We got up extra early that last morning in Vegas as we had a long day driving from Vegas to Yosemite. This is one breakfast we know we want to load up on as we have no plans to stop for lunch until we get to Yosemite.

Since Rio is known as an All-Suite hotel, I figure that they would be worth checking out. The Rio hotel is not located along the The Strip but a few blocks west of the South Las Vegas Blvd. Driving down the Strip, one would not miss noticing the red and blue tower.

The Carnival World Buffet is known to be the first buffet in Las Vegas to have multiple action stations and the buffet that introduces high-end buffets to Las Vegas.

Rio’s buffet is quite cheap compared to Bellagio’s. Here is what I gleaned from their website:

• Breakfast $13.99 plus tax, 7am-11am Mon-Fri, 7:30am - 10:30am Sat-Sun
• Lunch $16.99 plus tax, 11am-3:30pm Mon-Fri
• Dinner $23.99 plus tax, 3:30pm-10pm Nightly
• Saturday & Sunday Champagne Brunch $23.99 plus tax, 10:30am-3:30pm

They have several electronic payment machines, much like an ATM to make your payment. I was very impressed and thought why didn’t the other buffets do this.

We were there early at slightly past 7AM. There were hardly anyone around when we were there.

The buffet tables were the longest we have ever seen. What you see below is just perhaps a quarter of the buffet counters around. They are arranged by themes. The food are more authentic than any we have ever been to.

The fresh carved meats was our favorite station. The meat were just fresh out from the ovens. Don’t you just love it seeing steam rising as they carved the meats? I do.

I know this is breakfast but I just must have the prime roast. I figured this will be the last time we’re gonna have this until we get to Reno … so why not eat to our fill, right?

The normal breakfast fare are also there … french toasts, waffles, pancakes … yummy!

From the chinese section, there were buns and dim sums.

They even have chinese pastries — sesame seed balls.

More stuff …

And these …

They even have churros … the boys like these sugarly sticks.

We simply must have bacon, scrambled eggs and hash browns for breakfast.

Their ice cream selection is the best we have seen. The display is simply mouth watering.

We just had chocolate ones though.

The selections from the pastries section were really fresh made.

For a balanced meal, we felt good also having some fruits.

We enjoyed this buffet a lot because we practically had the entire buffet to ourselves. There were no jostling with the crowds although we read that this is one of the busiest buffets in Vegas.

Despite all the claims from every buffet as being the best, Rio is widely recognized as the best buffet in Vegas. I would not disagree.

So, here it is … the last blog entry of our stay in Vegas. Like they say … “What Happened in Vegas … Ends Up On The Internet”.

Cheers! :-)

Our original plan was to try that go-just-before-they-change-menu stunt at the Flamingo’s Buffet. I had thought that they operate the the same way as the other buffets which they change their lunch spread to dinner spread at about 4′ish every day. It would have been absolutely awesome as we wanted to be able to watch live flamingos in a lush garden while enjoying our buffet. But … their brunch ends at 2:30PM and then re-opens at 4:30PM for dinner. Shoot! They are closed for two hours in between meal times.

We did not have a Plan B. So, the closest nice place we can think of is Bally’s across the street. From the looks outside and the name itself, it seemed like a nice place for a buffet. We had no idea what this looked like. It was pretty hot that day and we did not feel like hotel hopping to scout for a better buffet. Moreover, our intention is still to pull the 4PM menu-change stunt and we are running out of time. Bally’s it was.

We’ve been spoilt. I can’t help but comparing the Bally’s Big Kitchen Buffet to Paris’ and Bellagio’s. For one, they don’t have long queues. When we walked in just before 4PM, there were no one at the cashier’s and only a few tables were taken.

The buffet tables had a very simple layout. It’s located in a corner section of the dining room. Price wise, it was $64 for the four of us.

They were pretty generous with the Prime Roast and sliced a thick piece even without us asking for a extra thick one. Needless to say, Arkensen and I had several of this.

At least Bally’s also had crabs on the buffet. They are not Alaska King Crabs but am not sure what they are. It was great with melted butter. It’s always messy eating crabs but we had fun.

The prawns were surprisingly quite fresh and nice.

They also had fried prawns. Very crispy … so crispy that I ate the prawns whole … tail and all.

The mussels were big but a bit dry. We did not like it much. All the mussels we had in Las Vegas are nothing to shout about.

The Big Kitchen also had a Mexican selection. We are not big fans of Mexican food but found that Tamale looked unique. Tried it … it was just OK … we still have not acquire the Mexican taste.

