As much as I was enjoying our cross country RV trip, I’ve gotta be honest, I was looking forward to a few days in a hotel room in Vegas. There is actually one RV park located right on the strip, belonging to Circus Circus hotel, but the bizarre thing is that it’s actually cheaper to stay in the hotel mid-week than in the RV park, so it seemed rude not to take advantage.
Our route took us right past the famous Zion National Park, so we took a diversion through it to break up the five hour journey. Zion has become the fourth most visited National Park in America, overtaking even Yellowstone and Yosemite. They come here mainly for the impressive sandstone canyon, and you can also ride a free shuttle bus from the visitor centre in Springdale, all the way to the Temple Of Sinawava at the other end of the canyon. Unfortunately we didn’t have time for the two hour round trip, so we settled for a scenic drive through the park instead. And it is quite a drive. There are 26 miles of winding, mountainous highway via narrow switchbacks and dusty trails. The scenery is fantastic as you pass huge towering rock formations in multi-coloured strata of reds, oranges and yellows. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – every single national park in America has a completely new and mind blowing look to it, and Zion is no exception. You can even drive through the original Mt. Carmel tunnel which was constructed in the 1920s. This 5000 foot long tunnel obviously wasn’t built with enormous American RVs in mind, and if you are over 11 foot tall you have to pay an extra $15 fee to halt the oncoming traffic while you drive through in the centre of the archway.
We briefly crossed the state line from Utah back into Arizona, before eventually making our way into Nevada and our destination of Las Vegas. Unfortunately, our now resident stomach bug had made its way from the kids into its next victim, Kate. After checking in, the kids and I grabbed some dinner and blew some money in the hotel arcade while my poor wife spent some quality time no more than a few metres dash from our hotel bathroom.
This hotel is pretty old, and to be fair is also fairly unappealing when compared to the myriad glitzy offerings up and down the strip. The rooms are large and clean, but old and slightly dingy. But it is the cheapest of the proper Vegas hotels. So, compared to the RV park, we save a bit of money, get two queen size beds and a proper bathroom. Sounds like a deal! And, as the stomach bug really got to grips with Kate over the next 36 hours, I’m pretty sure she was glad of the proper flushing toilet – the timing couldn’t have been better!
The other benefit of this hotel is that it was specifically designed for families, and has an indoor circus, several arcades, several pool and water slides, and the real attraction – a full sized indoor theme park complete with rollercoasters and air conditioning!
For our first full day in Sin City, our first port of call (after school, booo) was one of the cities many indoor shooting ranges. It sounds daft, but what better way to blow off a bit of steam than shoot some guns, right! Well, maybe it’s just me then. But the kids were really excited to have a go too. I managed to find the only range in the city that advertised allowing 8 year olds loose with a gun, and headed there first. The normal age here is 10+, so finding a range that would happily let Hunter loose with an automatic weapon was a bonus, and I thought I’d push my luck a bit further by persuading them to let Bam have a go too. Although not too keen at first, he relented and said that if she was up for it then we could give it a go. He explained that the gun range is a noisy and intimidating environment, and that he regularly had grown men leaving in tears having underestimated their own abilities. Well, I guess he’d never come across a seven year old like Bam before!
Bam went first with the Glock 44 pistol, followed by the 15-22 assault rifle, and totally aced it. She cut quite a figure in her little pink crop top and glittery sandals, although she had to take her tiara off to put the ear defenders on!
Hunter had the same selection of guns and absolutely loved it. The instructor was blown away by how well the kids did, and by now felt much more at ease with his decision to let them on the range in the first place.
Now it was my go. I wanted to shoot the largest calibre hand gun they had, the .500 Smith & Wesson magnum. And what a handful that was, I mean the noise that thing made was astonishing. I couldn’t quite comprehend why you would want a handgun this big, until I learned they were for protection against the largest of North American predators, the Grizzly. And I reckon if I was caught unawares by a 600 pound bear I’d be pretty glad to have one of these about my person.
Not content with the largest handgun they had in stock, I also fancied a go on the awesome .50 cal sniper rifle. Now, this is a military grade rifle, and was a real event to shoot. The kids were told to leave the range as the shock from this gun might be a bit too much, but Kate was allowed to stay to fill me. When I had lined up and was ready to pull the trigger, my instructor gave a cautionary yell of “50 CAL ON THE RANGE” to warn any unsuspecting bystanders, and I let rip. The shockwave this thing unleashes is quite incredible. The muzzle break actually directs much of the shock around the person firing the gun (although the slo-mo video says otherwise!) and it actually ends up hitting whoever is stood behind you. And that was my wife. I think she was slightly underprepared for the supersonic cloud of gas firing backwards and the sheer volume of the explosion. Like I said, it was quite an event.
