Vegas - Coronavirus Edition (March 2020)

Thursday - 12th

Vegas is one of those places that I can see why people love it, but for me I just don’t see the allure to come out very often.  I like Vegas for the food, the shows and the stupid grandeur of the newer casinos.  Anyways Hilton contacted us about a timeshare presentation, 2 hours of our time to listen to them attempt to sell us (again) on buying a timeshare in Vegas or any other of their locations.  Again I told you I’m not big on Vegas but if they offer other locations that are worthy this could be a good investment (but it won’t be for what what Rebe and I do).

We got into Vegas at 815am after an early morning flight out of Houston, picked up our cool stead and headed out of town.

The Stead

The plan for the morning was to get down to the Hoover Dam and take the dam tour (get it?) and also see the power plant attached to it.  After stopping to grab a quick bagel for breakfast we got to the damn at around 1030 and there was already a lot of people at the dam.  A lot more than I was expecting on a Thursday and even more than I was expecting with the Coronavirus outbreak happening (why did we even travel when this was going on… we dunno but Vegas’s numbers were low, we’re young and yes I know this was a bit selfish, sorry.  And we left on the day before they started shutting all the big events down).

We park for $10 in a large parking garage onsite which used to be where the original upper section concrete plant was located and then headed inside to get our tour.  Big crowds inside, we walk up to the desk and ask for the full tour which includes the dam and the power plant all of which operate on the Nevada side of the dam.  Side note: the dam is split across Nevada and Arizona state lines and even more fun is that at the top of the dam are two bathrooms with the men’s on the Nevada side and the women’s on the Arizona side. The attendant tells us that the only tour left is the 12am tour and we were getting one of the last 16 spots. Whew, and we thought we were early.

With 1.5 hours to kill we took advantage of the time and watched a short movie on the history of the dam, we went up to the observation deck to view the dam and finally we took a tour through the museum to learn the history and understand the inner workings of how the dam works.  I also tried to explain how generators (Electrical Engineering 101) work but Rebe’s a silly ChemE and just gave me a glassy-eyed stare.

Rebe interrupting my pics

It was finally time for the tour, which was running a little behind schedule due to only having one elevator in service.  They first took us down into a room that viewed Nevada side intake tunnels, which is this 38’ (yes that's feet, 11.5m) pipe that feeds water into the power plant.

Intake into the Nevada powerplant

From there we got a viewing of the 8 generators on the Nevada side and could see a few of them in action just spinning away.  Crazy this place has been running for 85 years…

Generators of the Nevada Plant

This was where the plant tour ends and those poor suckers have to go back topside while the rest of the tour group got to experience more tunnels and more concrete.  There really isn’t much to a damn beside tunnels and concrete so they took us to the the air vents on the face of the dam and to see a stairway at the edge of the dam.

Us from inside the dam

Hoover Dam from the inside

Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge and the Black Canyon from the air vent.

After leaving the dam we headed back toward Vegas but took the long route to our hotel with a first stop at the new Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge which is the new way across the Colorado River instead of having to get stuck in traffic on top of the dam.  It’s the bridge seen in the pic from the air vent.  As we continued on from there, with the top down on the ‘Stang of course, we ventured up to an overlook that view Lake Mead and then cut through the Lake Mead recreational area for a drive and sites around the lake.

Lake Mead

Of course it was getting later in the afternoon and even Rebe was getting hungry so we stopped at a place called Aces and Ales. From the parking lot it looked like a strip club and going inside it smelled like a bowling alley where they used to allow smoking and even had little casino games built in at the bar along with little old people playing them.  Menu looked subpar, beer selection was of course great (thus my reason for finding it) but they did have a to-go cooler so I bought a beer to-go and Rebe and I hit up a In-N-Out instead.

