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Fremont St., Grand Canyon, Vegas Strip - Road trip (Long - pics)

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by gambler, Mar 23, 2013.

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  1. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    This is a long report because I got so much pre-planning info while searching through this board, I feel like I owe it to others to share. If you just want the Vegas bits, there is one day at the beginning and 3 at the end. I’ll be posting daily reports to keep the photos relevant with the text.

    DAY ONE – FREMONT STREET

    This was a family road trip we took with our kids who are 17 and 18. We were going to fly direct to Phoenix and rent a car there but after checking the prices from Bellingham to Vegas, the difference in price was substantial so we grabbed an Allegiant flight out of Bellingham. We paid $600 for the four of us and two suitcases but after thinking about the weight restrictions (40 lbs), at the last minute I added one more bag for $40 just in case. We travel light but my daughter does have a wee shopping problem so I figured it was better to pay $40 ahead of time rather than $75 for being overweight. There are no reclining seats on Allegiant and you pay for drinks (even a glass of water) but I’d gladly give that up for the price we paid.

    I know alot of people think Vegas is no place for kids but to each their own. Our kids have grown up listening to our stories about Reno and downtown Vegas (hookers and all) and were curious to see it with their own eyes. Within a year from now, both son and daughter hope to be living on their own so it was within reason to show them the sights in Vegas. We also thought it was far better to show them Vegas for the first time when they were sober, rather than have them go down at 21 and spend their first time blitzed. They asked two things of us…that we didn’t park them in the hotel while we gambled all night and they didn’t want to sit through any shows. Since hubby and I had just returned from 4 days in Vegas about a week ago, we thought we could live with that. We also spent some extra money to get 2 rooms each night as the last time we all travelled together there was way too much stress trying to coordinate showers.

    We landed in Vegas and took the shuttle to the car rentals. I’ve read alot on these boards about line ups and knew that could be the worst start to our vacation so I booked with Budget hoping for the best. We originally had an economy car booked for about $140 for the week but it occured to me that our kids are really young adults now and it wouldn’t be fair to stuff them in the back seat of a tiny car. I rebooked a midsize SUV for the trip for about $350 for a week. I’m sure there were better deals out there but I honestly didn’t bother to look for them once I had the car booked. There were so many other details to worry about so I just accepted that price. It was one of the best decisions we made. The kids were thrilled that Mom hadn’t gone cheapo like I usually do and because of the full size seats they were able to sit up and actually see the view from the windows. There were only 3 people in line at the rental center so the process went quick.

    Once we had the car we headed downtown for the night. We decided to stay where it all began…The Golden Gate. My husband and I both had comps available so we each booked a room with 2 queen beds. All the rooms with 2 queens overlook Fremont Street but we had warned the kids about the noise and they probably thought we paid extra for the ringside seat to the band. They loved the fact that the GG was built in 1906 and got a kick out of the tiny bathrooms, narrow closets, old fashioned faucets and the fact that it was free to us. The people watching from the window was pretty good too. They were doing construction outside our window (putting in the anchor for the new zipline) but that was only a problem in the morning as they started up around 7 :30 am.

    We headed over to MSS to have the T-bone buffet which I only just read about on here the night before we left. We had to wait about ½ an hour in line but it was worth it. The steaks were large and cooked to order. After dinner we wandered down Fremont and checked out the million dollars in Binions, the pool and gold piece in the Golden Nugget, Heart Attack Grill, Fremont East and some of the gift stores. The bands were playing and the street performers and strange people lurking about in the streets kept us all entertained. The line to the zipline was long so the kids chose to skip it. I have to say that Fremont Street while stone cold sober was a new experience for us. We noticed way more this trip than in any of our other 15 trips down there.

    After the bands shut down we headed back to the GG. My husband and I had one good problem we had to deal with though. My husband had March offers of $80 free play at the 4 Queens, $20 at Binions and $20 at the Golden Gate. I also had $50 free table play at the GG. The kids agreed that it would be foolish not to use our free play so they went up to the room while my husband and I used our Golden Gate freeplay. There was only one seat available at any of the BJ tables so I squished into the seat and lost the first 3 hands. I decided that playing sober while everyone else was partying just wasn’t much fun so I left after those losses. We agreed to get up early the next morning and use our credits then.
     

