Las Vegas, March 2008

These are pictures from my Spring Break experience in the Las Vegas area. For landscape pictures of Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon, click here.

Interestingly, most of the Strip is not technically in the city of Las Vegas.	There are many strange things there, like the Cloud at Fashion Show Mall.
My college roommate Mike Hrnicek travelled up from Phoenix.	He and his wife Cindy were happy to have time to build their relationship.
The Paris casino has a half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower. It was planned for full scale, but the airport was too close and the tower had to be shrunk.	The model Arc de Triomphe is two-thirds size. I don't think the size reduction had to do with the airport.
The Wynn hotel built this wonderful outdoor waterfall.	They cut corners in other things, though, like this Astroturf by the taxi entrance.
To properly show the beauty of the Wynn flowers, a good photographer is needed. I took this photo.	Change the photographer and things get less pretty. Or is that due to the change in photo subject?
Perhaps Cindy chose her skirt to match the colored fountains at Caesar's Palace.	To fit in, I practice my statuesque Thinker pose.
The Caesars shops have an exotic fish tank.	Not so exotic are the slot tournaments. Then again, maybe continuallyu hitting the spin button takes more skill than it looks.
The Venetian built fake canals out front, with gondoliers. To Mike's disappointment, they did not wear bandoliers.	The Venetian also has one of the two art museums on the Strip, located near this statue. I recommend both of the exhibits.
Is it weird that I focused more on artwork than gambling?	The Bellagio fountains are part of an 8 acre artificial lake.
In total, there are over 2,000 hand-blown Chihuly glass flowers on the Bellagio ceiling.	Continuing the gluttonous theme, the Bellagio also has the world's largest chocolate fountain.
The Bellagio poker room, for rollers much higher than I. I stuck with the art gallery, which cost less than one big blind.	Fortunately, the gardens are free.
Cindy likes to take surprise pictures.	I show style with my dessert plate designed like a face, but what was I thinking with the semi-bowl cut?
Cindy wants me to note that her outfit cost like 6 dollars, showing her shopping prowess.	At the rooftop pool, Cindy shows more fashion forwardness.
Here, I pretend to be an important executive by talking on the roof.	We could be big executives from LA, working on our next big deal.
Then Mike goes for the big hug and demolishes the facade.	There are some gorgeous views from the rooftop pool at the Polo Towers.
The Excalibur at night. I doubt that real medieval castles went with red and blue lighted turrets.	The gaming area of the Excalibur. One cool thing is that down below is a carnival arcade. You'll see those results later.
Earlier that evening, I had tried the Poker Room at the Mandalay Bay.	About 15 minutes after the photographer took this photo, he took all my tournament chips, despite my 11 outs twice.
So I went to the Excalibur, where my dart skills won the cool bear that sits next to me while I lose more money at pai gow poker.	Here I am at blackjack, though I actually won money there.
Like all vacations, things have to end, usually at a luggage carousel.	The view from my Louisville front door the next day. Why can't there be a Catholic college in the Southwest?