After lunch/dinner we went to the hotel to get checked into our room and settle down before heading out one last time.  It was raining pretty good at this point, and a few of the hotels you can sneak under ground but if you want to cross the strip you will have to get wet.  So, that’s what we did.  We went into the Bellagio to check out the Botanical Gardens which were Chinese New Year themed and then we headed back to the Cosmopolitan (again getting wet) to grab dessert before calling it a night over at the MilkBar.

View from our room

Friday - 13th

Originally the plan for the day was to spend an entire day at Valley of Fire State park which is right next to the Lake Mead Recreational Area (also where the Hoover Dam resides).  We drove through it yesterday to little fanfare, but upon further research it seems like 'recreational area' has a lot to offer.

We got up around 8 after our early night the night before and of course plotted a plan for breakfast.  The strip has a few good places for breakfast, probably quite a few but we passed this one restaurant the day before on the way to the hotel called Blueberry Hill Family Restaurant.  Imagine IHOP as a family owned establishment and you're on the right track, I got the biscuits and gravy and Rebe got the potato cake eggs benedict (and a chocolate chip pancake).

Like I stated at the beginning of this section the plan for the day was to spend it hiking around Valley of Fire State Park but we had a Lake Mead brochure and had found quite a few nice hikes or things to see within the recreational area.  First stop was White Owl Canyon.  This was a mostly flat hike down from a campground where there were no campers and no other people on the trail hiking.  The trail led into Owl Canyon which was a nice slot canyon which continued to get tighter and tighter before popping out the other side in to an open valley surrounded by mountains.

From the trail head of Owl Canyon

The narrow section of Owl Canyon

Out the other side of the canyon

We then made a quick stop at the Northshore Summit Trail to have an overview of the area, this was a very short hike up a very steep hill.  By the time we got to the area rain had started to roll in with a lot of wind.  The view was good but of course would have been much better on a clear day.

Panorama from the Summit

Last stop in Lake Mead Rec. Area was at the Redstone Trail.  Having been to Valley of Fire before this was a familiar sight, large red stones coming from the earth in all sorts of manners.  Such a unique place and hopefully the pics do it justice.

Heading into Valley of Fire we expected to see a person at the gate collecting money since this park was big for the area but it was a 'pay if you're a decent person' park as no guard was on duty.  We skipped a few of the first sights and headed to the ones we thought would be the best bang for our buck with the time we had.

Pink Canyon was first stop and a lot of people really don't know about this trail or attraction as there is no real parking lot, just about 4 spaces right off the road to help with drainage.  Right before we got to the location there was a bit of traffic and we were thinking that everyone was trying to see the Pink Canyon but it was just some idiots with a police escort trying to film something.  We pulled right in a got a parking spot. It had been raining the day before and earlier in the morning so the canyon was full of ankle deep water.  But even still you could see why people would like to stop and take a gander and this formation.

The Firewave was the second location we stopped at, maybe you've heard of "The Wave" in Arizona, well this is Lake Mead's version of it and it was pretty impressive and also impressive were the formations around the Firewave and the stunning views they provided on the walk to main attraction.

You can see why they call it the Firewave

Last stop was to be the White Domes Trail but we skipped the trail and headed back as it was getting late and we had had enough for the day.

Dinner was at Libertine Social inside Mandalay Bay, a good experience not mind blowing but I think a worthy choice.  But why is everything so freaking expensive in Vegas?  The desert choices at Mandalay Bay were not tickling our fancy so we grabbed a Lyft over to The Linq to have dessert at Gordon Ramsey's Fish and chip shop.  They were selling Biscoff Milkshakes and Sticky Toffee Milkshakes.  Who could resist that?

While slurping on our milkshakes we walked through the Flamingo and I got drawn into a crap game, yes still slurping on my milkshake.  Rebe was standing around watching me lose all my money but she got bored and went away to tour the casino and property.  She of course came back to ask if I was done and immediately the shooter crapped out... I told her to go away and immediately started winning again.  At the end of it I was up $100 so I called it a night.

