Escaping the Heat in Vegas
Now that I think about it, I wished I had gotten my picture taken with that Elvis impersonator on the strip before I left Monday morning. After all, if there’s one individual most identified with the legacy of the old Las Vegas, it’s the King. But I was far too busy exploring the extravagant playgrounds that only within the last few years or so had come to personify the new.
The trip itself was pretty cheap. I bought a roundtrip ticket from Orbitz for $337 and a room at the Travelodge on the southern edge of the strip for $99 the first two nights, $59 the third. An elderly couple that had been assigned seats on either side of me (yes, I had the dreaded middle seat) requested that I move to the one closest to the window so they could both sit together. Needless to say, I graciously accommodated them.
After landing, I claimed my bag, and got a cab ride to the Travelodge that ran me a reasonable $15. Once there, I dropped my luggage and promptly hit the strip. It was high noon when I set out from the hotel and an even 100 degrees already. To see the crush of pedestrians heading up and down the strip however, you wouldn’t have known it.
I walked north to the Aladdin. After a few minutes spent in the casino playing the slot machines, I walked over to the Desert Passage, a collection of fine shops and eateries. The shops ranged from the kitschy like Houdini’s Magic Shop to the hip and trendy like Urban Leather. I stopped at an artificial pond in the middle of the shopping center where, having been denied any possibility of a thunderstorm outside, the Aladdin went to great lengths to create a man-made one inside. Water fell from rivets drilled into the sky-painted ceiling as thunder, lightning and “rain” fell into the outstretched pond below. I caught a few shots of it with my camera, and flicked a penny into the pond for good luck.
After steeling myself to reenter the desert heat, I walked across the street to the Bellagio when darkness had fallen. Built in 1998 by developer Steve Wynn, this incredibly lavish hotel and casino looked as though it were worth every bit of the $1.6 billion dollars that it cost to construct. There was a gorgeous fountain show set to music from sources ranging from Frank Sinatra to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Once it was over, I walked into the lobby and took in the rainforest and flowers that were spread over the ceiling.
After a fitful sleep that was made none too easy by the blare of traffic and noise that emanated constantly from the strip, I had breakfast the next morning at an all you can eat buffet for $9.50 at the Hilton Hotel. I stuffed myself silly with eggs benedict and hollandaise sauce, then topped it all off with generous helpings of shrimp and cocktail sauce.
I then took the monorail (at $3.00 a ride) back toward the strip, getting off at the MGM Grand. It was already crowded with other tourists who had come to play the slot machines and see the lion habitat. Unfortunately, the lions hadn’t been brought over yet so I walked across the bridge toward the New York, New York Casino on the other side of the street.
Having lived in the real thing for a number of years, I must confess that the facsimile that had been erected on the southern end of the strip impressed me. There were the requisite casinos, appropriately titled Gaming on the Green of course, but there was also a hodgepodge of shops. From the Coney Island Food Pavilion to the Coyote Ugly, there were plenty of New York establishments there in miniature. There was even a roller coaster ride a la Coney Island whose loops and turns nearly caused me to lose the breakfast I had just eaten that morning.
It was enough to drive me further south, toward the Luxor. I was surprised as I stepped off the bus in full view of the Sphinx and an enormous pyramid. Inside was an imposing array of Egyptian-themed statues, from sitting Pharaohs to carvings of facing lions. It was enough to remind me of the lion habitat back at the Grand, and so I caught the bus line ($2.00 a ride) back and went downstairs to see if they had arrived yet.
My flight was scheduled to leave the next morning, so I knew this would be my last best chance to see the big cats in action. I counted at least ten lions when I got there, 7 females and 3 males, the latter sleeping nonchalantly on the upper levels of the habitat. I took a few pictures with the flash off and nearly dropped the camera when the big male, as if on cue, let out a huge roar from his perch on high.
As I headed upstairs in relief, I thought back to that Elvis impersonator who had also objected to me taking a picture. The irony was not lost on me. But that King was dead. Long live the King.
