All You Need is LOVE
Wednesday-Saturday June 20-24th, 2007Las Vegas, Nevada
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If I had to pick the one place on earth least likely for Denise and I to visit on our own accord, Las Vegas would probably be it. Neither of us enjoy gambling…the noise, smoke and bright garish colors drive Denise crazy, and the unbelievable heat!
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However, 3 things led us to Vegas…
- Picking up our niece Ella at the airport
- Visiting Hoover Dam
- Attending a performance of ‘Love’, a Beatles themed show by Cirque Du Soleil
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I know traveling like this is sometimes hard on Vance. Although there have been plenty of kids for him to play with in the campgrounds, the constant making and breaking of friendships as we or others pack up and move on is difficult for him. He’s been literally counting the days until Ella joins us, and it will be a sad day when she goes back home when we reach San Francisco in a few weeks. They are much more like brother and sister than cousins, and get along great.
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When we pulled into Kingman, AZ to gas up, Denise checked our messages only to hear a series of increasingly panicky calls to see if we would reach Vegas in time to pick her up the this same evening! Fortunately we connected with Rick and Darva on the phone in time to get everything straightened out, and I was waiting by the gate when Ella, bleary eyed from the long, late flight, finally arrived.
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The show was pure magic – it’s a different style show from a typical Cirque Du Soleil performance. There was not as much emphasis on the acrobatics and contortion acts that Cirque Du Soleil is rightfully famous for, with more focus on dance numbers. But the circus acts are still there, they are just so tightly integrated with the production numbers that you have to pay close attention to even realize sometimes the difficulty of what is being presented.
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It’s an impressive sight, and you can pretty well sum up the whole tacky Vegas experience just by seeing it blow! The kids enjoyed it, although after just having walked out of a Cirque Du Soleil show their sense of the surreal was perhaps a bit overloaded.
The next day was spent touring Hoover Dam, which I’ll talk about at greater length in another post. The high point (literally) was the hottest temperature we’ve recorded yet on the trip, a scorching 116 degrees on top of the dam.
Our 3rd day in Vegas was probably the most miserable of our entire trip. It was so hot that none of us could summon enough energy to go or do anything, so we hung around the camper most of the day like lethargic lizards, trying to cool off.
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All that misery and not one penny had been lost to a slot machine…
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Vance: Las Vegas was horrible. I was miserable in the heat. But we did see a good Beatles ‘LOVE’ show. After the show, we watched the mirage volcano erupt. Our campground didn’t give us much freedom. We are now introducing my cousin Ella on the blog. She came in late on the first night.
The KOA was smack dead in the middle of town. Really it was just concrete and had bad policies. Another thing was all the bad casino air.
REALLY, VEGAS IS JUST AN AWFUL PLACE.
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