know, the relative humidity in the air has a huge impact on how warm a given warm temperature is. A temp of 28 Celsius in Vegas does not feel as hot as 24 Celsius in Mexico City. For one thing sweat works more effectively as a cooling mechanism in dry air than it does in humid air. For another, dry air retains less heat than the humid variety. For that reason, too, nights in Vegas are cooler than they’d be elsewhere. I was perfectly able to sleep without the AC on, for instance.

Oh, it helps too that all the indoors in Vegas, including transportation, is air conditioned. But even strolling through Hoover Dam I was never bothered by the heat.

Precipitation is very low, naturally (desert region, remember). Therefore you see things out in the open that you wouldn’t see elsewhere. For example, several pedestrian walkways that cross the Strip come equipped with escalators. I do wonder what happens when it does rain. Desert rains are usually intense and short, prone to produce flash floods.

Several of the megaresort hotels carry their theme to very thorough extents. The Luxor is shaped like a black pyramid, has Egyptian statues all over the place, and there’s even an obellisc with lit hyerogliphs. Paris Las Vegas has half-scale replicas of the Eiffel tower and the Arc de Triomph. the Venetian has canals complete with gondolas and even singing gondolieros. Caesar’s Palace has a theater that, on the outside, looks like the Colosseum. and there are others, all pretty much along such lines.

Sometimes one feels it is all kind of a charade. But that’s not fair. The ambiance these hotels try for is just that: ambiance. They try to arise the feel of the places they emmulate. In this they are very similar to Epcot’s World Showcase, if with less authentic products from far away lands in their shops. But just like Epcot cannot feel like anything but Disney in the end, so the Vegas hotels all feel like Vegas.

For one thing there’s the scale of things I noted earlier. Aside from warping one’s sense of distance, the huge signs and billboards are very convenient. You do not have to walk all the way to Bally’s to see the ad for the Jubilee Show, for example. Mostly the large scale does not make things look tacky, either; that’s more a function of the specific designs. The Harrah’s hotel is rather campy, the Bellagio is elegant and luxurious, the MGM Grand is spacious and modern, the Sahara is compact and retro (not so much by design, though, as for being 55 years old; BTW the Beatles stayed there once).

Much has been amde in the media and travel sites about old Vegas and new Vegas. In essence there’s no difference, as both old and new were about entertainment and enjoyment. Old or New, people have always gone to Vegas to have a good time. Old Vegas was more about gambling, new Vegas is less so, and it adds many more choices than there used to be, from fancy restaurants, to amusement park rides, to high tech rides, to landmark replicas, etc. But people still go to Vegas to have a good time.

That attitude is pervasive on the Strip. Alcohol is served just about everywhere and can be openly consumed on the streets. People walk around with beers or cocktails and think nothing of it. Smoking is allowed in bars and casinos, as well as in any open space. Dining choices are mind-boggling. there’s everything from generic fast-food (very cheap), to branded fast food, to restaurants of all ratings, to the traditional Vegas buffet. Gambling is stil pervasive. Not only do all Strip otles have their own large casinos, but there are stand-alone casinos as well. There are slot machines in all sorts of unlikely places, too, like laundromats, grocery stores and at the waiting lounge at the airport.

Prostitution is also legal in most of Nevada. I’ve no idea if there are brothels in Vegas, as none of the many guides I picked up mentioned any, but there are plenty of call girls available. Lots of people distribute cards of escort services out int he Strip. There are free magazines full of ads for them, too, and billboard trucks advertising “hot babes” and such. Aside from noting them I ignored them.

The only place remotely similar to Vegas I’ve been to is Orlando. It, too, is a tourist mecca devoted to providing enjoyment. Aside rfom that the two places couldn’t be more different. Orlando is, mostly, “family” oriented (that is, mostly made for children but enjoyable for adults), while Vegas is, mostly, adult oriented (with few exceptions). Therefore you see few children in Vegas. The place where I saw most was the outlet mall.

The lack of children makes Vegas a surprisingly quiet place. It also helps that most casinos have no loud music. I’d expected Vgeas to be noisy, as many today equal good times with loud music and such, but that is not the case. I suppose the many night clubs are loud, but I stayed away from them.

So much for nightlife. Ask someone else.

There are the many and varied shows. Cirque du Soleil alone has several shows at several venues. Prices range from around $40 to over $150 depending on the show and the venue. It’s best to go to the Visit Vegas website and see what’s available before travelling. Just make sure to double-check with the venue’s website, too. I went to see Penn & Teller (see post “Penn & Teller at the Rio”) and would have seen Rita Rudner, too, but she wasn’t on that week. I’ve seen video of the Cirque and found it very impressive, but it’s not really the kind of thing I’d spend $90 on. In any case, I was usually too tired by 9 pm to attend a show.

