The Valley Is On FIRE!!! And I'm Touring It!!! December 18-22, 2017

This report will cover my 16th trip to Las Vegas. I'll do with this report what I've done with my prior reports, one post = one day. Sorry it took me so long to get this report going. It took me longer than normal to upload my pictures to Flickr.

This was a solo trip, which is the norm.

Day 1. Monday, December 18, 2017:

My Southwest flight left Houston at 5:20am. It was not a full plane. I had a row to myself. I sat by the window. This let me see the Hoover Dam lit up. This was my first time seeing that. My plane landed at 6:55am, 30 minutes early.

The hotel for the week was the Mirage. I arrived at 6:55am. I was able to go to my room right after checking in. 7:08am. This was the first time staying at this casino. My room was a Resort Tower King. It was on the 25th floor. Nice room.

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View from my room:

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On my way to breakfast I took some pictures near the front entrance of the Mirage.

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I ate breakfast at the buffet inside Treasure Island. 7:52am. Good, but limited selection of food. At 8:30am Treasure Island's alarm went off. It lasted for about six minutes. We were told is was a "minor incident".

I had some time to kill because the attraction I wanted to go to opens at 10am. I putzed around taking pictures,

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I got to Madame Tussauds at 10:03am.

Outside:
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Inside:
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New Ariana Grande statue:
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New statue of...... I don't know who. (Can someone tell me, please!!!)
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I was at the unveiling of this Lady Gaga statue (2010 I think)
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New statue of Justin Bieber
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Normally at the end of the exhibit there is a short animated Marvel movie. This time there was a short Polar Express 4D animated movie. Cute movie (I haven't seen the original full length movie).

I made it back to my room to rest for a while. 11:35am.

For dinner I ate at Lagasse's Stadium. 4:54pm. I had the chicken nachos & watched the first half of the Monday Night Football game.

On my way to a bus stop I recorded a video of a Wynn fountain show.


My entertainment for the evening was the Fremont Street Experience. 8:05pm. I walked around taking pictures & videos.

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I left Fremont at 9:05pm. I made it back to my room at 10:10pm.

Next up is Day 2!!!

xman30

 

Wow @xman30 those are some awesome pictures! I didn't realize Madame Toussad's had so many contemporary celebrities. What's up with Di Nero's gigantic head, if indeed that is a portrayal of him?
Looking forward to the rest of your report

 

Thanks for the first day. Great pics. I believe the unknown artist is Lorde.

 

always loved the wax museum... love pictures in a report... looking forward to more of this one.

 

Scott is correct that is Lorde. Always enjoy the pics in your reports.

Mark

 

I can’t decide if the wax figures are either really creepy/weird/terrible or spot-on/weird/lifelike!!! Who’s the black gal on the table with the ‘no climbing’ sign? Tks for all the excellent pictures!

 

The statue you’re unfamiliar with is Lorde.

Whoops - just noticed all the other comments, jumped the gun (I live in her home suburb in NZ so got excited!).

 

Hahaha the infamous Nicki Minaj statue. Surprised it is still there.

 

It is certainly nice to see such nice photography in a trip report!

 

I'm not sure who Lorde is. I'll have to look her up.

Nicki Minaj is the the statue on the table. Madame Tussauds put the 'no climbing' sign on the table because people were climbing up behind the statue & taking "obscene" pictures with it.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

xman30

 

Day #2. Tuesday, December 19, 2017:

I woke up at 6:05am & got ready for the day. For breakfast I ate at Harrah's Flavors Buffet. 8:04am. The last time I ate at this buffet was in 2010. I thought the food was good & there was a nice selection.

I then made my way to the Bellagio. I was there to go to a couple attractions. First up was the Gallery of Fine Arts. 10:25am. The Gallery had an exhibit about samurais. It was great. There was a lot of items that were a few hundred years old. Despite the age, everything was in great shape. Photography is allowed. I took a bunch of pictures.

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In the Bellagio's lobby:
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I next went to the Bellagio's Conservatory. 12:21pm.

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I then took the tram that's behind the Bellagio & went to the Monte Carlo. I took some pictures of the new pool area behind the Monte Carlo.

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I took a few pictures of the updated area of the Monte Carlo.

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I made it back to my room at 2:05pm to rest.

For dinner I went to Broadway Burger Bar & Grill inside New York New York. 6:35pm. I ate a Patty Melt burger, fries, & a Pepsi. It was somewhat good, Half the burger was well-done, the other was medium.

My entertainment for the evening was the T&A show X-Country at Harrah's. 10pm. The good: beautiful dancers & a lot of routines. The bad: 1) the reason for the high number of routines: they were all over quickly. 2) very small crowd. Maybe 1/3 of the room was full. It's a small room. 3) If it wasn't for the two ushers, quite a few of the routines wouldn't have gotten any applause. The comedian who came out for his act halfway through the show begged us to clap more. I actually felt bad for the performers. I've never seen so many empty seats at any of the shows I've been to in Vegas. I could have seen Britney Spears this night. Her show would have been more expensive, but more entertaining. Oh, well.

After the show, I took some pictures of the Strip. Two of the better photos:

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I made it back to my room & went to bed. Next up is Day #3.

xman30

 

Fantastic photos. I often try and see the Bellagio exhibits at the art museum. Every VMBer who has seen the Samurai exhibit has said good things but seeing your photos was great and now I definitely will check it out.

I think the Harrah's buffet -- especially for breakfast -- is underrated. IMO it's a decent buffet and the prices are, relatively speaking, pretty good, plus I believe you can still get coupons periodically to reduce the cost by a few bucks.

 

Always enjoy your reports,such great photography!

 

Day #3, Wednesday, December 20, 2017 (the name of this Trip Report comes from this day):

I woke up at 5:16am & got ready for the day. I got picked up at about 8am for the Valley of Fire tour. There were five people taking the tour. There was a lot to see. A lot more than I thought there would be. The tour guide took us to a bunch of different places. As usual I took a ton of pictures & some videos.

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Mountain Sheep
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We stopped at the visitors' center. It had a lot of different displays for us to look at.
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The wind gusts were because of a cold front that was on its way. More on that later today,
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Now on to the rest of the state park.

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Videos I shot during the tour:













While eating lunch at a little rest area we were visited by some ground squirrels.





I made it back to my room at 3:35pm.

For dinner I ate at Otto Pizzeria inside the Venetian. 5:45pm. I had pepperoni pizza. Very good. Between the time I walked into the Venetian & the time I walked out of the Venetian after dinner (a little over an hour), the cold front pushed its way through Las Vegas. It went from the upper 60s to, at most, the mid 40s. Plus there was a strong wind. The wind was routinely between 20 & 30 miles per hour. That made it feel colder.

My entertainment for the evening was the show Sexxy at the Westgate. This was my second time seeing the show (1st was December 2016). Very good show. After the show I took a picture of the dancers.

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After the show, I went back to my room & went to bed.

Next up is Day #4.

xman30

 

Love the VOF photos and videos! Can't wait to see it for the first time this April!

 

We love visiting Valley of Fire. Have been several times now. Looks like you were there early morning. Great pics.

 

Great, great pictures, thanks very much for posting them! You know, as great as those pictures are tho, they still don’t do justice to valley of fire, that’s to me how impressive it is(and the same with Red Rock). Tks again for posting them...

 

Great report so far - I can't wait to see VOF in person when we go at the end of April. Thanks for taking us along!!

 

Awesome TR so far. We went to VOF for the first time a couple years ago and it so exceeded my expectations. A great way to spend a half day or so getting away from the casinos and noise of the Strip.