Meatballs were the boys favourite.

The fried chicken is like a staple for us — we simply must try a piece of it every time we see one on the buffet.

What do you call this type of stuffed pasta? We always have trouble remembering all the various types of pastas. We know what is spaghettini, fettuccine, fusili, manicotti, penne and I guess that’s about it.

Nanzaro loved their onion rings.

We see quite a lot of pastry that is quite similar to those we found in Paris’ Le Village Buffet. Both Bally’s and Paris are sister hotels and we saw some kitchen workers with Paris logo on their uniform here.

Someone commented on this blog telling me what this is … this is canoli, right? I love this.

Anything chocolatey is always nice.

I liked the look of this. Like a mini cheese burger.

No idea what this one is.

In all, this buffet is not overly exciting. There are no creativity at all — just a simple buffet focusing on good food. With better planning, we would have perhaps tried another buffet.

We finally picked up a rental car for the rest of our vacation. Initially we wanted to drive to the Grand Canyon but decided against it after I learned that it is 300 miles from Vegas to the South Rim. What a bummer … we’ll definitely do that as a separate trip next time.

Instead, we went to the Hoover Dam. It is just less than an hour east of Vegas.

Let’s talk about car rentals first, OK? I rented a compact online and gotten the cheapest at that time from Travelocity for an Avis car. We wanted to pick up the car from Vegas and drop it off in Reno. That came to an average of $30 per day (well, it’s more expensive because our drop off point is different from the pickup location). Anyway …

First comment … I learned that it’s actually cheaper if you pick up the car from the city/hotel than if you pick it up from the airport. So, we picked the car up from the Avis location at The Venetian on the Strip.

Secondly … car rentals are way cheaper in the US than in Canada. While the rates looked cheap, what is expensive is the insurance (something called the Collision Damage Waiver) that adds up quite significantly to the rates. I declined getting it because firstly I have a travel credit card that specifically gives me such coverage and also I have Roadstar coverage from ICBC. I think I did the right thing. Car Rental companies make their money primarily from selling the insurances, I believe. I always had to deal with sour faces when I decline their coverage. So, tell me, what do you do regarding CDW when you rent a car?

Anyway, the car was great.

Getting to the Hoover Dam was easy enough. With now a car, our first stop was at Safeway to load up on snacks and drinking water. Driving into Hoover Dam area, we had to pass through a security checkpoint. We were surprised at the amount of traffic.

We parked at the multi-storey car park (on the Nevada side of the dam). It was expensive, $7. It was only later that I learn there are free open parking areas at the Arizona side.

From the car park, it was just a short walk to the main reception area of the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam is a very popular tourist destination with thousands of visitors every day.

The Hoover Dam conducts a short Power Plant Tour. These tours costs $11 for adults and $6 for school children.

The tour follows the same program found in many national parks, etc … started off with a film about the dam and the constructions.

We were then taken down deep into the dam …

… saw the turbines that provides power to Nevada, Arizona and particularly California.

We also went to the old visitor centre to listen to a presentation on dams in Nevada and California. The way this was presented was so old fashion, that I felt like I was in the 50s or 60s. The scale model of the dams in the surrounding areas were really interesting.

The Hoover Dam is the second highest dam in the US. Taking this picture below makes my knees weak … I had to lean over the railing so that I could include the base of the dam. Although it is just a plain wall, the immense size of it is a sight to behold.

Las Vegas and Phoenix would not have been what it is today if not for the Hoover Dam.

The dam created a reservoir called Lake Mead which backs out over 100 miles from the dam. Considering that this was once just a river, it is amazing how much water this dam retained behind this dam. I can’t recall exactly but I think it took something like 18 months after the construction of the dam to fill it to the capacity it is designed to hold.

Outside the dam there were some interesting memorials and monuments. We did not spend much time reading them because it was so hot. Well, despite all the water we see, the Hoover Dam is located in a desert.

We were wondering if the water from the drinking fountain were directly from the water behind the dam.

Half of the dam is located in Nevada and the other in Arizona. We just had to take a picture of this. The boys protested that this looks stupid but we forced them to anyway (he he he … because Suanne and I thought it was stupid for us to be in that picture too!).

Wow … guess what, our vacation not only covered Nevada and California but we can even say we were also in Arizona. :-)

The Dam also serves as a crossing for Route 93. Before this visit, I did not realize that it is a major roadway too. I know that dams are always high security areas and generally does not allow cars to be driven across it. I guess this is because when the dam was built eons ago, there were not much security concerns.

