Here's a photo Delle took of Las Vegas from the air as we flew in (the row of tall buildings is the Strip)...
We had decided to celebrate the start of our trip by having dinner at the Bellagio buffet, apparently the best casino buffet in Vegas. And we weren't disappointed! For about $30 each, it was a magnificent feast. Each of the buffet's multiple sections were the size of any other normal buffet... there were sections devoted to sushi, seafood, roasts, salads, pizza, etc... not to mention dessert!
We were too busy stuffing our faces to take any photos during our main course (first, second, and possibly third servings), but by dessert we'd slowed down enough to document this experience...
(Delle's photo)
Turn the volume down for this video - there's a lot of background noise!
After that, we headed further north up the Strip to our hotel for the night: the Stratosphere. That's the well-known building in the Las Vegas skyline that has rides hanging off the 113th floor. Yes, you heard me right: Rides. Hanging off. 113th floor!!
Because each casino wants to entice people to stay there and spend all their money gambling, accommodation in Vegas is incredibly cheap. Our room at the Stratosphere cost $56 for all three of us - and that includes taxes and the third person surplus! For non-gamblers like ourselves, Vegas is a very economical place to holiday!! (It's also cheap to fly to and has lots of interesting things to see for free.)
After settling into our room (which was in a building connected to the tower, not the tower itself), we headed up to the top of the Stratosphere to check out the view. It was after midnight by this time, but that's when Vegas is most alive!!
Here are some of Ben's photos of the Strip from the top (I stayed on the enclosed floor just below this - but went up to the open air observation deck the next morning and discovered it wasn't as scary as I'd thought it would be!)...
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering whether we went on any of the rides. Well, there was never any question of me going on them - I don't even like leaning over balcony railings. However, we did kind of choose the Stratosphere over the Excalibur (a similarly-priced accommodation option) due to the possibility of Ben and Delle trying out a ride or two.
But when we went up the tower the night before, they were "too tired" and "too full from dinner".
And when we went back up the tower in the morning, they "couldn't be bothered" because the rides looked "TOO BORING"!!!
(Also, the rides cost money and they said they would have done it if it were free. But the main reason was that the rides were "too boring". Oh, and "too slow".)
Now, of course I am highly sceptical about this - my reason for not going on the rides was that they looked so NOT boring that my fear would likely reach lethal levels. But you can make up your own mind.
Check back here soon to see if we survived Death Valley!
Here are some of Ben's photos of the Strip from the top (I stayed on the enclosed floor just below this - but went up to the open air observation deck the next morning and discovered it wasn't as scary as I'd thought it would be!)...
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering whether we went on any of the rides. Well, there was never any question of me going on them - I don't even like leaning over balcony railings. However, we did kind of choose the Stratosphere over the Excalibur (a similarly-priced accommodation option) due to the possibility of Ben and Delle trying out a ride or two.
But when we went up the tower the night before, they were "too tired" and "too full from dinner".
And when we went back up the tower in the morning, they "couldn't be bothered" because the rides looked "TOO BORING"!!!
(Also, the rides cost money and they said they would have done it if it were free. But the main reason was that the rides were "too boring". Oh, and "too slow".)
Now, of course I am highly sceptical about this - my reason for not going on the rides was that they looked so NOT boring that my fear would likely reach lethal levels. But you can make up your own mind.
Check back here soon to see if we survived Death Valley!
6 comments:
i think the video accurately depicts how boring the rides truly looked...extremely slow....not one scream (scared or excited)from passengers and hardly ANY angling outwards....your legs didn't even dangle over the edge...they sit on a little platform...BOR-ING...give me a great roller coaster with lots of loop the loops anyday :D
Looks like lots of fun! However, I want to know what time you went to bed that first night? (or maybe you wrote it and I missed it?)
I actually did two of those rides at the Stratosphere... the "Big Shot" (I think it was called) - the one on the needle that shoots you up then drops you down, and the little, quite-boring roller coaster that looped around the building. So I second Delle's BOR-ING comment about the rides there!
I'm with Anna on this one, the rides definitely look very un-boring! :P
I am drooling over all those desserts you could choose from & can't believe you even ate any mains!! :D
M, I can't remember what time we went to bed that night, but my guess is between 1 and 2am... and it wasn't the only night on the trip that we did so!
L, I don't think they have a rollercoaster anymore...? But the Big Shot is what I called the "Giant Drop-like" one - referring to a ride at Dreamworld in Australia. It was actually the one Ben and Delle said they would have been most likely to go on.
But they still didn't, so... ;)
We were planning on visiting the Stratosphere so we could go on the rides there, but ran out of time on our first visit (visiting the amazing displays in the casinos was WAY more interesting than we had anticipated!), and after we went back a second time specifically to do things like that, our car broke down. By the time Justin got it going again (in 40 degree heat) we were so over everything that we gave up on sightseeing and went back to the Black's place for a swim! Vegas is awesome though, isn't it!
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