Having said that, I am going to try and play catch up here.
The reasons for the trip were varied, but first and foremost was a vacation, which I haven't done in years, nor has Mom. It was very needed and a wonderful break for both of us. Our work schedule made it so we worked the night before we left, getting home at 11 p.m. and since we were leaving for a 6 a.m. flight at 5 a.m. we chose to just stay up through the night and sleep on the plane, then catch up on the rest in Vegas. This probably wasn't the best plan, but that's what we did. Unfortunately, we didn't take into account the 2 hour time difference (we thought it was the same time zone - don't ask me why). We flew Southwest and while there was no assigned seating (they have you in lettered and numbered groups that board as called) it was rather pleasant. I really wanted to take pictures of our flight out, but the light wasn't great and I was over the wing where a light was, making that rather difficult. Still, it felt like the dawn was chasing us.
You can see the light of the rising sun hitting the wing here. That was the best I could do.
By the time we woke up to our arrival about 4 hours later, the sun was up and revealed an amazing sky over the desert.
Landing in McCarran we were greeted with more amazing views of the mountains and the clouds in the vast Nevada sky. Little did we know this would be due to the weather and not just a lovely sight to greet us with.
After our arrival we got ourselves to the Luxor hotel and casino where we would be staying. Years ago, when we traveled to Las Vegas more frequently, we almost always stayed at the Monte Carlo. Due to it being slightly less expensive and having always wanted to stay there, this time we chose the Luxor. I remembered visiting the Luxor when it first opened and it had been a very beautiful and exotic hotel, all done in Egyptian styling of course (considering it is a great black glass pyramid) with a fascinating exhibit of an Egyptian tomb, towering statues and beautifully modeled interiors. The thought was for it to feel like you were one of the ancient kings and would be treated as such. It was rather high class feeling. The years have passed and there have been changes to the hotel as it reclassified itself to gain its share of visitors. At this point, it is just a nice hotel, but nowhere near what I remember it being when it first opened. It is still very cool, since you are inside the pyramid and the rooms are all along the outer edge with elevators that go diagonally up and down the sides, but it is clear the edges are wearing on the decor.
MGM bought about 15 of the hotels on the strip, taking them over and making changes. The downside to such a situation is that they homogenized the hotels to an extent. Now, all the stores are pretty much the same, offering about the same items in each, as are the places to eat. Starbucks was EVERYWHERE, which was both positive and negative. Positive was that there was a place to get coffee; Negative was that it was all the same place! I definitely missed the unique imprint each hotel had before where you were stepping into a whole new world with each place and each offering unique items for sale that you couldn't get anywhere else. Definitely a loss in my opinion.
Carrot Top, one of the permanent shows in the Luxor, was plastered everywhere on posters and signs and that got... a bit tiring and disturbing. His picture was even on our key card. Whether you like Carrot Top or not, I didn't need to see his image almost any place I looked while staying at the hotel. Especially since many photos of him looked weird.
Anyway, we went to check in and were informed that we couldn't till 11 a.m. unless we wanted to pay extra for early check in. I looked at my watch and since it was only 9 a.m. according to it, I figured we could wait the 2 hours while having coffee and a snack at - you guessed it - Starbucks (we only just got there and didn't realize this wouldn't be anything singular to enjoy). At 11, we walked up to the counter to check in and were told that we couldn't check in yet. It was only just 9 a.m. Confused we then realized there was a 2 hour difference and hadn't set our watches back. Both of us were exhausted by now and only wanted to sleep (remember, we'd been up since the morning before). To continue to kill time we decided to walk around the hotel and stroll through to the connecting tunnel to Mandalay Bay. We window shopped and relaxed as much as we could, though it was hard to fully enjoy it being as tired as we were. I will say we were really sad that so many things we liked about the Luxor, like the shops and stores and exhibits were gone (the Egyptian tomb exhibit had been removed and donated to a museum), but realized that time marched forward and this wasn't the Vegas we remembered - that would be made clear further on in our trip as well.
FINALLY, the real 11 a.m. came around and after a quick check in we dragged ourselves up to the room. Both of us crawled into bed and zonked out. By the time we woke up, the reason for the amazing clouds in the sky came in the form of rain.
Because the time difference though, we did almost have a full day to do something so we decided to walk along the strip and see the new City Center area and what else there was. Most of the big hotels were pretty much the same, though MGM was rebuilding their front. Our shuttle driver had said that was a good sign since there had been so many projects halted in the last few years with the economic down turn. Nine major projects lost funding either before they were finished or right after they started, leaving them to sit till money could be found. Also, many unions had invested in Madoff and lost money, leaving many people out of work or without their retirement funds. Trump built his tower but hasn't been given the ability to put in a casino. When the driver said he didn't know why Trump was being blocked I said, "Because Steve Wynn said so," though as a joke, I'm guessing this isn't far from the truth since the Vegas big cats probably feel that Trump is an interloper into their territory. Vegas is recovering from the losses, slowly but surely and investors are coming back, but it will be a while I think before it gets fully on track like it used to be.
The gray skies cast a bit of a pall on the bright lights and as we walked, but we saw City Center which had been much hyped about over the years since it was finished. I have to say, it wasn't as nice as I had thought it was going to be, mainly because it just looked like a bunch of crowded buildings set right to the edge of the street. We also saw Planet Hollywood's hotel and were very sorry to see what had happened to the previous Aladdin hotel and casino. Sad for a few reasons too.
Our very first trip to Las Vegas, we stayed in the original Aladdin hotel. It wasn't the most fancy place, but the strip was much different back then (not nearly as built up as it is now) and it also had a lot of things from the Disney Aladdin movie which was a favorite of mine since seeing the movie so long ago and loving it (along with my friends from Savannah College of Art and Design). It got torn down and rebuilt to fit more in the style of the fancier hotels, but still retained the Arabian feel with the Caravan shops and the imaginative decor. It was fanciful but lovely and pleasant.
Planet Hollywood bought it and what they did was make it a horrible eye sore, the same way the changes to Time Square made it a commercial eye sore. They built right up to the street with neon signs, video boards and scrolling text all over a huge long wall in front of the casino. And its all chain store things like McDonalds and such. There is even a HUGE neon set up for Ross' Dress for Less. This was a killer for me because really? Ross'? Nothing against the store but this is supposed to be the Las Vegas strip here... and THAT is being shoved out there like its a great exciting place to go? The whole display was really horrible and left a definite bad taste in my mouth. I know Vegas can be cheesy and cheap and what-not, but this was just so terrible to see. Like I said, if you remember the old Times Square and hate what it is now, you'll understand my feelings on this.
The only upside was that our favorite buffet called Todai was still at the Planet Hollywood hotel (it had been there when it was the Aladdin). We stumbled upon it once while walking through the shops years ago and it is a charming place that I highly recommend if you enjoy sushi and seafood. Its all freshly made and tasty!
They have a bunch of wonderful little character mascots all throughout the restaurant and the staff is friendly and very pleasant.
After the long day, we were really glad to sit down and just relax. We were feeling a bit let down by the first outing along the strip and all the changes, along with the rainy weather, so having a familiar place with good food and pleasant atmosphere was a great little turn around. By the time we left, we were ready to get back to the hotel and finish unpacking and get ourselves to bed so we could get going on our next day.
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