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  2. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY TWO – HOOVER DAM, KINGMAN AND WILLIAMS

    My husband and I were up at 6 am to dash around the casinos. Starting at the 4Q, on to Binions and finally the GG where we were the only 2 people playing in the casino, we managed to book a win of about $600. What a great way to start a vacation!

    After a free breakfast at Du-pars using our food credits, we headed out to the Hoover Dam. We didn’t do any tours but wandered around and hiked up to the new bridge for the view. I was surprised we spent about 3 hours there. I’d been expecting maybe a ½ hour stop. The weather may have slowed us down a bit though. It was 80 degrees and our Canadian bodies loved the heat so much we took our time. Total cost - $7 for parking.

    Our next stop was in Kingman for lunch. We stopped at a little diner called Mr. D’z on Route 66. We had salad, burgers and pizza for a reasonable price. The pizza was good except they used canned mushrooms which made it a bit soggy. So long as you order pizza without mushrooms, you should be good. I’m not an Oprah fan at all but for those that are, this was one of the stops she made on her roadtrip with Gayle. There is an autograph picture on the wall. Actually, there is a ton of stuff to look at in this place so it makes for an interesting stop.

    Our final stop for the night was Williams and we got there about 7:30 just as it was getting dark. We stayed at the Rodeway Inn for $43 a night. The rooms had fridges, microwaves and coffee. This isn’t a motel you stay at to get a deal. It had clean sheets and hot showers and was the right price for an overnight stay. If your looking for a $60 room for $43, this isn’t it. The free breakfast consists of coffee and a muffin (no butter) but the price is right for what you get. If you’re travelling through Williams, you might want to check out the Econo Lodge. I’m not sure of their price but they seemed to be the busiest motel there.

    Williams is one of the friendliest towns we’ve been too. Tourism is their business and they do it right. We had breakfast at the Wild West Junction and by the time we left, we felt like family with the townspeople. After that we spent an hour checking out the small shops in town (good prices on souvenirs) and had great conversations with all the staff. I’d visit again in a heartbeat!
     

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  3. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    nice! this looks like a very promising report!
     
  4. Dpin300

    Dpin300 Low-Roller

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    It sure does ! Where's the rest?
     
  5. Tammy58

    Tammy58 Frugal Slot Jockey

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    Enjoying this...can't wait to read more :thumbsup:
     
  6. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY THREE – GRAND CANYON AND FLAGSTAFF

    Now we were off to the Grand Canyon. It’s about an hour from Williams and we took Route 64 there and Route 180 when we left the Canyon to go to Flagstaff. Both roads were good and about the same distance but Route 180 was probably a bit nicer scenery.

    We spent 5 hours at the Canyon and the temperature was 82 so we did get sunburned. They do not sell disposable water bottles there (they are trying to cut down on garbage left lying around) but they do have water filling stations (free) so we were able to refill our bottles. They sell refillable empty bottles in the gift store but they are expensive.

    What can I say about the Grand Canyon? It’s huge, incredible, awesome and beautiful. The trails around the top are paved and very easy walking. As you get further away from Grand Canyon Village, the crowds lessen and there are plenty of opportunities for nice pictures. We walked for a couple hours and ended up at The Arizona Room restaurant. We had a pulled pork sandwich, clubhouse and 2 burgers for $40. I thought that was pretty reasonable for a captive audience and a restaurant overlooking the canyon. The gift shop was very crowded but we managed to pick up a few things. The lineup for the ice-cream store was about an hour long so we skipped that. All in all, it was a spectacular place to visit and even the kids were overwhelmed by the sheer size of the canyon.

    My husband has a bad knee and it was pretty much wore out after all the walking so after our late lunch we caught the free shuttle outside the restaurant and caught a ride back to the parking lot. The busses get pretty full later in the day so you may want to shuttle out in the morning and then walk back down to the parking lots. Then you won’t be waiting for a ride during the hottest part of the day. The only cost other than lunch was a $25 pass to get into the National Park. It was a great day!

    Oh ya…ever wonder how many people have fallen over the edge? About 700. Considering all the people that visit, I thought it would be more. There were a few times my husband and I got a little nervous about some of the pics the kids were taking but they managed to survive. They probably take greater risks in their life, we just prefer not to know!

    We left the Grand Canyon and headed to Flagstaff for the night. We got adjoining rooms at the Highland Motel for $53 each. This was a deal. It’s a really clean motel in a great location. Rooms have fridges and microwaves and there is free coffee in the lobby in the morning.

