Sonya's Blog - Day 271 - Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

Sonya's Blog - Day 271 - March 19th - Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

Natasha kept her promise and got up at a decent hour so that we could get to Hoover Dam. We made it there by 10 and tried to park in the parkade, but we had Kizmet. We were not allowed to park in the parkade with the dog and Kizmet was not allowed on Hoover Dam. We had to park on the Arizona side, which ended up working out better for us, because the parkade was $10 for parking and this parking was free. We had to go halfway up the mountain to park, but that was fine. We could walk Kizmet around the parking lots, she just couldn't go on top of the dam. I stayed with Kizmet and Blake took the kids down to explore the top of the dam. I still had great views of the dam and I had been to it before, on a previous trip to Las Vegas.

Arizona on one side of the dam:

Nevada on the other:

Once Blake and the kids were done exploring we hiked back up to the truck and drove back to the campground. We dropped off Kizmet and turned on the air conditioning in the RV so that she would stay nice and cool. We then drove down to the Venetian, so that the kids could see it. I thought we would have to pay for parking, but this is not so. They had nice oversized parking for our truck and it was free, they are just so happy you are visiting their hotel, I guess. We walked around the Canal area and had some lunch.

The Venetian:

The Canal in the Venetian:

We then went back to the RV to feed Kizmet and take her for a walk. We have tickets to see Michael. Jackson One by Cirque du Soleil tonight at 7 PM. The kids wanted to see more hotels, so we left around 4, so that we could see some more hotels and have some supper before the show. We parked at the Aria and started to walk towards Mandalay Bay (which is where the show is). First we explored the Aria, then New York (where we had a bite to eat). The next hotel is Excalibur and then The Luxor. We just looked in the lobby area of Excalibur and The Luxor, just to have a look see. We then got to Mandalay Bay and found the theatre and picked up our tickets. Blake was pretty torn because Billy Idol was doing a one night show at Mandalay Bay. Billy Idol or Michael Jackson. Well, we had already bought our MJ tickets, so that won out.

The Budda in the Aria:

Jean Phillip - all edible:

Fantastic Cake:

Brooklyn Bridge outside New York:

The Luxor:

The show was fantastic. I liked all of it, my favourites were Smooth Criminal, Billy Jean and Dirty Diana. That girl that danced to Dirty Diana certainly raised the bar for pole dancers everywhere, let me tell you! She was pure muscle and it was crazy. They have lots of video of MJ playing in the background during the different acts and at one point they have a full hologram of him dancing. It was pretty cool and we all loved it.

After our MJ show we took the tram over to The Bellagio. We wanted to see the garden area, which is always seasonal and very elaborately done up. We also wanted to see the water show at the main fountain, which is in front of the hotel. The gardens were done up for Spring and the them was Japanese gardens. The fountain show was good, so elaborate.

The Gardens at The Bellagio:

Paris, across the street from The Bellagio:

We then took the tram back to The Aria. We grabbed some gelato from Jean Phillipe, which was very yummy. We then walked back to the truck. While we were going to the elevator, we were behind 4 security guards who were escorting some guests out of the hotel. Not sure what they did, but they had quite the escort.

We got back to the RV quite late and Blake and I walked Kizmet while the kids got ready for bed. We drive to Salt Lake City tomorrow, but I am not allowed to wake everyone up early to get a move on it. Blake doesn't want an early start tomorrow, even though it is over a 6 hour drive.

Sonya