Dingopups: Farewell to Las Vegas

Here it is Wednesday the 11 December already (11.12.13). We are sitting on a plane flying from Las Vegas to Dallas. It’s a good thing that we were not trying this flight four days ago, as a rather nasty snow storm closed the Dallas airport leaving those booked to fly via that city stranded and waiting for alternative flights. The concierge at our hotel told me yesterday that one of their guests who had been due to fly out on 7 December could not get a flight until 12th. The guest, who was a regular at Caesars had shown no signs of being upset according to the story teller, “they had plenty of money and loved to gamble”. A relationship born in heaven; one happy guest spending money at one happy casino.

Through my plane porthole I have an astonishing view of the snow-covered country side. Just moments ago we flew over what looked like the Grand Canyon. It had all the right elements; a canyon with a river flowing through it. The air attendant couldn’t confirm if it was indeed the Grand Canyon; shrugging her shoulders with an air of not caring either way. I'm guessing that there are not too many rivers in Nevada and so I am going with Grand Canyon.

Our last day in Vegas was a little more casual with no particular commitments to attend to. Having slept in and following a casual breakfast of pancakes stacked to the ceiling, I attended to a couple of tasks which included locating and retrieving my reading glasses. These I had left on a bus following our return from our trip to the Canyon. Having rendezvoused with the driver from the tour company to collect my lost property we hopped on a local express bus and travelled to the old strip on Fremont Street. Here we found the iconic Vegas casinos of old. Although it was bitterly cold and a little ‘dodgy’ it was a pleasure to see that the city had retained these garish casino fronts from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We got the impression that the Fremont Street casinos are where the pensioners came to gamble and this was supported when we wondered into one in search of a venue for lunch. We also found the cheap food which was of dubious quality. No fresh greens served in these food outlets. While we sat to eat our lunch I was astonished to see Elvis join the lunch line. Ron just rolled his eyes at my excitement pointing out that he had already found several Elvis’ on the streets of the Strip. Not the same I said, as this Elvis was trying to blend in with the ordinary folk. Therefore I concluded he must be the real deal.

Having experienced what Fremont Street had to offer we beat a hasty retreat back to the new strip. Our companions on the bus quickly established a dialogue with us and were keen to provide suggestions for the rest of our trip. One couple lived in Charleston, South Carolina and were a ‘fountain of knowledge’. By the time we came to our exit bus stop, there was not a lot we didn’t know about downtown Charleston.

Alighting from the bus and on the spur of the moment we thought to purchase show tickets for the evening at the discounted shows stall set up on one of the sidewalks. Shania Twain was playing at our hotel and with an early flight to catch the following morning we thought that tickets to her show would be ideal. We got a 50% discount on the tickets and I have to say we got great seats. The Colosseum is the venue where all the big productions are held at Caesars’. It holds 4500 people which is pretty impressive. Shania has been playing at the Colosseum for just on a year. Prior to her show Celine Dion played at this venue for a couple of years. Despite a little initial reluctance from Ron, we thoroughly enjoyed her show and laughed till the tears flowed when she got a diehard fan from Brazil; attending her show for the fourth night in a row; up on stage for a chat and a little singing. If his poor singing wasn’t funny enough, his strong Brazilian accent tipped us over the amusement edge. His division to Shania left you wondering if he was for real.