So, the US government expedited the construction of a bypass road after the 9-11 attacks which will divert traffic from the Hoover Dam. So, if you want to experience driving across the dam, then you should do this before this massive bridge is completed.

This bypass road is scheduled to be completed by 2010. It is going to be one of the tallest bridges around and can imagine it to be quite a sight. Looking at this, I was thinking if they one day organize a bungee jump from this bridge, I might just do it.

We decided to go to Paris for another buffet in the morning. To me, Paris is one of the classiest hotels on The Strip. Its very well planned and especially for one who had been to Paris recently, I could related to many of the designs in this hotel, in particular the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Fountain and Louvre.

The interior is designed like you’re walking down a cobbled Paris street in an evening. I love that feeling especially in the front entrance and the casino area where it does not feel overwhelmingly casino-ey.

The Le Village Buffet came highly recommended from a lot of friends as being the best buffet. It is one of the expensive ones, like Bellagio.

MammaViv told us that once they went to Le Village at 10:30AM and ended up having both breakfast and lunch at the same time. This is because Le Village changes their breakfast spread to lunch at 11:00AM. So, we decided to give that tactic a try to land a larger choices of buffet items for a lower breakfast price.

I thought I had timed it well. Well, I thought if I had gotten to Le Village by 10:15AM, I would have been OK to be able to get in by 10:30AM. To my surprise, the buffet line was already long at that time when we got there! Comparing this line with Bellagio’s, I estimated that it will take 30 minutes or even longer to get in. Fortunately, the line went faster than I anticipated and left us time to sample their breakfast spread.

The bill was $64 for the 4 of us. It’s more expensive for lunch but don’t have the numbers. I think it’s really cheap after what we had spent for Bellagio’s dinner buffet.

Everyone would love how Le Village is setup. It is designed like a French village square. You get a choice of sitting “out” in the courtyard or in one of the “buildings” along the sides. We were shown the “outdoor” table — just what we wanted.

Even though we learned that the buffet tables were organized by provincial cooking style in France, I did not even pay attention to it at all.

I like that they came by with a flask of coffee just as we sat down even without us asking for it. Suanne and I need our coffee every morning.

Oh, I expected to be greeted in French … well, at least a Bon Jour. The only frenchy thing about the waitress was her uniform.

You know what disappointed me the most? They don’t serve baguette! I was so looking forward to trying good old French baguette here and was pretty sure they would have it — but no, none at all. I guess behind the facade, this is also very much an American breakfast.

Well, this is French right?

I wouldn’t have taken the items below myself. Arkensen took these items. I am trying to figure out what type of food he really likes by setting him off alone to pick his food. They all looked dry to me. The croissant with ham looked good though.

Our (Suanne and I) strategy is to share our food for the first two rounds and then free for all after that. That way we can taste as many different types of food we want and towards the end, we both can go for seconds for our own favourite food. That works out OK for us except that I, er, dictated what we get or not get on the first two rounds! I should have said that it worked out for me. :-)

Some pretty mushroom pastry below. Tastes good and looks very nice.

You tell me … is Egg Benedict a French invention?

There are several live-action stations. Our favourite is the crepes cooking station. It was great watching them make it and reminded of the ones I had in Paris a few months ago. Did you know that crepe originated from France? I did not but I do now.

I asked for a chocolate and banana crepe. It was while they were making it I realize that there is a difference between chocolates and Nutella. Well, I saw the people ahead of me having lots of chocolatey looking stuff in their crepe and I just had just a few squishes of chocolate on it. That will NOT work for me.

After the cook had finished wrapping up my crepe, I asked him to unwrap it and put in Nutella too. He did better than that. Instead of unwrapping it which makes the crepe cool down fast, he gave me a good smattering of Nutella on top of the crepe, and top it with icing sugar.

Man! That was the best crepe Suanne and I ever had. They were so good that we wanted so much to go for another round. We did not because it was so big and eating another one would have been at the expense of the lunch spread that is being brought out.

Another live cooking station is the omelette station. It’s always great being able to choose all your favourite ingredients and see your perfect omelette made on the spot. Makes you salivate as you watch, right?

I learn something new today … that omelette is known to have been first made by Napolean Bonaparte which makes this a French dish. So, Le Village is quite a Frenchy place after all.

Well, I am sure the stuff below are not Frenchy.

This might qualify for being frenchy … I can’t recall what’s in this crepe. Looked like it’s some pre-wrapped ones.

Oh, cheese. Someone told me they have 30 types of cheeses but we see only less than half a dozen. Maybe it’s because it’s breakfast time. Any experts who can tell us … at what mealtimes are cheese normally consumed?

