Las Vegas - 4th September

I set the alarm to wake me at 9.00am as I needed to get to the Hertz Rental Car desk at the Riviera Casino at 10.00am to pick up my hire car. I showered and went and got some breakfast and then went across the road to the Riviera and picked up a new version Pontiac with only 12,000 miles driven by it.

I drove straight around to the US Mail postal office and bought two cardboard boxes to pack all the extra gear I have been accumulating. I then drove back to Circus Circus and put one of the boxes together and started to pack it. I am still picking up new Pringles tubes and different beer and coke cans. I am emptying the Pringles into plastic bags and dumping them and filling the tubes with cans and other items I am getting.

I headed sown to the front of Circus Circus to a smaller building called “Slots of Fun” which is part of Circus Circus but a standalone building with an open front right on the footpath. The gambling tables have two dollar minimum bets and they have a lot of different $5 chips for different events that have been held in Vegas.

I was not able to get all the chips so will try to get back another time to get some more. Also a lot of the slot machines are 25 cent machines. I have been picking up these quarters as there is a series with one side of the coin dedicated to each of the 50 states. I have been picking up one of each I have had, so far getting 28 of them. I put $40 into the slot machine and pressed collect and got 160 quarters. I went back up to the room and sorted through them and found another 9 states I did not have.

I then went back to the car and headed off to the Hoover Dam which is about a 30 mile drive south of Vegas. I programmed the journey into the GPS that came with the car and off I went. I got my first experience of driving on a four lane freeway in the USA but it was not peak hours so it as not too bad. The drive south out of Vegas shows off the mountains which surround the valley the Las Vegas is situated in.

On the way I passed a casino on the opposite side of the road which I must call into on the way back into town.

The dam is situated just past the town of Boulder City. The directional signs to the dam direct you through the shopping centre of the town. It is only on the way back you see that you could have gone a shorter route to get to the dam – obviously a clever scheme by the town council to get you to go through the shopping area.

Luckily they did direct you that way though as I came across the Boulder Dam Brewing Company which has a brew pub in the town. I went in and was able to buy a t-shirt, some key rings and some coasters. Through the town centre you pass some residential areas. This one provides excellent views of Lake Mead.

On to the dam and I passed another Casino again on the opposite side of the road and will again visit it on the way back into Vegas. Before arriving at the dam you have to go through a security check point that is set up by the police. The road actually drives over the dam wall and you can stop on the opposite side of the dam at various parking areas to take photo’s or walk back onto the dam wall itself.

Crossing the dam you enter into Arizona. I stopped got out and took some photos and some video of the dam but did not worry about going on any of the tours they have as it would be similar to the ones I have done on Warragamba Dam in Sydney in prior years.

The upside of the Dam Wall
The dam wall showing the new bridge being built on the lower side of the dam wall.
The dam lake heading upstream to Lake Mead
A memorial to the Dam Builders who scaled the cliff walls.
The plaque to go with the memorial above.
List of workers who died during the construction of the Hoover Dam.
The dam wall on the down stream side

I visited the gift shop and looked at the new bridge that is being built in front of the dam which will take out the hard turns for through traffic plus the larger vehicles that the officials do not want to travel down to the dam wall. They have just started on the first sections of the span deck.

Leaving the dam I travelled back to the Hacienda Casino and got the chips and also made a profit on the tables.
I then passed through Boulder City again before stopping on the hill leading back into Vegas to go into the Railway Crossing Casino. Getting the chips I again won a bit of money and stopped at the gift shop where the casino playing cards had a picture of a train on them. I figured I might be able to sell them on back in Australia to train collectors. The packs of cards were 49 cents each but they had a buy one get one free deal on so I bought 12 packs for 3 dollars.

While driving into town I was heading to Circus Circus as I was starting to get short of time to see the show at 7.30pm. When I was almost at the casino I remembered I had to go to the Monte Carlo to see Terry at the brewery gift shop as she had arranged yesterday to give me a gift.

I drove to the Monte Carlo and parked in their free car park which is across the road and about as far as you can get away from the gift shop and still be in the casino area. I walked very quickly to the gift shop and Terry presented me with a set of bottle labels from the old brewery plus a framed set of labels as well. I had a quick chat with her and tanked her ever so much for the great gift and then had to excuse myself as I needed to hurry back to the casino to have a shower, pick up my ticket and race to the Bellagio.

I made it in time for the show. Driving to the Bellagio I was able to use the Self Drive parking which is at the side of the casino and I drove to the top level as I think when I return at night I will get a good view from there to take some photos of the casinos.

I then went down into the casino and to the theatre to see the Cirque show "O". The show was quite good. It was a water based show with a lot of the performers spending a lot of time in the water and most of the gymnastic elements ended with the performers diving or landing in the water to finish their routine.

After the show I went back to the car and as I had thought I had a great view out across the strip of the lights of the casinos.

The Arc De Triumph and Hot Air Balloon at Paris Casino
Hot Air Balloon and Planet Hollywood
Bally's on left and Paris casinos.
Bally's


Following this I then drove up to the Stratosphere Casino at the northern end of the strip. I was able to get my poker chips and was able to again walk out with more money than I went in with. From there I drove to the Sahara and picked up my poker chips but was not so lucky with my gambling and walked out without getting my money back.

I then drove to the Las Vegas Hilton and got my poker chips and walked out with my original betting money I had put on the table.

I then only had one more casino to go to complete a clean sweep of all the casinos on the Las Vegas Casino Strip, getting to it however proved to be no easy task. Firstly I turned too early and drove into the car park of the Roman Catholic Guardian Angel Cathedral, which is a huge building. I went out the back entry to the car park and turned to go back to go onto the strip but the road I turned onto actually goes under the strip and I ended up not being able to turn off the road until about one mile later.

I was able to get back to the strip and drove into the car park for the Wynn Las Vegas Casino but it was the entry for the Hire Cars and Valet parking. I had to turn back out onto the road and then go around the corner to the correct self drive car park.

Finally in the casino I found it to be the most elegant of the casino floors I had been on in Las Vegas. The fittings were very flash and the shops around the outside of the gaming area were very luxurious in design and fit out. The gaming tables were very busy and the minimum limits to play were $15. There were only a couple of $15 tables and it took me a while to get to play at one of them. I played for about half an hour and was able to walk away with more chips than I started with.

I walked around the casino for a while taking in the sights and noticed a lot of the tables had minimums of $100, $200 and even a minimum of $500 per bet.

I then went back to the car and drove back to Circus Circus to get some sleep about 2am.

I am leaving tomorrow to drive to visit Death Valley and then California so I will have to get up and pack my bags and also put together a box for posting home some of my new cans and collectibles I have picked up since Orlando.