Back from Las Vegas

Heather and I just returned (three hours ago!) from a last minute trip to Las Vegas. We wanted to use up some of our accumulated USAir miles, and have been intending to go to Las Vegas for awhile so we decided last Tuesday to leave Thursday.

Overall, we had a great time! We stayed at the Monte Carlo casino on the strip. It was nice, but not very flashy. One of the things we enjoyed doing is walking around in the other hotels to see their various free attractions and determine where we would like to stay the next time. We visited New York, New York, the Luxor, Excalibur, Monteray Bay, the Mirage, the Venesian, MGM Grand, Circus Circus, and the Las Vegas Hilton. We also got to see the different shows in front of Treasure Island, the Mirage, and the Bellagio, walking down the west side of the strip. Next time, we'll have to walk down the east side of the strip!

We had the chance to see the Star Trek exhibit at the Las Vegas Hilton, ride the roller coaster at New York, New York, see the aquarium at Monteray Bay, see the trapeze at Circus Circus, see the white tiger at the Mirage, see the lions at the MGM grand, and take the new Las Vegas Monorail.

Of course, you can't really go to Las Vegas without gambling. Heather and I had a good time, once we figured out what we did and didn't like to play. Heather tried out the slots, but ended up burning up money pretty quickly. She had more luck on the video poker, but still wasn't that successful overall. Nothing against Heather's skill of course; I think that the machines are pretty tight when it comes to money. I had a bit of better luck playing craps. I've never played craps before and just picked up the game last Tuesday when we figured we were going to Vegas. Heather and I really enjoyed the game and the comradarie around the tables so we ended up spending a good deal of time there, about 11 hours total over the four days. In 11 hours, we only lost $100 dollars. Considering that this translates to about $4.54 per hour for each of us, a bit more than the house commission, I thought it was worth it. Heck, we drank more than $4.54 an hour!

Although we were busy, we had a good deal of time to relax. We enjoyed seeing the other hotels and figuring out where we would stay if we visited again (probably the Venetian, the Mirage, MGM Grand, or Monteray Bay). Overall, Las Vegas was great, and we're looking forward to returning in the future.