Saturday - 14th

Today was the day to pay the piper, or as people who take advantage of timeshare presentations it was "Presentation Day."  Where the owners of the property who gave you a super deal to stay try and convince you that you should buy a timeshare or points package.  These presentations always start friendly with a person who comes out with the intentions of being your best friend and trying to connect or find things you have in common.  We lived in the city where the lady son goes to college. These rookie tricks won't work on us.

We finally get to talking with the lady and Rebe says, "I don't mean to be rude, but you can stop trying to connect with us and just show us the numbers.  This is what happened last time where you try to connect and then you run out of time in your allotted 2 hours.  So let's just talk numbers because at the end of this it's us who will have to run the numbers and make this work" I wish you could see the shock on this lady's face, she still continued to try and connect but we ignored those quips and kept asking the hard questions.  The saleslady finally brought out some outrageous package that was hella expensive and not even remotely tied to what we were previously talking about.  Then she brought her back up guy to try and sell us a smaller package and he tried to prove we could get our moneys worth in less than 4 years and even tried to sprinkle some extra points in on it.  After swatting him around, they brought in the goodbye team who tried to sell us a one year tester package which was actually a good deal but of course the locations they wanted us to go to were in places we didn't want to go.

In and out 2 hours and 15 minutes (2 hours required).

Did I mention Rebe set an alarm at an hour and forty five minutes?  The lady laughed at us and was shocked.  Hey, your company said we had to be here two hours it's not our fault if you can't convince us that this deal is not worth it in that time frame.

After not suffering through the presentation we decided to walk around a couple of casinos that we haven't seen.  First was Circus Circus which has the Adventure Dome in the back, which is like a tiny theme park with two indoor roller coasters.  Rebe's back has been hurting so we just admired this time.

We then drove over to the Palazzo and Venetian to explore the casinos.  After crisscrossing our way back and forth through the casino we settled for lunch at Black Tap, great burger.

Venice Tower

Inside the Venetian, isn't this ridiculous?

Then over to the Wynn just to see how fancy it was before coming back to the room and taking a nap.

The evening plan was the see the Cirque show KA but before was dinner a Ambra. Ambra is a Italian restaurant inside the MGM where KA is also located.  Rebe always loves a noodle dish, Italian, Thai, Chinese if it has noodles Rebe loves it.  But this was Florence Italy worthy and I have a feeling that our next trip to Vegas will include another stop at Ambra.

KA started at 930 and seeing a Cirque show in Las Vegas is ALWAYS a spectacle.  The traveling shows are nice, but the Vegas shows are so much more special due to the stage.  The stage and theater alone are just jaw dropping and then add the performance on top of it...words cannot do it justice. If you're here, see KA see 'O' just see something as they never disappoint.

Yeah, that's the BACK of the theater

Sunday - 15th

No real plans were set for Sunday, but we did pick out our breakfast plans and that was to check out the Crack Shack (a chicken joint serving sandwiches and actual chicken from Michael Blais a Top Chef winner).  We split a chicken biscuit burger along with a giant plate of french fries and that really hit the spot.

Having checked out of our hotel and not really in the mood to gamble, we thought we should get our moneys worth of the convertible and headed back out to the Lake Mead Recreational Area.  Since we had gone earlier in the week our visit would be free, but we also thought further ahead in that later in the year we probably would visit another National Park. This would be an opportunity for us to upgrade to a season pass.

The plan for the drive was to retrace most of our path from Friday, but this time we would enjoy slightly better weather and have the top down on the convertible.

After passing through the Lake Mead Area again we of course cut through Valley of Fire again to see it's sights in better light.  For some reason this park has a 35mph speed limit and being in a V8 Mustang I was zipping around and as expected I got pulled over by a park ranger, I should have known better on a Sunday afternoon.  Even the front gate was guarded on the weekend taking in money from visitors.

Here's some pics from the before we headed to the airport and back home:

Lake Mead from the Visitor's Center

In the middle is the Redstone area

Pano of Valley of Fire