19 RV miles today, 6,064.8 total

I met with the most interesting man in the world today & Shelby hung out with Justin Timberlake. We explored the various resorts including Mandalay Bay, The Wynn, Caeser’s Palace, The Venetian, Palazzio & Circus Circus. We had lunch at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris way up in the tower overlooking the strip. Hot again today ~ 102 degrees. We took Toby into PetSmart for his grooming and did a little bit ourselves. After dinner in “Thumper,” we headed back down onto the Strip to see Caeser’s Palace, The Mirage watching the volcano erupt & Treasure Island watching the outdoor ship battle.

“The night before I left Las Vegas I walked out in the desert to look at the moon. There was a jeweled city on the horizon, spires rising in the night, but the jewels were diadems of electric and the spires were the neon of signs ten stories high.”–Norman Mailer, An American Dream [1965]

283.5 RV miles today, 6,045.8 total

We left the Grand Canyon early Sunday morning for the 283 mile drive to Las Vegas. On the way, we stopped by Hoover Dam, an incredible man-made feat. We took the tour taking the elevator down to the deep tunnels of the dam. We arrived in Las Vegas in 101 degree temperatures…dry heat but still pretty hot! We took in the Cirque du Soleil performance of “O” at the Belagio & then the impressive water fountain show. Yet another WOW moment of this trip!  We had dinner at the Belagio Cafe & walked around the Strip and then back home to “Thumper.” From Las Vegas Strip at Circus Circus RV Campground, m, b, s & t

 “This morning I came, I saw, and I was conquered, as everyone would be who sees for the first time this great feat of mankind. . . .Ten years ago the place where we gathered was an unpeopled, forbidding desert. In the bottom of the gloomy canyon whose precipitous walls rose to height of more than a thousand feet, flowed a turbulent, dangerous river. . . . The site of Boulder City was a cactus-covered waste. And the transformation wrought here in these years is a twentieth century marvel.” –Speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 30, 1935 at the Dedication of Boulder Dam, September 30, 1935

“I shouldn’t be near Vegas and have money in my pocket.” –Adam Sandler

0 miles today,  3,384 miles total

Toured the opulent resorts along the strip including the Venetian (yes, those pictures are taken indoors), the Palazzio, Treasure Island (Volcanic eruption), The Wynn (floral masterpieces) and Circus Circus. Had brunch at Denny’s overlooking the erupting Vocano of Treasure Island. With 77 degrees & sunny, Beth relaxed by the pool as I just relaxed & pondered this seeming oasis in the desert enigma. We went to the incredible, energized Donny & Marie Show at the Flamingo voted #1 Best Show/Performer/Singers. Afterwards, we had dinner at St. Mark’s Square in the Venetian Resort at Canaletto amid a trio seranade. On to California without a banjo on my knee, m, b & t

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

“Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas.  The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.”  ~Jonathan Clements

“In a city of illusion, where change is what the city does, it’s no wonder Las Vegas is the court of last resort, the last place to start over, to reinvent yourself in the same way that the city does, time after time. For some it works; for some it doesn’t, but they keep coming and trying.”–HAL ROTHMAN, Neon Metropolis

354.4 miles today,  3,384 miles total

Coming into Las Vegas, we stopped in Henderson, Nevada, the corporate headquarters of Dermasensa. We visited the Ethel M Chocolate Factory, whose husband began the Mars, Milky Way, Snickers, M&M craze in the early 20th century. It also has a premier Cactus exhibit. Wandered the Las Vegas strip and saw our first show, Cirque du Soleil Criss Angel, Illusionist, entitled “Believe.”  We went to the Bellagio to see their gorgeous flower exhibits and fountain show. We’re staying at the Circus Circus RV Park, the only RV campground right on the strip. Tomorrow exploring and tickets to Donny & Marie. “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” m, b & t

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.” – Lillian Smith

“Not all those who wander are lost.” –J. R. R. Tolkien