    For dinner we went to the Sizzler. We don’t have Sizzler’s in B.C. but we do get commercials for them on TV late at night. They always make me hungry. So I’m not sure if this was just a bad Sizzler or if it’s normal but it was one of the worst meals we’ve had. It was $72 (I just about choked!) but we had a coupon for 15% off from the hotel so it was around $60 for a pile of inedible food and rude service. While my husband was at the lackluster salad bar, the waiter came by and asked if we wanted garlic bread. I asked if it’s included. He says yes, but he didn’t want to bring it to our table if we weren’t going to eat it.. WTF?! Bring it on, I said. One bite and we knew why he asked. We finally decided the ONLY good thing we could say about the bland, overcooked and mushy dinner was that the rootbeer was good. Are Sizzler’s always this bad? I wasn’t expecting anything gourmet just something edible. Anyhow for $60, I’m cured from late night munchies when the commercial comes on. That’s a good thing!

    We hit Walmart for sunscreen and lotion and headed back to the hotel. On the way we passed a restaurant called ‘Salsa Brava ‘. This place was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and we had it on our list for the next night.
     

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  7. addicted

    addicted High-Roller

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    Hot beer
    lousy food
    bad service


    Love it!

    Thanks for sharing + looking forward to the rest
     
  8. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY FOUR – SEDONA AND DEVIL’S BRIDGE

    After a great nights sleep, we headed out to Sedona. Our goal this day was to hike into the desert and climb Devil’s Bridge. We had breakfast in Sedona and after browsing in some cool stores, asked a store clerk to recommend somewhere to pick up lunch. He suggested a deli called ‘Sedona Memories’ where we got 4 super loaded sandwiches for $7 each. After loading up with food and water we hit the Tourist booth.

    About this Devil’s Bridge – while researching it on the internet, I had read 3 different directions and a time frame ranging from 2 to 5 hours. Not knowing what to believe, we made a special point of stopping at the tourist booth for ‘correct’ directions. The first thing they told us was not to believe anything we read on the internet. (They were right about this – there is a ton of wrong info out there.) We set off from there with a map and a confidant feeling that we knew where we were going. The staff had warned us it was a bit tricky but the route they gave us would be well signed. Little did we know what we were in for that day.

    We got to the parking area and headed down the trail. A few minutes later we came to a stream. Thinking it odd that the lady at the Tourist booth hadn’t mentioned a stream (a fairly obvious landmark in my mind), the kids went back to the parking lot for another look and a picture of the sign.

    The stream was marked on the map and there was a major trail on the other side so we shed our socks and shoes and waded across. To make a long story short, we got lost in the desert. Sure the map shows a trail, but there were hundreds of other trails along this route and NO Signs! (Lots of inukshuks pointing in every direction though.) During the time we were meandering in the bush, we ran into a lost mountain biker, 2 women in there 40’s (who had gotten separated from their travelling partners when they disagreed on a route) and another fellow in his 20’s. Interesting that each and every one of us had stopped at the tourist booth for directions!! Figuring there was safety in numbers and knowing time was on our side, we kept hiking together, taking the most used trail at every fork.

    After about an hour we emerged from the bush to finally find the Forest Road. By this time, we were almost ½ way through our water (not counting our emergency bottle) so we had to pace ourselves as we still figured we had over 1 ½ miles to go.

    A long hot hike later, we arrived at Devil’s Bridge. It was spectacular!

    We spent about an hour there taking pics and resting up for the return trip. We hiked about an hour back when we had to turn off into the bush and the maze of paths to find our way back to the car. We had marked the trail where we joined the forest road but after 10 minutes, we were lost again. My daughter and I wanted to turn back and take the forest road but my husband and son felt we could follow a dry creek bed down and would eventually come out on the road where the car was. I was just about to turn on the Mom tears when my husband sensed he better agree with my daughter and I because it’s hard to live with 2 angry women. By this time it was about 2 hours before sunset and time was no longer on our side. We found our way back to the Forest Road and walked it out to the main road. My son and I had been arguing for the last half hour about who was going to hike 3 miles further to get the car (he was right in that he would have been the one we all elected). I was convinced that people are basically good and we’d have no problem getting a ride. My son was equally convinced people would think we were thugs and refuse us a ride. So when we got to the road, I asked the next couple coming down from the hike if they would drive one of us to the car. I offered to pay but they wouldn’t hear of it. Thank you to the nice couple from Cincinnati!! I was desperate to say ‘I told you so’ to my son but I’ll save that for another day!

