The Long Way to Las Vegas - Our Return to Las Vegas

Overton to Las Vegas

Sunday, May 18

Today we are traveling to Las Vegas.  It is a short drive and we were in no hurry to get going so we slept in that felt very good after a hectic week of traveling.  After having a little breakfast and getting everything ready to go, I started loading the car and to my disappointment I found that there was a light rain last night and there must have also been a wind as our nice clean car was covered with dust spots. as was every other car in the parking lot.  Oh well, we’ll just have to wash it again when we get home.

It is less than an hour’s drive to Las Vegas on I15, but there is a back road that follows the shore of Lake Mead to Las Vegas that I’ve wanted to take, so that’s the route we’re taking.  It takes about an hour longer, but we have plenty of time, so it doesn’t matter.

A more detailed look at our drive today.  Although we were near Lake Mead we only caught glimpses of it as the terrain is low mountains and hills.

We were surprised to find that the drive was very scenic driving through mountainous terrain and even some red rock areas like in the Valley of Fire.  We rarely saw Lake Mead, but we really didn’t expect to.  As we got near Las Vegas we started to see signs of civilization and we were soon in Henderson on the outskirts of Las Vegas and got on I215 and headed for the Las Vegas Strip.  Traffic was fairly heavy, which was a bit of a shock after being out in the back country all week.

The first sign of civilization since Overton.

We enter Henderson just outside of Las Vegas.

As we got off the 215 and onto the Strip, we felt like newbies as much had changed since we were last in Las Vegas five years ago.  Las Vegas is always changing, but we used to go once or twice every year, so it seemed gradual, but in five years it was a bit of a shock.

We are staying at our usual spot of Harrah’s and were able to find our way there without problem and despite the changes around the area.  We checked our car into valet parking and checked in, but our room wasn’t ready yet, so we checked our bags and walked into the casino.  Things had been spruced up since we last visited with some new restaurants added and things moved around.

We gambled for a while and then went to get some lunch.  After a week in the rural areas where the food and restaurant selection is minimal, we were both hungry for a salad, so we bought a large salad in the Fulton Street Food Court and split it and also a wrap that we split.

After eating I got a call that our room was ready, so we got our keys and headed for our room.  We had gotten a suite and while a strip view seems to be always preferable, this time we had a great view of the Sphere with the mountains in the background.  I had seen pictures of the Sphere, but seeing it in person was quite spectacular, and we really love our view.  We had looked to see if there were any concerts this week at the Sphere, but there were none, so we’ll have to wait until another trip to see what it’s like inside.

We had a great view of the Sphere from our room.

We had our luggage delivered and spent a while getting settled in before heading back down to the casino.  We had a little luck (especially Val) and played for a while but decided to head back up to our room and relax.  I keep saying this, but after being on the move all week, it really felt good just to kick back and relax and not worry about what where we were going next.

We started to feel hungry for dinner and decided to go next door to the Linq Hotel and have a Mexican dinner at the Chayo Restaurant.  We were seated outside, the balmy evening was delightful, and we enjoyed watching people walking along the Linq Promonade The food was very good and hit the spot.  After dinner we headed out on the Promenade to see what was the same and what was new.  The Linq Promenade is one of our favorite places and it was a beautiful evening to walk outside.

Things were pretty much the same, but there were some new shops and restaurants and some of the old ones were gone, but our favorite places were all still there.  One of the new shops was the biggest candy store that I have ever seen, it was huge.  We wandered through, but weren’t really interested in buying anything, but the size was impressive.  The store also included a martini bar upstairs that somehow tied in with the candy, but not being a drinker, we didn’t go up there to find out how.

The Flamingo Hotel is on the other side of the Promenade, so we visited there and had some success gambling there.  Harrah’s, The Linq and the Flamingo are all Caesar Entertainment properties and it looked like they had all been spruced up since our last visit and seemed much nicer.

From the Flamingo we returned to the Linq and after a little time in the casino we returned to Harrah’s and then called it a night.  It felt good to be back in Las Vegas, but the crowds were a little hard to get used to after the solitude of the places we have visited this last week.

We will be here until Friday and just plan to relax and take it easy.  Val had hurt her back before we left and too much walking gets a little painful for her so that may limit what we do, but it really doesn’t matter as we have no set plans.  I’m not going to do a day-to-day rundown for the rest of the week; I’ll just mention the highlights and lowlights.