Anyone can tell me what this is? It looked pretty.

Arkensen and I had lots of roast beef. We went for seconds.

We also had some mussels. There is something about mussels outside of Vancouver. In Vancouver, we had always had very big fleshy ones but the ones we had outside of Vancouver is really small. Even the ones I had in Brussels which I would had expected it to be bigger (i.e. better).

Like Bellagio’s, the dessert selection in Le Village is vast and every single item looked very pleasing. Suanne went for the cheesecakes first.

The tarts were certainly very colourful. Thin pastry with lots of fruits.

Chocolate Mousse — with a piece of logo chocolate chip.

Creme Brulee and Custard … always a favourite in the clan.

What would you call this? Blackberry Custard?

We had a great meal at Le Village and it was fun too. We would rate this buffet several notch above Belaggio’s. If not for our plan to hit different buffets on our trip, we would have returned here for dinner. We’ll certainly come back one day.

This one you must try … and go at least 30 minutes before they change from breakfast to lunch. You pay less for two the selection. Thanks for the tip MammaViv.

Vive la France!

If you don’t have a car to get around, which we did not, the best way is to get a 24 hour Deuce Access Pass. The Deuce is double-decker buses that ply up and down The Strip. They even go to other routes but we did not try taking those routes at all — doing that complicates my life. I like simplicity — the best bus routes just runs up and down a single simple route.

I think you can only buy the passes on these machines next to the bus stop. Mind you, we don’t see these machines in all bus stops. We just had one conveniently located right in front of the hotel.

Like all-you-can-eat buffets, the Deuce 24 Hour All Access Pass is a all-you-can-ride pass. This is not just a day pass but is valid for 24 hours. Each 24 hour pass costs $5. If you want a single ride pass to anywhere along the route, it’s $2. If you feign disable, you get to pay only $1 — how’s that?

If you don’t have a car, trust me, you want this.

I don’t know what it is with double deckers to our family. I guess it runs in the genes. For some reason, we always MUST travel on the upper deck. If the upper deck is full, we rather wait for the next with which wasn’t.

And preferably, the uppper deck front row seats. They gives the best’est views don’t you think?

Let me digress a little bit and talk about food and drinks. We came across this building along the Strip with large Coca-Cola and M&M “thingy”. Being food bloggers, we can’t pass up the chance to at least visit this place. I cannot forgive myself if people ask me if I had been to the Coca-Cola and M&M place and I answer “Huh? What Coca-Cola? What M&Ms?”

This is located next to the MGM Grand resort.

The World of Coca-Cola here is a disappointment. This is especially so since I had just visited the (old) one in Atlanta. I’ve blogged about the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta … click here if you care to read of that one.

A trip to the World of Coca-Cola is meaningless without being able to taste all their products. Here it costs $7 to do that and when we were there it was not even operating. I would be out of my mind to pay $7 x 4 just to have all-you-can-drink soda. No siree!

Now, M&Ms is something else. Never in my wildest imagination would I thought that the humble M&M can actually take up four floors of mechandise. I am impressed … and will forever look at M&Ms in a different light. This is like a life changing trip for me. :-)

They sell every imaginable souveniors. I am not exaggerating to say that they have more products for sale than a normal souvenior shop. And all of them bears the M&M brand. Awesome.

I was so tempted to buy some of these colorful items but I know I would have problems carrying this on the plane on the way home. I fancy making my work area at home into mini M&M wonderland.

There is even a free 3D movie. The movie was created especially for M&M World … it’s called “I Lost My M in Las Vegas”. Nanzaro love that show a lot. Don’t ask me what the show is about … I slept throughout the show and so did Suanne! :-) Hot weather + tired feet + cold airconditioned room + comfortable seats + dark room = sleep.

I am disappointed. They did not give us any free samples! They should, right?

OK, back to buses …

The buses were super comfortable especially in these hot-hot days. They are air-conditioned. We actually enjoyed this one particular trip where there was a massive jam and the bus took forever to inch it’s way up north — it was a great time to catch 30 minutes of sleep. Believe it or not, I did not want to get off the bus … but I did … sigh …

I love Las Vegas buses and 3D Movies! :-)

Really, this is unplanned for! Although we had planned for buffets in Las Vegas we had just wanted to get a small(er) meal for dinner. Well, walking down Fremont Street we can’t help but notice a sign that said $7.77 All Day Every Day Buffet. After spending almost $30 per head the previous two days, this is a bargain we can’t resist. No harm right? At the very least, we could just go in and check it out.

