Viva Las Vegas 2000!

We made our first official visit to vegas in june 2000, with arizona sandwiched in between.

The strip is now bigger and better than ever (check out my vegas strip pics), but a lot of old time vegas is gone or forgotten. Even ol' vegas vic (click here) is barely noticed in the decrepit downtown area around fremont street. You'll find volcanos and pirate battles, but would have to look pretty hard to find the famous showgirls of old vegas.

Since we like to try a little of everything, we spread out our five nights in town by staying at the paris on our first night, followed by the mandalay bay and new york new york upon our return from arizona. The best pool is at mandalay bay, which has several: a wave machine, a circular river-style pool with a nicely moving current, and also private pools with cabanas (check out my mandalay bay pics). Best casino was a tie between new york new york and paris, both of which make you feel like you're outdoors in that city.

Also visited the following casinos: golden nugget, sahara, mirage, treasure island, bally's, tropicana, casino royale, the venetician, harrah's, caesar's palace, bellagio, luxor, excalibur, rio, flamingo. Five days of gambling on mostly $5 blackjack tables: lost about $200. Not too bad!

Of course, gambling wasn't the only thing to do. We sampled the food at emeril's new orleans fish house and at wolfgang puck's flagship restaurant, spago. We also attended the wheel of fortune game show and were even chosen to play a puzzle (but had absolutely no clue). Here is the puzzle, it's a place:

_ _ S _ _ _ L L
D _ _ M _ N D

click here for the answer