    If you are going to hike to Devil’s Bridge, for gawd sake take the Forestry Road no matter what they tell you at the tourist booth! You will not get lost on this big wide road. (It’s blocked to vehicles so it’s walk in only.) The hike takes about 2 hours return from the Trailhead but what they don’t tell you is the Trailhead is one hour from the main road. Take lots of food and water and plan for 4-5 hours. The road is a level hike until the last ¼ mile and we saw people of all ages. Four year olds, 70 year olds and even a man with a prosthetic leg. It’s a great hike and so worth seeing, just STICK TO THE FORESTRY ROAD. I will never understand why so many of us were given the wrong directions from the Tourist Information people. Maybe they have a funny sense of humour in Sedona. Oh well, we survived and met lots of nice people along the way.

    My daughter learned something on this hike. Late in the day as we approached the end of the trail, my daughter ran into a family with an 8 and 4 year old. They had no backpack or water that she could see. So she stopped them to let them know they had at least a 3 hour hike ahead of them. The women looked at her and said she didn’t believe what my daughter stated and they were carrying on. Why would my daughter lie about something like that?! Sometimes you just can’t save people from themselves. We still wonder if they made it to the Bridge and then had to hike out in the cold and dark.

    We did have other plans for the day but were so exhausted we just drove back to Flagstaff for beer and pizza in our room. We’ll have to save ‘Salsa Brava’ for another trip.
     

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  9. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    Two more pictures. Of course my son just had to jump the gap between the 2 rocks - twice. He likes to get a rise out of me.
     

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  10. Iu25

    Iu25 High-Roller

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    Great TR so far, and as for the Sizzler issue, we used to have them here in Indiana years ago. They are all closed and gone now, so that probably answers your question! I remember eating at them as a kid and they were nothing special, the dry inedible food seems to be a normal review for them.
     
  11. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    Thanks Iu. After dinner my daughter said she felt sorry for the restaurant because it wasn't going to stay in business long. I kind of laughed because they've been around for a long time. Maybe their time has come. $72 for mystery meat is a bit steep for sure!
     
  12. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY FIVE – CHLORIDE AND LAS VEGAS STRIP

    We left Flagstaff in the morning headed to Vegas. My daughter had mentioned that we’d be in Vegas on St. Patrick’s Day and that should be a great party atmosphere. After just one night in Vegas and she had it figured out. I think we’re raising her right! My husband has been to Vegas with his buddies and stayed on the Strip a few times but this would be my first time there so I was looking forward to it as much as the kids.

    On the trip we had passed a turn off for the town of Chloride and that got us wondering why they picked that name for their town. The night before I had researched it on the internet to find they had a St. Patrick’s Day Parade that day (held on Saturday to not conflict with church services on Sunday). It’s only a couple miles off the highway so we planned to stop. Unfortunately, we were about 15 minutes too late and got there just as the parade was ending. Chloride is a town of about 250 and it seemed everyone was out at the 2 bars celebrating. The kids weren’t impressed but my husband and I would have loved to stay and listen to the Waylon and Willy music performed live at Yesterday’s bar. There isn’t much in this town (antique shops to me, junk shops to my son) but if you’re ever passing through on a day of celebration, I'd recommend a stop. There’s nothing comparable to a small town parade and the spirit of community that goes with it.

    We got to Vegas about 5 and headed to our hotel – The Circus Circus. I’ve read the reviews but had a very good reason for staying here. I knew the kids would immediately want to head out walking the strip but I also knew my husband and I would be desperate for a relaxing drink at the Video Bar. When we told the kids they could do whatever they wanted so long as they stayed in the hotel, they asked what we would do. Well, we were going to hang out with them I said. They both looked at us in horror and suggested we just go gambling and let them explore on their own. My husband and I ran as fast as we could before they changed their mind. We had a great evening playing Video Poker and having the best beer ever – all at their insistance of course!

    CC had a coupon deal where you could buy $45 worth of chips for $30. We both bought a pack and played some blackjack as well. We did pretty good that night on a budget of about $200.

