No Gambling in Las Vegas After Wrong Turn in Albuquerque

 I saw that which you see here, on Facebook, and it brought to mind a moment on a roadtrip, way back in the 1980s.

Heading south, from Colorado, on what was then State Highway 85. which has since been upgraded to freeway status as Interstate 25, my travel companion had fallen asleep at some point after leaving Colorado.

And then woke up as Highway 85 reached Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Upon seeing the signage indicating what town we were in, my travel companion instantly verbalized confusion, wondering why he was seeing no casinos.

I assumed my travel companions was joking. I was erroneous in this assumption. 

I think I said something like we are a few miles from the Las Vegas strip, on the outskirts of town, hence seeing no casinos.

I do not recollect at what point my travel companion realized we were not in Nevada.

I do remember, when my travel companion eventually got location oriented, me asking how it could be thought we could possibly have gotten from Colorado, to Las Vegas, Nevada, in such a short time frame.

Anyway, I was pleased to see, via Facebook, that Las Vegas, New Mexico has cleverly opted to make clear to the town's visitors, with the town's new entry signage, that the visitor is entering Las Vegas, New Mexico, a gambling free zone.

Even though New Mexico does have casinos on many of the state's Native American tribal lands...

In The Linq Getting High on the Las Vegas High Roller Tallest Observation Wheel in the World

That is not a spaceship you are looking at on the left. What that is is a passenger cabin, also being called a capsule on the High Roller, in Las Vegas, currently, at 550 feet, the tallest Ferris type observation wheel in the world, 9 feet taller than the previous tallest, that being the Singapore Flyer, and 107 feet taller than the London Eye.

The Las Vegas High Roller began loading the public into its capsules on March 31, 2014.

Each of the High Roller's 32 capsules, can hold up to 40 passengers. The High Roller never stops spinning at its slow speed of one foot per second, as passengers board the capsules.

You can book a private party, for weddings, and such, with a bar and bartender. You may consume alcohol while rolling in a capsule, but only alcohol purchased in the High Roller wheel house. It is a big no-no to sneak booze onboard, so don't even think about it.

There are no restroom facilities in the High Roller's capsules.

It takes a half an hour for the High Roller to complete its rotation. The current cost for that 30 minute ride is $24.95 during the day, $34.95 after 6pm.

The capsules are attached to the High Roller's outer rim, with electric motors rotating the capsules to maintain a cabin floor horizontal with ground level.

What happens during a power outage I can not help but wonder?

I was at the top of the Stratosphere Tower during a two hour power outage. That was not a pleasant experience as the 110 degree temperature quickly penetrated the interior space.

The High Roller's capsules are air-conditioned.

The High Roller is the centerpiece of Caesar's Entertainment Corporation's development known as The Linq.

The Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge Hoover Dam Bypass Over the Colorado River is Open

You are in a helicopter looking down at Hoover Dam and the new Hoover Dam Bypass, officially named the Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

U.S. Route 93 crosses  the bridge, linking Nevada and Arizona, about 1,600 feet downstream, south from Hoover Dam.

The Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge opened on October 19, 2010.

Below you can watch a YouTube news clip video about the opening of the new bridge. And below that you can take a helicopter ride from Las Vegas to Lake Mead for a bird's eye view of the dam and bridge...



Hoover Dam and the Hoover Dam Bypass are about 30 miles southwest from Las Vegas.

This bridge is the first concrete steel composite arch bridge built in the United States. Concrete steel composite has been used in other U.S. bridges in recent years, such as the new suspension span across the Tacoma Narrows in Tacoma, Washington.

The Hoover Dam Bypass is about 840 feet above the Colorado River. Only the suspension bridge across Royal Gorge in Colorado is higher at 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River.

Below you will take to the air in a helicopter and fly from Las Vegas to Hoover Dam and the Hoover Dam Bypass. You'll get a good look at Lake Mead and what the rugged Nevada landscape looks like...

The Swimming Pools of Las Vegas

Among the many attractions that make Las Vegas fun are the hotel swimming pools. Having a unique cool pool is one of the ways the casinos try and entice a Las Vegas visitor to stay with them.

The Travel Channel named the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Beach one of the Top 10 pools in the world. It's an oasis in the desert, with Caribbean blue water meandering for a mile, lapping up against white sand beaches.

In the picture you are looking at one of the Luxor pools. There are 4 large swimming pools at Luxor, Egyptian-themed.

At Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino you can go body surfing in the wave pool, float in a lazy river, play on a beach made with California Pacific Ocean beach sand or go running on the jogging trail before you hop in the pool. At the Moorea Beach Club you'll find an adult swimming zone. As in, both men and women can be topless. I don't know if bottomless is also okay.

The MGM Grand Hotel & Casino has the first saltwater pools in Las Vegas. Wet Republic is an adults only zone. The MGM Grand has almost 7 acres of swimming and sunbathing areas, with several pools, a lazy river and tropical waterfalls.