This was at the Plaza Hotel Casino and the Buffet is called the Lucky 7’s Buffet.

Bad move … first we see a long queue into the buffet which means one thing … that this is popular. And then checking what they served, oh boy, this is exactly what we like. Lots of meat and some comfort food. The boys love these no frills buffet … i.e. they enjoy sushi, burgers, fries, beef over crabs, seafood, and such.

One cannot compare this buffet in any form with The Buffet at Bellagio — not in any stretch of imagination. It’s just a simple buffet … why, even the buffet we had at Ole Country Buffet is posh compared to this. :-) Still, they have more food choices than I would care to try everything.

Arkensen and I loves meat … particularly roast prime beef … and only medium rare. This is really juicy and had the perfect amount of fat.

Absolutely gorgeous? I know, I know … some people find it a bit too rare. Come to think of it, this does look raw, doesn’t it? They are absolutely delicious, I kid you not.

More meat! We also had BBQ Pork Ribs. This was awesome … we had seconds. Of all the buffets we had in Nevada and California, this is the only one we came across BBQ Pork Ribs. I wonder why the rest does not serve this.

Simple tomato baked beans.

What fish is this? He he he … I can only recognize salmons. Anyway, this is cooked in teriyaki sauce.

Nice crispy fried chicken. The best part is the skin … I just love fried crunchy chicken skin. You know, I think this buffet is very much like southern cooking type — don’t you think so?

Oh yeah, they even have cooking stations … for burgers and hotdogs. Suanne and I stayed away from this but the boys had so much fun gobbling down the burger and fries. I had a bite … they were pretty good.

Nanzaro had the Chili Dog. The bun was so flimsy the entire bun fell apart. It was a mess.

Dessert was underwhelming here. Suanne had her favourite cheesecake, if you can call it that. There’s hardly any cheese in this … mostly flour cake, if you ask me.

Is there a name for this? I like this a lot. If you can tell me the name, I’ll try to look up the recipe on the internet and cajole Suanne to make this sometime soon!! :-)

Ice cream in a cone … now, why didn’t the buffet chefs think about this. I mean, they would have been absolutely perfect if they offer chocolate coated waffle cones at buffets.

Overall, this was a great meal … great value for money too. $7.77 … you can’t beat that for value.

BTW, how much do one normally tip for buffets? We normally just tip $1 per person, or $2 if the service is good. But that is for a $30 buffet … do one tip lesser for a $7,77 buffet?

We took a bus to Fremont Street one evening. Fremont Street is located in downtown Las Vegas. Because of the glitter in The Strip, one can quite easily confuse The Strip as being downtown. Fremont Street is where the first casinos in Las Vegas ware opened — the place where it all began with the first gambling license issued in the 1930s.

It is here that where the original and famous Las Vegas are located: Binion’s Horseshoe, Eldorado, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget and Pioneer Club.

Fremont Street is now a pedestrian mall. Back in 1994, the street was closed to install the now famous lighted canopy on Fremont in response to the intense competition from the glitzier hotels on The Strip. This makes Fremont Street definitely more comfortable walking with wide walkways and lots of things to see and do. We simply love being here … just standing there and absorb the sound and lights and people watching. Collectively this is known now as the Fremont Street Experience.

We enjoyed the free concerts on permanent sound stages that they set up.

When the sky goes dark, that’s when the spectacular canopy lights up with the largest light display in the world. The canopy stretches 4 blocks in all and is lighted by over 10 million LED light bulbs. There are five different light shows every night. All the casino lights were switched off before the show began.

The show was mesmerizing. We only caught one show as we wanted to get back to the hotel before it gets too late. The show we caught was called the American Freedom … it was a very patriotic show.

The tough thing is taking the bus back to The Strip. I should have guessed … everyone will be going for the same limited buses immediately after the show. The bus was absolutely packed and the driver had a tough time getting people not to board. At almost every stop the bus had to stop for 5 minutes to organize everyone. We’re OK because we manage to get seats for ourselves.

Las Vegas is not only about casinos … it is also known as the buffet capital of the world. There must be dozens of buffets all over the city in various types. There are buffets that costs under $10 and there are those that costs up to $40.

We decided to try The Buffet at Bellagio because they claim to be the best (and one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive) in Las Vegas. Whatever it is, two words describes Bellagio best — High Elegance.

The Buffet at Bellagio serves American, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Seafood cuisine. The attraction is their Alaska King Crabs and Kobe Beef. We had never tried Kobe Beef before but only found out that they only serve Kobe Beef on weekends.

