Vegas, Baby!

We're on our way to three nights in Sin City thanks to the weak economy which has created a need for tourists in Vegas. We're doing our part for the Vegas bailout. Of course the casino moguls would rather have tourists with lots of money to spend on gambling but what they don't know won't hurt us.

We'll be staying for the first time at Planet Hollywood.

I took that shot during our July trip when it was still over 100 degrees at 11pm and gas was over $4.25 a gallon. This time the highs will be in the 50's, the lows in the 30's, and gas will be about $1.75. Much better. (By the way you can see the night photos of all the Strip hotels that I took on that trip here.)

The first time we visited Vegas as a vacation destination was the Summer of 2000 and this hotel was being built as the new Aladdin. Like the old Aladdin it went bust and was taken over by the crew that decided to get rid of the old Arab theme and make it into a bad rendition of West L.A. I actually prefer the old decor to the new, but the price was right.

The location is great too. It's right across the street from Bellagio and next to Paris. It's an easy walk to Caeser's Palace to the north and to M&M's World and the south strip hotels the other direction. As usual, we'll walk our feet off before we're done.

I'm taking the laptop so I'll try to keep up and post some pictures from the trip along with a cellphone post or two. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing Vegas with the Christmas decorations still up, especially at the Conservatory at Bellagio. That should be pretty spectacular.

We'll be getting out of town on New Year's Eve. Why? The room that we'll pay $69 for on Sunday night will go for $599 on Wednesday. Suckers.

Besides that, the town is pretty crazy on New Year's Eve. They shut down Las Vegas Blvd. and fill it wall-to-wall with drunks. Not my idea of a good time. We'll be back safely at home when all the crazies are falling all over themselves in the streets of Vegas.