A day trip north. It's always interesting to see "the other side", Vegas vs Laughlin. Laughlin is pretty laid back, with lots of retired folks... certainly not the glitz of the Vegas strip. Laughlin is just more our style; we used to spend time in the winter in both places, but Vegas is another BIG city (population of Clark County, which takes in Las Vegas, Henderson, N. Las Vegas, and other surrounding communities is roughly 1.9 million people - and I think we saw most of them on the road today).
We drove down The Strip, ooohhing and aaahhing. You read about the decline of tourism in Las Vegas due to the economy, but there were plenty of people walking up and down The Strip. We drove north to the old downtown area and the Fremont Experience. We paid to park in a ramp and hoofed it... big crowds here, too. With some sort of off road race gathering going on, there were people pushing off-road vehicles through the pedestrian walk.
Hey, this place looks good for lunch...
No? OK, then I'm sure you aren't going to go for this one...
From there, it was back south on the Strip. The GPS (OK, all three of 'em) took us on a wild goose chase for a Guitar Center. We pulled into the Town Center shopping area - it felt like driving into a downtown area again... it would be a great place to stroll around if you had a lot of time to kill. We found the Guitar Center in that maze, went in and did some ooohhing and aaahhing again - it is a lot bigger than the one I like to shop at in Phoenix. We looked around, I played a few guitars, couldn't find anything we couldn't live without, then drove out to where we used to stay frequently with our motorhomes... used to be called BoomTown, then Silverton... the RV park is gone. Not replaced by anything, just gone. Well, there is a Bass Pro Shop right next to the casino.
Back to the Strip; parked at New York, New York (still our favorite place on the Strip) and walked around a bit...
Street performing has found its way to the Strip... various "statues", costumed characters, palm readers, magicians... the effect was pretty messed up with one guy who had on a big red furry Elmo costume, when he took the head off. It was near 80ยบ and he was sweating like a farm animal - I can't imagine what it must be like when it's really hot! And again, for Stephanie, here's one you'll like...
By late afternoon, we were ready to head back. Good timing, because the way the traffic looked, everyone else was heading IN to Vegas for Friday night!
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