Hello everyone. I hope your summer has been a nice one.
A few months ago I decided to create a list of things that I wanted to do during my lifetime. It includes places that I'd like to see and things that I'd like to expierece. I'm happy to report that I got to cross something off of that list just a few weeks ago. I got to gamble in Las Vegas!!!!!!
About 2 months ago, my mom applied for tickets to see a Wheel of Fortune taping at the Venetian and I've been wanting to go to Las Vegas for a few years now. Well, about 6 weeks ago my mom found out that she had won the tickets. I could barely talk when she called me at work to give me the news. She tried to get 2 more people to go with us but it ended up being just the 2 of us. We could only afford to go for 1 night but it turned out to be a very fun trip. We drove down highway 99 and go to Las Vegas at about 8pm the night before the taping. If you're driving from Northern California it'll take you a good 10 hours. We checked into our hotel (The Excalibur) and then hit the strip. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were several walkways above the street that pedestirians could use instead of having to cross the street at the street level. That really made it easy for getting around. I also made it a point to go to the slot machines at every casino that we went to but I didn't win anything.
The Excalibur ended up being a very good place for us to stay. I was able to get the room for $30 using the hotel's direct website and signing up to get their newsletter (that gave me an additional discount so I only paid $24 for the room). With taxes and the $10 resort fee the total bill came out to about $40 which is something that I'd never thought I'd ever see at a hotel in Las Vegas. We had 1 room with 2 queen-size beds. We were in tower 2 and had a view of tower 1. Everything about the room was nice and comfortable aside from the bathroom fan not working, 1 lightbulb missing and not being able to see a deadbolt lock on the door but that was at 2am after being out on the strip so perhaps I missed it. The bathroom had a lot of couterspace and a huge walkin shower which was real nice. The beds were comfortable and overall the room was very clean. We didn't get to see any of the shows there but hopefully next time I go I'll get to see either Thunder from Down Under (at the Excalibur) or the Chippendales (at the Rio).
Our first stop of the night was at MGM Grand which was right across the street from the Excalibur. It was huge. It had this amazing grand stair case that leads right out to the pool and several huge lion statues (including 1 in the lobby and 1 outside). Next we went to New York New York. That's the one that has a rollercoaster going right thru the hotel. No I didn't go on it but you could see it go by every few minutes. They also had this arcade area for kids to hang out while their parent's were at the casino. Our final stop for the night was Paris Las Vegas. It had a nice replica of the Eiffle Tower outside and as soon as you walk in, you feel like you're in Paris. Almost everthing had something written on it in French and the shops and restaurants had French architure designs.
The next morning we ate breakfast (and our only real meal there) at the Sherwood Forest Cafe at the Excalibur. There wasn't anything fancy about it but the food was good and so was the service. Then we headed off to the Venetian for the taping. It turns out that Wheel of Fortune films an entire week of shows in 1 day. We stayed for the 1st 2 tapings and then decided to leave since we were driving home that night. The taping itself was fun but long since it takes a while to get everyone into the studio and they take breaks in between each segment and show. Nobody won the big prize but I did get a picture of Vanna and Pat. The Venetian was just like Paris Las Vegas since it's designed to make you feel as if your in Venice, Italy. It has this really blue ceiling that makes you feel as if you're outside. The Gongalo's looked like fun but we didn't have the time or money to ride one. Our next stop was Treasure Island. That's the one with the pirate ships outside. I went inside for a few minutes while my mom waited outside since she was guarding a space for us so that we could watch the pirate show. It ended up being 2 pirate ships (1 with pirates and 1 with sirens (ladies)) fighting each other. Needless to say, the ladies sunk the pirates' ship. They had pyrotechnic's and real flames going off which was cool. Our final stop was Ceasar's Place. It was nice and it had a lot of high end shops inside. It also had a spiral escalator which I thought was cool. After that we had to head home since I had to work the next day and needed to get some sleep.
Lesson learned here: spend more than 1 night in Las Vegas.
Until the next line....
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