At the Paris Hotel & Casino you can swim in the Soleil Pool while looking up at the Eiffel Tower. You can't do that in Paris, France.

The Stratosphere Hotel & Casino has the Body and Soul Pool Party at the Level 8 Pool. The Stratosphere's adult pool playground is called Beach Club 25.

The Venetian Hotel & Casino also has an adults only area, called TAO Beach.

The Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino had the Las Vegas Strip's first wave pool. Monte Carlo also has a lazy river.

Excalibur Hotel & Casino has recently renovated its pool zone. Excalibur now has 4 pools with 60,000 square feet of tropical landscaping. There is a poolside restaurant bar called DRENCHED.

Bellagio Hotel & Casino has 5 Mediterranean themed pools, with 2 heated lap pools.

Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino has redesigned its pool complex with 8 swimming pools, surrounded by a luxury level worthy of Caesar.

Aria Hotel & Casino has 3 distinctive pool experiences, plus the Liquid Pool Lounge, which is an adults only pool with over the top opulence.

All this pool talk makes me want to go swimming. In Las Vegas.

Stranded in the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas

That would be my nephew Joey looking forlornly out at the Las Vegas strip from the top of the Stratosphere Tower on a trip to Vegas late in the last century.

Why was Joey forlorn. Well, it was well in to hour 2 of being stuck high above Las Vegas.

The ride to the top of the Stratosphere Tower is in a double decker elevator. It is a bumpy ride. As we neared the top I could hear siren-like noises. We got out of the elevator to learn that the Stratosphere Tower had lost power.

I don't know how the elevators made it to the top without power, there must have been an emergency back up. But, til power was restored no elevators was returning to ground level.

At that point in time on the top of the Stratosphere Tower there was a roller coaster called the High Roller. The riders who were on the High Roller were stuck. Out in the extremely hot sun.

In 2005 there were a couple incidents where guests were left hanging far above the Las Vegas Strip for well over an hour when the Insanity ride shut down. Insanity dangles you over the edge of the tower then spins you at about 40 miles per hour. Some of those stranded were not happy with the compensation offered. A free pass to the ride for a year.

After about an hour of me and the nephews being stranded at the top of the Stratosphere Tower I stared making a bit of a fuss. I thought we should be giving free refreshments. Due to it being so hot with not air-conditioning and it being well over 100 degrees. A call was made, the libations were released.

Then I fussed that I wanted our elevator ride ticket refunded. I don't remember if that happened then or when we finally got to the ground. I do remember when we got to the ground we were greeted by a Stratosphere Tower executive, all apologetic. I told him we were starving and asked if we could get comped for a buffet. The guy quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. So, me and the nephews had ourselves a free buffet. But, the Stratosphere still made money off us, due to the nephews using me as their legal age conduit to play Keno.

At 1,149 feet the Stratosphere Tower is the tallest observation tower in the United States, only the CN Tower is taller in the Western Hemisphere. It is located at the far north end of the Las Vegas Strip and is the only one of the major strip casinos to actually be within the City of Las Vegas. The Stratosphere Tower is about 2 miles from downtown Las Vegas and The Fremont Experience.

It took a long time to build the Stratosphere Tower. I remember seeing it in a construction stalled state on several Vegas visits. And then on a Thanksgiving trip to Vegas in 1996 I was pleased to see the tower completed.

When rides started getting added to the top, well I found that bizarre. A few years ago a flight from Seattle routing through Vegas on the way to Dallas, at midnight, went directly over the Stratosphere Tower. It was a very startling thing to see. The original intention had been to make the Stratosphere Tower the world's tallest, but interference concerns over McCarran International Airport and incoming and outgoing flights caused the tower to shrink.

In addition to the already mentioned Insanity ride, there is the Big Shot, it being the highest ride in the world. Riders get shot straight that pointy spire at the top of the tower, and then dropped down.

X-Scream is a straight piece of track that pivots, sort of like the see-sawing of a teeter-totter. You sit in an open car that rocks from one end of the track to the other, taking you right to the edge of the tower's top.

SkyJump Las Vegas is the newest Stratosphere Tower attraction, and one I find the most bizarre. It is like a controlled bungee jump. You are stuck in a special suit, given instructions and then something called a controlled decelerator guides your fall to the ground. You jump off a little platform, go in to a fast free fall, with guide wires keeping you from banging the tower. Then, as the ground quickly approaches the fall is slowed down and you come in for a controlled landing.

Now, there have been 5 suicide jumps from the top since the Stratosphere Tower opened. I would think it must be a bit unsettling to some unsuspecting tourists to be driving down the Las Vegas Strip for the first time to see people jumping off the Stratosphere Tower.

I have not had the pleasure of experiencing any of the Stratosphere attractions, besides the elevator, due to that no electricity problem on my one and only visit. I did get to walk outside at the top and see the riders stranded on the High Roller roller coaster.