We were at The Buffet at about 5:00pm which we thought is early before the queue starts. We were wrong. Even at 5pm there was a line which stretches out to the entrance. The wait was supposed to be about 45 minutes from where we were.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, someone gave us their Line Pass which allows us to get on the shorter line. We got in in just 3 minutes in the shorter line. We were pretty pleased with it. He he he … we felt pretty important too.

Here are the rates for The Buffet:

• Breakfast 7am-11am: $14.95
• Lunch 11am-4pm: $19.95
• Dinner 4pm-10pm: $27.95
• Sat & Sun Champagne Brunch 7am-4pm:

• without champagne: $23.95
• with champagne: $28.95

Fri & Sat Gourmet Dinner 4pm-10pm: $35.95

There are no discount rates for children at The Buffet. All kids pay full price!! Obviously they deliberately do this to discourage families eating here.

The buffet islands and counters were bright and clean. We had a first visual sweep of the entire area and had a tough time deciding where to start. For sure, there are no way we could try everything that is available as much as we try to get only bite size servings as much as we can.

At the dining area, the seating, tables and lightings were comfortable, not plush. However, the table settings were good … no paper napkins, silverware and such. Oh well, we are here more for the food.

Service was prompt and they kept our glasses filled and took our plates away as soon as we’re done.

To us, The buffet is spectacular and simply the best we had ever tried. Here are the pictures of some of the food we had.

I started off with a quail. It did not have much flesh and was very boney, sharp ones too.

Arkensen and Nanzaro headed first for the sushi.

Too bad there were no Kobe Beef but the Prime Roast was in perfect pinkish medium rare. It was some of the best I had ever tried. We went back for seconds. Yummy!

The star of the day for me was the Alaska King Crab. They went very fast but they kept replenishing it fast enough to keep up with the demand.

They thoughtfully sliced the crab legs into half so that we don’t have to bother cracking them open. The legs were not puny ones … they were up to 1.5 feet in length.

The shrimp were big, fresh and fleshy. I would have wanted more but because there were simply too much of the rest to try.

I have no idea what this is called or even am certain what this is. I think this is some kind of fish.

The broth of the mussels were quite good but the mussels were disappointingly small.

Alrighty … it had been so long already since we had this buffet, we had so little recollection of what we ate! Anyway, enjoy some of the pictures below …

Shrimp wrapped in wonton wrappers. Pretty unique.

Some pasta from the Italian section.

They even had pizzas … this one is spinach pizza.

Fish … can you figure out what this is?

Ice-cream were pretty normal.

They had very pretty dessert bar. We only managed to try less than 50% of what they had on display.

Brownies …

Creme Brulee …

Fruit Tarts …

Unique Lemon Meringue …

Cream Puff …

Cakes …

What do you call this?

And this?

While it was a great buffet, I do think this buffet is overpriced. We enjoyed this a lot … and all of us gave it 5 out of 5. We notice that despite all the food we had, we did not really feel overstuffed … you know, the kind of regret one gets after overeating? We took 1.5 hours in all.

After the buffet we walked around Bellagio to check out their famous interiors. In the lobby, the ceiling were adorned with over 2000 colorful hand-blown glass flowers.

Just past the lobby, there is the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The displays are changed out several times a year and reflect the current season.

Oh boy, was it a scorcher!

It was 45C when we landed. We knew how hot it will be as it was all over the news that Las Vegas almost hit 50C days prior to our arrival. When we stepped out of the air conditioned airport, it was still a shock. There was blustery wind but it made things worse because the wind made us felt like we’re in a furnace.

We took a cab from the airport to the hotel. I wanted the cab driver to drive through The Strip but part of the street was shutdown because there was a fire at the top floor of the Venetian Hotel. So, he took the longer way through the highway. On the off ramp, the taxi was rear-ended by a SUV. I had a bit of a whiplash but the rest of the family was OK. The driver claimed he had a bump on his forehead but I think he’s trying to make a big fuss out of it. What a way to start a vacation!

A new cab came by to take us to the hotel. The good thing is that the cab company decided not to charge us for the trip which came up to about $25. Now … what a way to start a vacation right?

We stayed at the Circus Circus which is about one of the two kid friendly hotels in Las Vegas. The bad thing about this hotel is that it’s located almost at the northern most part of The Strip. This hotel is very old and is almost 40 years old. I think it’s only a matter of time before they implode this hotel and build a new one on this site.

