Las Vegas

Today we wake up to winds. Very strong, gusty and kind of cold. We decide to head back to Vegas instead of more park sightseeing. We have our last breakfast at the hotel (delicious make your own waffles, eggs, sausages, cereal, quite good for a free meal) and hit the road. After driving through some dramatic canyons, we are back to grey, dusty and desolate. It's incredibly windy today so on top of everything, there's a dusty haze in the air. When we finally hit Vegas, it's a bit jarring. After seeing the kind of natural extravagance that's in Zion and Bryce, Vegas seems rather gaudy, blousy, trying too hard. We are staying at the Imperial Palace, which is a bit of a dump but is clean and really cheap! It's also well located, being across the street from Caesars in the middle of the strip. We start our afternoon at the Palazzo, which is connected to the Venetian. Lunch is at the Grand Lux Cafe, which serves us a good hearty meal. Ma loves the soup. The Venetian is a pleasant place to stroll, with the gondoliers singing their Italian songs. We save $16 a head watching them instead of taking a ride. Our next stop is Caesars, however they replaced their talking statues with a large aquarium. We were kind of looking forward to some talking statue entertainment. After a little time at the penny slots, we head for the Bellagio. We find out that the winds may prevent the dancing fountains but we take our chance and get a spot along the railing. Luckily, the fountains go as planned, to Elton John. This just never gets old for me, I love the dancing fountains. We decide to walk over to where the main lobby is to see the Chihuly glass flowers and the conservatory. Since we are walking rather slowly, we decide to stay for another round of dancing fountains, this time from the other side. The next performance is to "All That Jazz". The programmers seem to feel the wind is dying down because this performance goes higher than the previous. The conservatory is decked out for fall, with some gigantic pumpkins (over 800 lbs). They've also added animatronics! There's giant fake Venus Flytraps, a talking tree. Kind of weird. After the Bellagio, we decide it's safe to check into the hotel and then figure out which buffet we will hit. The goal is crab legs. The buffet at the Imperial Palace has them but they are cold. We try Harrah's next door. Hit the jackpot! Not only are the crab legs warmed, but they have a little sampling of just about all the major cuisines: American barbecue, Asian sushi rolls and noodles, Italian pastas, Mexican taco salads. Plus the desserts look really good and they are dishing out very generous portions of ice cream. Ma and Ba have an all crab leg meal. I do plenty of damage to the legs but add a few other items as well. We all save room for dessert, although the chocolate fountain was probably the way to go-strawberries, rice krispies, marshmallows to dip. Before we leave, we grab a banana for breakfast tomorrow. I am catching a plane early in the morning so I leave Ma and Ba to stroll the streets and head to bed early. It's only been a few days away, but I feel like I've gone very far, which is I think the sun of a good vacation.