Links to other bloggings about Las Vegas...

Staying at the Las Vegas KOA, 6 Motel, Excalibur, Luxor, Treasure Island & New York New York

Thinking About a Roadtrip to Las Vegas

My nephews took me to Las Vegas

Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience with American Pie

Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience with American Pie

By the 1990s the success of the Las Vegas strip had downtown Las Vegas not attracting the number of visitors it had in years gone by.

And so The Fremont Experience was born.

A space frame was built over 4 blocks of Fremont Street in the iconic casino heart of downtown Las Vegas.

The Fremont Experience has gone through several upgrades since it first lit up in 1995, vastly improving the quality of the light and sound show.

Currently 12 million LED lamps light up the Fremont Street Experience. There are 220 speakers under the Fremont Street canopy which can produce up to 550,000 watts of sound.

The Fremont Street Experience Light & Sound Shows start up when the sun goes down. You know a Light & Sound Show is about to start up when all the casinos darken their outside lights.

There are a variety of shows. I've seen a patriotic one where jets zoom overhead, among other things. And I've seen a Viva Las Vegas show.

The Fremont Street Experience has revived downtown Las Vegas. Each night downtown Vegas is now like a street party.

Harrah's is hoping to replicate the success of The Fremont Street Experience on the Las Vegas Strip, by building a complex of bars, restaurants and shops between O'Sheas and The Flamingo. With a very tall Ferris Wheel.

I wonder if the planned Ferris Wheel is of the giant sort like is in Singapore and London? One would hope so.

Links to other bloggings about Las Vegas...

Staying at the Las Vegas KOA, 6 Motel, Excalibur, Luxor, Treasure Island & New York New York

Thinking About a Roadtrip to Las Vegas

My nephews took me to Las Vegas

Below you can watch a YouTube video of a Fremont Street Experience Light & Sound Show. This particular one is Don McLean's American Pie.

Thinking About a Roadtrip to Las Vegas

That would be me in the picture, sliding into the pool at the Excalibur Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.

Right now I've got myself a strong hankering for a Las Vegas visit. It's been a few years since I've last Roadtripped to my favorite town in Nevada.

A few new casinos have opened that I've not had the pleasure of visiting. I saw The Venetian and Paris under construction, with the Eiffel Tower towering above the strip. I've seen The Wynn from the air when I've landed in Vegas to switch planes on the way to other destinations.

It is sort of a form of torture to land in Las Vegas, with Luxor and Excalibur and The MGM and New York New York clearly in view from the airport windows, and not get to leave the airport, but instead wait an hour to get on another plane.

I have not been to Las Vegas since a monorail was added to the strip. Does the monorail still exist that ran from behind MGM to a casino the name of which I'm not remembering. Was it The Riviera?

The new Hoover Dam Bridge is due to open this coming November. I'm curious to see that bridge. I liked the drive across Hoover Dam. I assume that will no longer be a route choice when the new bridge opens.

One of the pleasures of being in Las Vegas during the HEAT of summer is driving out to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Particularly Lake Mead. A late night swim in the warm clear water is a real good thing.

Staying at the Las Vegas KOA, 6 Motel, Excalibur, Luxor, Treasure Island & New York New York

I've stayed in the Luxor in Las Vegas once. Near the end of a long road trip that went through Moab, hiked the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park, continued on to Durango, taking the Million Dollar Highway from Silverton, then Taos and south to Alamogordo and White Sands National Monument, Yuma and Algondones in Mexico and then Vegas.

I've stayed all over the place in Las Vegas. My very first time in Vegas I camped at a KOA. That sounds pathetic now. The next time I stayed at the Vegas 6 Motel. Equally pathetic and, I think the biggest 6 Motel in the world. It was awful.

After the 6 Motel stay in Vegas, which was New Year's Eve week, hence the unavailability, spur of the moment, of a nicer place to say, the next time to Vegas was near the end of another long Roadtrip, that being my first Lake Powell Houseboating trip, staying at Excalibur.

I like the Excalibur pool.

The next trip to Las Vegas was over Thanksgiving in 1996, staying at Treasure Island. I liked staying at Treasure Island, except my room was about 12 stories above the Treasure Island pirate show, which is a bit on the noisy side, what with cannons and guns booming.

The next time to Vegas was with my nephews, we stayed at Excalibur. I think I already mentioned I like the Excalibur pool.

My most recent time in Vegas I stayed at New York New York. I liked it. But it was in early January, so the pool was not relevant.

Staying in the Luxor pyramid was the most challenging hotel stay I've ever had. I was on, I think, the 8th floor. There are "inclinators" at each corner of the pyramid. When you exit the "inclinator" it is confusing to find your room. Go left? Go right? In the room the outer wall is steeply sloped, due to that pyramid thing. I'd stay in Luxor again. I enjoy the feeling of being lost.