Compared to the newer hotels, this hotel does show its age. We chose this primarily it’s kid friendly and its now exorbitantly expensive (about $75 per day for a double queen room). Like most hotels in Las Vegas, this hotel is huge. It’s a long walk from the front entrance to the tower block.

This hotel is used for the filming the James Bond’s Diamond Are Forever and Baby Geniuses. There is an indoor amusement park called Adventuredome in this hotel. We decided not to take on any rides here since we’ll be going to the Great America park the following week.

There is a free circus performance about every hour or so. We managed to catch a 10 minute contortionist act at the Midway. There are very limited seating available. We had to reserve the seat 30 minutes before the show.

After checking out the hotel, we decided to brave the heat and walk The Strip. I can’t believe how dry it was. I mean, just barely 3 minutes out of the hotel, I can feel the dryness — it was really bad for the skin and the nose. There were quite a few vendors selling bottled water for $1 each (which costs 30 cents if one get it from Safeway). So, we decided to dive into McDonalds to get our drinks because they have all you can drink soda bar!

Suanne and I tried their Iced Coffee. I think it’s a new product in McDonalds and came in several flavours. We tried Hazelnut and Vanilla. The Hazelnut Iced Coffee was particularly good — I like it a lot and had this several times throughout the entire vacation.

With drinks in hand, we started our long trek down The Strip. On the map, it seems like a manageable stretch but it is 4 miles (6 km). Even in good weather, it is still a long walk. There seems to be a lot of traffic at all hours of the day. I like the simple layout here … it’s just a long stretch. It’s very exciting walking down the stretch and lots of photo opportunities. We started off from the north of The Strip and planned to walk down to Bellagio for a meal before going as far south as we can for the day.

The Strip is very pedestrian friendly with numerous connector footbridges between hotels. In some locations, there were mist showers but it was quite useless in this weather.

The Frontier is one of the oldest hotels on The Strip and was built during the Second Wold War — oh wow. This sign on the front said that this hotel will be closed forever in a few days. Without saying, this hotel will be imploded and over the next few years will be a new hotel in its site.

We came to learn of the following names while here — MGM Mirage and Steve Wynn. We had always thought that most of the hotels along the Strip were separately owned hotels but many of them were controlled by just a few corporations. Treasure Island is owned by the MGM Mirage.

Treasure Island is one of the most exciting hotels and is famous of their free “Sirens of TI” performance every night. We wanted to catch the show but did not manage to get to it in time. Anyway, it was extremely crowded when we walked past in the middle of the show.

We just walked past Wynn, which obviously is another hotel built by Steve Wynn. It had a very simple design. Up close it is an imposing building. Because of it’s sheer size and simplicity, one would not have known that this is 60 stories high.

Our next stop was the Forum Shops at Caesars. It was a good respite from the heat. They have indoor fountains and lots of seats with great view of the intricate interiors. Suanne and I took a seat while we let the boys roam the shops — they have more energy than us.

What struck me was their spiral escalators — first time I have actually seen one. It was pretty cool.

We also went to the moving statute free show. Suanne and I was was here 15 years ago and caught the same show. The good part of the show is that we get to sit down and recover in an air conditioned place! We can’t get a single word out of this show — and trust me, it’s very boring.

The Venetian is the classiest hotel to Suanne and I. We simply love this hotel the most. It had canals, lakes and so much to discover at every nook and cranny. It is also not overly casino-ey. What we appreciated a lot when we asked for directions is that they pointed us the way around the casino since we had two kids in tow.

This hotel is still half completed. Once fully completed, the Venetian will be the largest hotel complex in the world with 7000 rooms.

The Mirage is another hotel built by Steve Wynn. It is best known for the Siegfried & Roy’s show but since the white tiger attack incident, there is only one white tiger on show.

The Mirage is best well know for the free Erupting Volcano show at night. Suanne and I had seen this before 15 years ago. Back then it was pretty exciting but watching this again now, it is quite boring — Arkensen and Nanzaro felt the same way too.

Another hotel by Steve Wynn and MGM Mirage, the Bellagio is perhaps the most elegant hotel on The Strip. This is the place we had the first of our ten (yes, TEN!) buffets on this vacation. We’ll blog about the buffet tomorrow.

The fountain shows on the lake are a major free attraction and provide a romantic ambiance for couples walking along the strip. It’s hard to believe this vast man-made lake is right in the middle of a desert. While waiting for the fountain show to start, I was thinking how much water is required to fill this lake and how much precious water is evaporated every hour.

