Viva Las Vegas

Well here we are in hot and sunny Vegas. We drove in yesterday afternoon, a little ahead of schedule so we stayed downtown at the El Cortez, a hotel casino that's been around a long time and seen some notorious and famous faces. It is a really cheap hotel compared to the digs we are moving to today, the MGM Signature, but we chose a cabana, one of the new retro style rooms, great for the price, and fantastic for exploring downtown.

So yesterday afternoon after checking in we went to In N Out burger, the much famed and much loved Souther Californian fast food burger institution (obviously now here in Vegas). Also attached to this branch, which was going off I must say, was one of their stores, where Rob went crazy after consuming his first ever In N Out meal. Then on for some quick retail therapy, Sephora and MAC got their first visit and money out of me, and I haven't even scratched the tip of the iceberg!

A beer back at the hotel, and a quick shower to cool down - it's 105F here (love it), and we headed out down Fremont street, the downtown area. For those of you that know Rob, and that he walks to the city all the time down Smith st, Collingwood, will know that he calls it 'Freak Street', due to all the characters you meet on that patch of turf. Well he thinks that Fremont street is just one huge 'Freak Street', man oh man what a bunch of characters, bogans, you name it. And we actually thought that it must be law or something that you have to smoke, as nearly everyone we saw had a cigarette, both inside and out. The good news is we had a few margaritas in a casino - 99 cents each - bless! We had a good walk around, even saw the Colin Hay (of Men at Work fame), has or is playing soon - guess he has to raise $$ to pay for the royalty sting of Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree...

The best thing about last night is we got to see many of the old restored neons that have been placed round the Fremont street precinct. And this morning we are off to the Neon Museum to see the relics of Vegas' past, the salvaged signs from the hay day of Vegas, many that I saw when I visited in '86 and '88, like my favourite, the Stardust. Looking forward to it, though glad it's early due to the heat. Then some more retail therapy before we move on to our luxury hotel, and adventures on the Strip in Viva Las Vegas,


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Location:Las Vegas Nevada USA