Vegas

We arrived in vegas at sundown. The first impression was how much construction, housing, roads and hotels was under way. We got settled in and the kids had a roller coaster ride at New York New York. My impression: disney land north.

Next morning, mike tries to get an internet connection to get office emails and talk to Ahmed. There's no wireless on the strip in Wynn properties. They block all the third party wifi providers so guests are forced to pay too high fees for a wired connection. This made Mike very happy, especially when the service in the room did not work because someone unplugged the power to the signal converter. I guess that the hotel does not its guests to work.

The rest of the day was spent visiting all the big names on the strip. Wynns is number one and Bellagio number two. The other "aha" was realizing that gambling is no longer the primary reason for going to Vegas. It has become a theme destination (disney with vice), shopping, and vice. The escort services are everywhere, we were surprised how many guys were on the roller coaster with obvious escorts. Open beer and drinks were on the street.

The casinos used to offer drinks to gamblers and low cost good meals. All of that is gone. In order to fund the hotels, food and services are outsourced to the highest bidder and everything is very expensive.

I was finally able to relax and get into the holiday feeling when we got back to the hotel pools - the wave pool and river pool and cooled off from the 110F temp. A $15 football sized frozed beverage completed the transformation.

In the evening we saw the water show at the Bellagio - neat.

Now, it's off to Hoover dam and grand canyon. May get some rain in the next 3 days as well.