To round it off I had a few magazines on the old gangster favourite, the Tommy Gun or Thompson sun-machine gun. But, there was one more gun I’ve always wanted to shoot. Last time I was in Vegas 11 years ago I tried to shoot a Desert Eagle .50, but it was out of stock. This time I found one at a different range around the corner, so we swung by for one more go at shooting this iconic handgun. This time I was in luck, and I finally got to squeeze off a few rounds from Bullet Tooth Tony’s weapon of choice while the kids amused themselves in the VIP room. One more thing ticked off the bucket list.
After a speedy Mexican lunch in the amazing Tacos El Gordo, we spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool while the kids made use of the water slides. I managed to sneak off for half an hour and have a quick go on the slot machines in the hotel casino. Unfortunately I didn’t manage the million dollar jackpot, and had to settle for a $42 minor win which found its way straight back into the one armed bandits anyway. That’s how they get ya, and that’s why I don’t bother!
We finished our day with a meal at the next door casino and another hour in the arcade before bed. I guess pumping money into these neon, kid-friendly arcade games is just as mad as filling up the slot machines. Maybe we’re helping the casinos to raise the next generation of gambling punters? Ah, who cares, it’s fun anyways.
The next day was, alas, a total loss for Kate – the virus had fully taken hold of her now. We were going to spend the day in the Adventuredome theme park inside Circus Circus, but she very quickly decided to leave the kids and I to it while she gracefully bowed out for a few hours.
After exhausting all the rides, we headed out to the strip to seek some medicine in the hopes that Kate would be able to make it to the show we had booked that evening at the V theatre inside Planet Hollywood. Amazingly, the Americans have this wonder medicine called Pepto Bismol. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS IN THE UK? It really does cure all ills, and we have since stashed a load of it in our baggage to take home. I won’t say she was fighting fit and raring to go, but she was definitely well enough to make the trip out to watch the entertaining “Ultimate Variety Show”.
We weren’t allowed to take any photos of the show, but suffice to say it was stuffed to the gills with magic, comedy, and various circus acts. The acts all seemed to be “of a certain age”, with a distinct feeling that this was perhaps where the best of the Strip’s hopefuls came to see out the twilight of their careers. But it was a very entertaining show nonetheless, and the kids loved it.
We finished the night off by watching the famous Bellagio fountain display before attempting to catch an Uber home. I say attempting because they are currently resurfacing most of the strip in anticipation of the upcoming Formula 1, and it’s nearly impossible to get anywhere.
On our last day, we were finally all well enough to catch up on a bit of school in the morning. We finally headed out late morning, and our first port of call was the arcade. Again. What can I say, the kids are addicted, and it’s kind of a holiday on holiday, so why fight it. After the kids had spent all their (my) money and scored themselves some awesome temporary tattoos, we headed out to meet up with Kate’s cousin Joanna and her kids, who live on the outskirts of Vegas.
We spent several hours in the baking Nevada sunshine catching up over frozen yoghurt while Hunter and Bam got to know their cousins twice removed, Carson and Carina. I say catching up, Kate and Joanna have only ever met once before, and that was at a family wedding a few decades ago, also in Vegas. It was interesting listening to them unravel their family tree, and share stories about where everyone is and how they’ve ended up there. They parted ways on the understanding that should their paths ever cross again in the future, then they should make an effort to seek each other out. It’s nice to stay in contact with family members, and it makes me think I should make more effort with my extended family to be honest.
We had one more Las Vegas institution to visit that afternoon. The Fremont Street Experience in the old downtown area. This pedestrianised street is covered by a 90 foot high vaulted canopy running the entire half kilometre length of the street, which is actually an enormous TV screen on which they show regular videos and art displays. Under the canopy is a huge zip line called SlotZilla which launches you from a giant slot machine down the entire length of the street as people eat, drink and dance to the music from the various stages and bars below you. This area includes the original “Glitter Gulch” area of old Vegas, so named for its glitzy always-on neon lights. Fremont street had the first hotel, the first telephone, the first street, the first gaming licence and the first purpose built casino in Vegas at the Golden Nugget. This was the Vegas we all think of as the mob haven of the 1960s. It’s now more of a tourist attraction, as most of the city’s gaming and entertainment happens on the strip, but it’s definitely worth a visit. We left before the real crowds turned up for the hedonistic night time atmosphere, and headed back to Circus Circus to catch a few evening circus performers in the big top and have one last trawl around the arcade.
That was it for our whirlwind trip to the desert Oasis of Las Vegas. The following day we headed back to the Motorhome and set off towards the final state on our list, California. On our way out of town we made one last stop at the world famous Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas sign to grab a few pictures with the help of the waiting professional photographers. For a “voluntary” donation you can wait patiently in line for around 15 minutes and have your photo taken without working around the usual throngs of people at attractions like this. – it’s a pretty good system. To be honest, I was expecting the sign to be bigger. But it was pretty cool and a fitting end to our Sin City excursion nonetheless.
As Elvis said – Viva Las Vegas…