Having just visited Paris earlier this year, I was drawn to this new hotel. There is an actual replica of the Eiffel Tower which one can take a car to the top. When it was first designed, the builder (Harrah’s) had wanted to make a full size replica but were forced to scale it down because of the proximity of the airport. This Eiffel Tower here is half the height of the original. We had a buffet here too — thanks to the tip given by MammaViv.

Monte Carlo — we just walked past this hotel. I think this is a badly designed hotel. You could not really see the hotel from the street having being blocked by the small albeit pretty entrance. Something tells me this hotel does not cater for the masses and is full of luxurious private suites.

The Flamingo is another old hotel. Despite its age, it is pretty well kept up to date although it does lack the ambiance of the new hotels around it. I have always remembered this hotel because Suanne and I had one of our best pictures taken in front of it a decade and half ago. Back then there were a lot of empty spaces around this hotel but now it is hemmed in all round.

The traffic at the southern end of The Strip is much lighter with wider road and no construction. We enjoyed this stretch as the crowds are much lesser.

The Excalibur, another MGM Mirage hotel, is based on King Arthur’s theme with castles and colourful turrets. It has perhaps the most dreamy facade of all hotels. We had initially wanted to stay in this hotel. While the rates were reasonable, the reviews found on the internet for this hotel was quite bad.

New York New York is impressive and exciting. It had a very busy look with even a high roller coaster which travels both interior and exterior of the hotel. The icons of NY was very visible … the Statute of Liberty, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge. While this hotel was built before the 9-11 attacks, it does not include the Twin Towers.

Last but not least, the MGM Grand is imposing because of its bright green face. One could pick this hotel out from anywhere because of the striking color. It’s one of the biggest hotels on the Strip.

Well, how’s this for a blog entry? It’s amazing how much grounds we covered on our first day in Las Vegas. Needless to say, we were dead tired by the time we got back to the hotel. One day down, twelve more to go!

Tell me about your favourite hotels on The Strip …

We had originally planned for a road trip this summer to North California but decided to change our plans when we found cheap airfares out from Bellingham, WA to Las Vegas. I came across it quite accidentally when I heard over the radio of the news that a lot of Vancouverites had been coming over to Bellingham for cheap flights.

Although the airport is called the Bellingham International Airport, I don’t think they have scheduled flights to airports outside of the US. It’s a small airport really and that means that checking in and out is so much more faster and easy.

The flight tickets we bought were just $89 one way from Bellingham to Vegas. We decided to fly Bellingham-Vegas on our way there and take a return flight from Reno (which was just $39 or $59 depending on the day of travel), Taxes and all came up to about another 20% more. They do charge $3 for each baggage checked in. All in all, it’s a good deal — I figured it could be actually cheaper to fly than to drive from Vancouver to Las Vegas. You should check out their prices on their website … you’ll be surprised I’m sure.

One thing though … you need to be careful about all the additional charges they put on. I am not surprised because this is a no frills fare they are selling. For instance, if you book the flight ticket over their website, they will charge you $7.50 convenience fee, It is not charged if you buy it from the ticketing counter at the airport. To select a seat of your choice, it will be an additional $11. If you want a choice seat, you have to check-in early … at least 2 hrs early.

Everything about this flight is really basic. You don’t even board the planes via aerobridges but a walk-up stairs. Gosh … the only time I had boarded a plane via stairs were in Phnom Phen, Cambodia about 10 years ago!

The flight was smooth and pretty short. It took about 2.5 hours only. We were quite late checking in and got seats on the last two rows. The last row had no views at all … the engine was just by the window.

Can anyone recognize the mountain below? The give-away is the half crater.

They don’t serve anything for free at all during the flight … you have to pay even for a bottle of water.

Nanzaro loves the airline snack boxes I bring home from my business trips. So when he learned that they also have snack boxes for sale inflight, I just knew he wanted one. Each box costs $5.

Allegiant Air’s Snack Boxes were no where compared to United’s which costs the same (see here and here for United’s Snack Box review). They are all very dry snacks and simply not worth the money. You should bring along your own snacks.

Just before we landed, the stewardess organized a raffle on board. Everyone who wanted to participate have to write their seat number on a dollar bill and put it in a bag they pass around. The winner takes all the money in the bag (about $80!).

As we land we can pick out some of the hotels on The Strip. The LAS airport is just about 5 minutes from the Strip which I think is awesome.

Allegiant Air is an airline based in Las Vegas. You should check out their airfares on their website (http://www.allegiantair.com/). What I like about the website is that they show you a table of the prices by a range of days so that you can see at a glance all the options available.