[D_kian]

I’m just back from spending another five days in Vegas. Let me tell you, the second time around it’s much less impressive. Naturally by then you know all about scale, distances, how to get around, etc. Also you feel less pressured to see everything and are thus more relaxed.

But things were different this time around. I decided to try the Deuce to get around the Strip rather than the monorail. Overall it was a good desicion, as 1) it’s much cheaper, 2) it involves less walking and 3) it lets you get to more places. So on this trip I did go Downtown (nice, but overhyped) and I got to see afew things I missed on the first time out.

One of them was the Statosphere Tower at the Stratosphere Hotel, Vegas’ most noticeable attraction. It’s a huge tower, rather similar to the Space Needle, about 300 meters tall. The view from the top is literally breath-taking. At night it’s even more so. Vegas at night from that height looks like an intricately woven carpet made of light.

The top of the Tower is also home to three thrill rides, which I’ll describe briefly:

1. The Xscream is a teeter-totter(sp?) kind of ride that tips over the edge of the Tower and then lets you slide down rapidly, putting on the brakes after you cannot see the track but before you plunge to your death. It does this twice. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I’m glad I rode it once (I’d never ride it again, though, ever).

But there is an interesting annecdote. I got on this ride with a woman who also happened to be there. She aksed whether I was the type who screams. I said I’d try not to. She dind’t scream, either, but instead let loose a string of obscenities in Spanish. When I laughed she realized I spoke Spanish and turned a nice shade of red. We wnt on to share the other rides and talk about Mexico and Colombia a little.

2. Instanity is a rather gentle ride, though the ads call it something else. You seat at the end of long arms arranged in a circle, facing inward. The ride is again taken over the edge of the Tower and spun. As it spins it opens up. The view from there is even better. I rode it twice. In fact, were it just a little bit slower I’d have ridden it more. Fact is near the end of each ride I got too dizzy and had to close my eyes to keep from getting nauseous (BTW the combination of an all-you-can-eat day long buffet and these rides isn’t a good idea). You can see this ride from the inside observation deck in the Tower, too.

3. I forget the name of the third. It’s a slingshot ride located at the very top of the Tower. Pretty standard kind of ride, but it only shoots you up twice (the TZ Tower of Terror in MGM/Disney Orlando shoots you up from 4 to 6 times). Since there were no people waiting in line, the attendant allwoed me to ride it three times in a row without getting off, I do enjoy the near-weightless descent. Of course you go higher than you are, but the vuew really doesn’t change much.

I recommend buying the all-day access pass, as it allows multiple trips up the Tower and unlimited rides. Besides there was a $5 off coupon for it in the coupon booklet available at the casino rewards program. I also recommend taking along binoculars and/or a camera with a real zoom lens (a damned good one, too).

The only bad things I have to say about the Startosphere Tower is that it is way up the northern end of the Strip. The rest of the strip is just too far away.

Oh, there used to be a rollercoaster on the Tower top (the High Roller) but it was dimsantled some years ago. Apparently it was too slow for a coaster. There were plans for a coaster that would drop from the top of the Tower to ground level, but it was never built.

I’ll cover the Eiffel Tower replica, Downtown, the Deuce, Switch Blackjack, the Fashion Show Mall and the small casinos (including the last 70s casino) in a latter post.

[D_kian]

Vegas casinos can be roughly divided into regular and gimmicky. The smaller ones, like O’Sheas, Casino Royale and Slots-A-Fun ted to go for gimmicks to attract customers. One of these is switch blackjack.

You’re dealt two hands face up (and bet on each one). You can switch the second card between your hands. Say you’re dealt a ten and deuce in one hand, and a five and ace on the other one. You can switch the deuce for the ace and wind up with a ten and ace (blackjack) and a five and deuce. Great, right?

From there the game proceeds as regular blackjack and no more switches are allowed. But there is another rule: if the dealer busts with 22 then it’s a push (or tie) and no one wins. The dealer busts on 22 a large number of times. To be fair the dealer does follow standard BJ rules (stands on hard 17 or higher, hits on soft 17).

Well, I don’t recommend it. It’s frustrating to have a blackjack and a 19 only to be pushed by a dealer busting at 22. I also found it harder to keep track of two hands, not to mention two hands from everyone else and the dealer’s hand. Even if you can’t count cards (and I can’t), you should be aware of what everyone else is playing in order to get a sense of what’s still in the shoe.

Finally, at Casino Royale they use one of the new shuffling machines. This type constantly shuffles the cards, making card counting that much harder.

I also took a harder, longer look at slots. Slots are the casino’s main draw and biggest source of income. They are also highly missleading.