    I still have two coupon books from the Circus Circus. They include a free premium ride, 2 midway games and a 2 for 1 drink. Also I just noticed another coupon for the $45 for $30 casino chips that are good within 72 hours of joining the players club so if anyone is planning on staying there, I’d be happy to mail them to you. You may have to show your room card to use them, I’m not sure about that though.
     

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  13. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY SIX – THE STRIP AND ST. PATRICK’S DAY

    Today we moved over to Excalibur for the last 2 nights. We checked in around 11 and got the keys to one of our adjoining rooms. The gal at the checkin was kind enough to point out that at the Excalibur, phone calls to Canada are charged on an international rate. She told us one man stayed a few days and called his girlfriend in Canada nightly. At the end of his stay, he had an $800 phone bill and came to the desk in tears saying it would have been cheaper to just bring her along.

    There was one thing I wanted to do this day. I had met a stranger on the internet a while back and I wanted to go see him. I didn’t know what he looked like or even exactly where he was but I was pretty sure I could find him holding down a stool at one of his favorite bars. The thought of explaining all this to my husband and kids though just sounded too bizarre. Sorry I missed the party at MSS Joe! :beer:

    We spent the day hitting every single tourist shop with my daughter while my son collected as many porn cards he could get his hands on. His rugby team had come down a couple years ago and came home with hundreds of cards so he was determined to get his share. My daughter was disgusted.

    We laughed at all the crazy outfits and decorations people were wearing for St. Patrick’s Day. Anything goes in Vegas and the kids enjoyed seeing it.

    We walked to Bellagio and saw the fountains, checked out the flower display inside (oh the smell…), went pretend shopping at Prada ($4800 for one purse!!) and generally exhausted ourself with walking. We got as far as Venetian when my husband’s knee couldn’t take anymore. The kids continued on to the mall for shopping and my husband and I decided to take a cab back to the room. We told the kids to grab a cab from the mall as it was a long walk back.

    We ended up getting a cab from Venetian to MGM because I wanted to try the Lion’s Share machine. The cab was $10 but he was such a nice guy we gave him $20 just because we could. The 100 watt smile on his face is one I’ll remember for a long time.

    We put $100 in the machine with the plan of playing it out. Along the way we got 21 $15 wins along with $108 in other wins. Figuring that $423 was enough of a try to run through it, we cashed out with our $100 original bet and left. Too bad all those wins didn’t came close together or we would have cashed out with more.

    After a slow walk back to Excalibur, we decided to grab a drink and play VP while the kids weren’t looking. Nothing much came of that so we got the kids and headed to the Outback for dinner. The one dinner we all agree on is steak and they were good there. There was just a couple minute wait to get in and the food came fast.

    After dinner we went over to NYNY so the kids could ride the roller coaster. It was $14 each and they both enjoyed it.

    Our son said he wanted to watch TV in the room and our daughter wanted sleep so my husband and I got a couple more hours of gambling in. We won a little bit and went back to the room. There our son was relaxing quite nicely after finishing off the remaining beer from Flagstaff. No wonder he was so agreeable for us to go out!
     

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  14. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    The Circus Circus coupon books have been claimed.
     
  15. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY SEVEN – THE STRIP

    Today we planned to hit the Pawn Stars shop. We took a drive and discovered a long line down the block. None of us had that much interest in going in so we decided to go see the Vegas sign and have lunch at Southpoint. Since we didn’t know exactly where the sign was, we drove a couple blocks over to Binion’s parking garage with the plan of hitting the Wifi at the D for directions. Binion’s parking garage has 3 hours free parking with validation so we went to the machine behind the cashier’s booth and validated our ticket. On the walk to the D, my husband suggested he run in 4 Queens for a bit of VP and we would grab him when we were done. We no sooner sat down at Mcdonald’s when hubby arrived back $50 richer.

    We headed to Southpoint for a free lunch. On a previous trip we had bought and then had to throw away a bottle of whiskey for our son’s birthday. We had it in our carry on and completely forgot about it being over the limit. Anyhow, we stopped and showed our son his gift. I took a picture to give him on his birthday – it’s not the gift but the thought that counts, right? On the way back we stopped at the Vegas sign for pictures.

