Viva Las Vegas!

We had a great time in Las Vegas!  We actually left with more gambling money than we went with - the roulette wheels were good to us~  We also did one of those time share scams with no intention of buying one - we didn't - and for our 2 hours got lunch, 2 nice dinner vouchers, $50 gambling money to start us off, tickets to a Vegas variety show we wanted to see, and tickets for the $45 ride on the worlds largest ferris wheel!   We also stayed at a casino with an RV park located in town that has a free shuttle back and forth to the Strip and the Fremont Experience every day. 

Ahhh Las Vegas!

We started our first day at the Venetian.  Italy!  Gondolas in the outside courtyard.

Gondolas inside, with the shops!

How many malls have THIS ceiling!

Even the outside second floor "sidewalk" is made to feel like Italy.

Treasure Island used to have a pirate fight show, but they have discontinued it.  Fortunately for Luke, the ship and it's figurehead still exist.

Caesar's Palace is massive.  It covers blocks.  Inside there is the Fountain of the Gods.

Outside, more statuary.

The Bellagio is famous for the dancing fountains outside.  It just isn't the same without motion.

One of our "gifts" was a 45 minute ride on the worlds largest Ferris wheels. 

It seemed a bit lame, but we did it anyway.  It actually was a lot of fun.  Each gondola was about 20 feet wide and ours had only 7 people in it.  There was plenty of room to walk around the fully glass enclosed cabin.  It moved slowly which was nice.  Here is the gondola in front of us, just cresting the top of the wheel.

Luke opted to fly over the Linq promenade. 

He's suited up, ready to fly down the zipline.

I opted to stand below, in the promenade, and take a picture of him as he flew past.

The entrance to the famous Flamingo Casino

I am not sure what happened picture wise after after this.  We stayed home one morning, couldn't take pictures at the show, and I guess we actually got more caught up in playing roulette.  The casinos DO frown upon gambling pictures...

This morning we left fairly early and headed eastward.  The terrain changed, giving us snowy topped mountains and trees.  We climbed almost constantly, reaching a 7000 ft high peak of highway.

Tonight we are in a nice little state park in Winslow AZ.  Only 56 spacious sites, each overlooking a beautiful stretch of desert.  From our site, we can see Winslow 4 miles away. Our RV park in Las Vegas had hundreds of sites, optimized to get as many happy campers in as possible.

The evening sky from our RV door was a real treat.

Tomorrow the plan is to see the worlds largest meteor crater (really!  this thing is 2.5 miles wide and 500 feet deep!), drive through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest NP, and see Winslow, AZ.  Yes, that one - we plan to "standing on a corner in Winslow AZ, such a fine sight to see"! There apparently IS a corner with a flatbed Ford for taking pictures. :-)