For starters, all slots (and this includes video poker machines) pay off on credits, not on bets. Each machine has a denomination, usually 1 cent, 5 cents, 25 cents, 75 cents and one dollar (there are higher ones in the high-limit slot area, but I didn’t look at those). The denomination equals one credit.

Now let’s say you play the Monopoly slots. The denomination is one cent, you can play up to 20 lines plus the feature (depending on the machine it’s either the bonus game or the Big Event). The features pay better than the regular play, but you’re elegible for them only if you play max lines plus feature. So in the 1 cent Monopoly your bet would be of 30 cents. If you then win one hundred credits, you get one dollar, not 100 times your 30 cent bet.

Next, slots advertise as paying off a huge percentage of the time. Most hover about 97.5% to 98.5% Sounds impressive, but that includes all payoffs, from the five credit to the big jackpot. Since you’re paying multiple lines, usually, most payoffs are smaller than your bet. Menaing you loose money slower, not that you win money.

Now, I see nothing wrong with that. If the casinos paid everyone off they’d all be broke after three days. But I’d appreciate a little more hinesty, even in small print saying “pay percentages include all pays.”

Then there are the “progressive” machines. These advertise a huge jackpot ranging from a few thousands to millions of dollars. But in order to qualify for the progressive jackpot you have to play the maximum number of lines and the maximum number of credits. In 1 cent Monopoly that would mean a three dollar bet per spin (twenty lines plus feature, all at 10 credits). Your chances of hitting the progressive? Very, very small. It happens sometimes, but it’s very, very rare.

If you understand all that, you play at your own risk.

I actually won a little in one session on my last day. I got three Big Events in quick succession (all Big Events and Bonuses hand you over some credits) and noticed my count stood at $27, that being $7 more than my original bet. I cashed out then.

[D_kian]

This time out I tried riding the Deuce rather than the monorail.

The Deuce is a double-decker bus that runs up and down the Strip, from Downtown in the North to the Las Vegas Outlet center in the South. It’s the only public transit bus on the strip. For public transportation it is very good (of course I’m judging by Mexican standards, which are low). I’d heard a lot about the traffic on the strip, but let me tell you that ain’t traffic (not what I saw). That was ok, even with choke points at the construction sites for the City Center complex.

The problem with the Deuce is baording: it takes an awful long time.

You either pay cash as you board, or you swipe an access pass. There are two kind of passes used by tourists: the 24 hour pass ($7) and the three-day pass ($15). If paying cash, you feed bills to an electronic bill acceptor, or drop coins in a slot (or both). When twenty people or more are baording and even a few pay cash, it gets slow. Invariably some bills are rejected, some passes are rejected too (my three day pass often was). Sometimes you spend as long as ten minutes waiting for the bus to be boarded. When that happens, you are usually overtaken by the next Deuce on the line.

The monorail is faster, as you pay before boarding and less people use it. But the stations are far from the Strip and from most places within the hotel you want to visit. It’s also limited to a run between the Sahara and the MGM. While this covers almost all the strip (leaving out the Startosphere, the Riviera and Circus Circus) it doesn’t even get close to Downtown or the Outlet Center. So even at one hour per trip from the Strip center to Downtown, it’s worth it because you can get Downtown.

Downtown is an older, paler version of the Strip. The hotels there lack attractions, though their casinos, restaurants and entertainment are just as good as the Strip’s. But Downtown there’s the Fremont Street Experience. More on that later.

[D_kian]

This time I was able to go up the Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris Hotel. Last year it was closed due to high winds.

I can’t compare it to the original because I’ve never seen it, but this half-scale replica is quite impressive even after comparing it to the Startosphere Tower. At first the ride up doesn’t seem like much, but then the glass-walled elevator breaks through the casino ceiling and you see that you are, indeed, within the tower. It then keeps going up and up and up, giving a great view of girders going past.

The view from the top is different from that of the Stratosphere. You are much lower, but also smack in the middle of the Strip. So Downtown is not visible from there, but you do get a very different perspective on the center strip. You can also clearly see McCarran airport. As luck would ahve it, I chanced to go up at the same time the Bellagio fountains were active, right accross the street. Those fountains are wonderful seen from the ground, from the top of the tower they are even more so (BTW it’s easy to time, the fountains do their show at the top of each hour, so simply go up the tower around 10 to 15 minutes earlier and there you are). The only bad news is I couldn’t get any decent shots of the fountains.

That about covers this trip. I just want to mention the Slots-A-Fun casino, adjacent to the Circus Circus Hotel. It’s a small strip-side casino that offers cheap drinks and cheap gambling, like $3 craps and blackjack. In that it’s no different from some Downtown casinos. But I did happen to notice all its slots and video poker machines pay off in coins and tokens. That’s unusual even Downtown, and unheard of in the Strip. Add the very old decor and it looks like it’s still the 1970s in there

I’ll post a link to some photos later.