    My daughter wasn’t done shopping so we wandered down to the Miracle Mile shops while the guys did their own thing. That evening everyone was out of energy so my husband and I went off for a couple hours of VP and blackjack with the promise of us returning around 8 to see if anyone had energy for dinner. I didn’t take long for hubby to hit 4 deuces for $1000 win at VP. Then we tried blackjack and won $500 between us.

    We went back to the room to find our daughter sorting out my sons porn cards for duplicates….whatever happened to her disgust? Vegas will do that to you!

    The kids were suddenly energized from our win and we all went out for food. Just below the Outback is a water massage/oxygen bar and since we’ve never tried this, we decided to give it a go. My daughter and I got a 15 minute water massage and my son had 15 minutes of oxygen for $50. Hubby didn’t want anything touching his knee so just sat out of the experience.

    I still have 2 coupon books for Excalibur if anyone wants them. They include 2 free drinks each, a free midway game, free entry to LAX nightclub for 2 and discounts for restaurants.
     

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  16. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    DAY EIGHT – HOME

    After gassing up the car and saving the receipt we did a fast return at the rental car centre (boy they sure are efficient there). We arrived at the airport and found a weigh scale for luggage just before we got to the Allegiant desk. We were a bit worried about my daughters bags but found we were all ok. It's nice to know that scale is there in case we needed to transfer anything before we got to the counter.

    It turned out that Allegiant was having trouble with their plane. Something was wrong with it, so they had replaced our plane with a smaller one that had 26 seats less than what was needed. They had a second flight about an hour later but had a hard time convincing anyone to volunteer for the later flight. They weren’t offering any incentive so it’s no wonder people weren’t jumping at the chance. Once you set your mind to leave Vegas, you just want to go.They finally sorted it out and we left about ½ hour late. The four of us were scattered all over the plane and it was actually kind of a nice break. Since my boarding pass had me in row 27 and the plane only went to row 26, I thought I’d have the washroom seat all to myself – my own personal flying compartment. They found me a more comfy seat though and I slept all the way home.

    Now that we’re home, we all agreed it was one of our best trips ever. Every day was busy and our kids now understand why we like going to Vegas so much. Everything is just so over the top there. And anything goes. Did I mention the hooker who followed my husband to the room with an offer to take his mind off his sore knee? Or the bartender yelling at the pimps to get away from her bar at 6:30 in the morning? Or the lady who was escorted by the green ‘blow up’ alien on St. Patrick’s Day? So many stories…our family will be talking and laughing about this trip for a long time.

    And the best part of all…Since both kids have jobs, they took their own spending money on this trip. I had prepaid the air tickets, car and one night at Excalibur and Circus Circus. After we paid for meals, gas, hotels and everything else, we came home with just $700 less than we left with. It feels so good!

    We just saw an ad on TV last night though for Allegiant Air $199 return to Vegas including 3 nights on the strip. Kinda made us go Hmmm……..
     
  17. Dutchy

    Dutchy Tourist

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    9
    Thnx for all the usefull info. Will be visiting some of the Same spots in Oct. Still need to book some accomodations and your reviews were very usefull.
     
  18. Clarkson7

    Clarkson7 Tourist

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2009
    Messages:
    89
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    23
    What a great Trip Report, and the pictures were excellent. Quite a deal to have each family member have such a good time.

    You are an excellent writer. Are you an English teacher or a newspaper columnist?

    After reading the entire report, one incident especially stands out to me and that was when you took the short taxi ride on the Strip. To paraphrase: We had a great driver and gave him a nice tip because we could--his smile said it all. (You have to be a nice person.)
     
  19. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2012
    Messages:
    2,048
    Location:
    Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    40
    Thanks for the kind words. I'm not a writer, actually when I read it back it seemed like it went on and on and on.... We just did so much this trip I wanted to share.

    The one thing that helped make this trip good for everyone was the fact that it was a phone-free trip. None of us have roaming packages so when we got to the border, the phones went off. It was so nice to actually talk to our kids instead of them being glued to their phones. We've pretty much stopped inviting them out to eat with us at home because it seems like such a waste of money for the interaction we get. Even at home now, the kids are hanging out with us more than before. I think they've discovered we're no so boring after all!

    And that taxi driver's smile...Karma all the way!
     
  20. Bettyboop66

    Bettyboop66 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2008
    Messages:
    188
    Location:
    Georgia
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    6
    Great read!!!!:thumbsup:
     
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