Vegas, Baby!

We flew to Las Vegas out of Kallispell, on Allegiant Air. It's a "no frills" airline, but I was pleasantly surprised by the plane, it was a lot larger than I had anticipated, and the seats were extremely comfy, although they didn't recline, kind of a bummer. Luckily, the flight was only 1 hour and 59 minutes. However.....we left 2 hours late due to some sort of mechanical problem. First they had to call in a mechanic, then after he did whatever magic it was that he did, they had to call in a second one to "sign off" on the work that the first one did. The whole thing struck me as odd, that they don't have a mechanic on site...does that mean that they have problems so very seldom that they don't need one? Or does it mean that they are such a no frills airline that they can't afford to keep one on staff? Either way...they fixed the problem and off we went. It was a quick and painless flight, and what's more, we had an empty seat beside us, so lots of room to stretch out. When we got to our hotel (Bally's) Steven jokingly said to the desk clerk: "So, the airline said that since we had a 2 hour delay, you'd take care of us with a nice upgrade?" The lady laughed and said, "Well, I can give you an upgrade to a Junior Suite, or give you a top-of-the-line-suite for half price." Ummm...no brainer, we took the free Junior suite.

By the time we had arrived and got settled, it was about 9:30 PM, so we had a quick snack and wandered around our hotel, gambled a bit and just relaxed. The place is huge, and it took us most of the evening to figure out how to get around and where the coffee bar was for morning, 'cause that is crucial. I was dismayed, but not shocked (after all, it is Vegas) to see that a muffin was $4.00 and a small coffee $3.99. So, $16.00 just to start the day.

You can go to some nearby places for much less, but when I get up in the AM, believe me, wandering around and looking for somewhere to have coffee, then waiting for it, is not worth the stress. Gimme caffeine NOW.

Next AM we decided to take the monorail to the end of the line, which is the Sahara Hotel, and to spend a few hours there, maybe have lunch, and then take a cab up to Fremont Street. To our surprise, when we got to the Sahara, we discovered that it was closing, forever, that afternoon. The end of an era. Kind of sad. Some of the staff had been working there since the 60's, and there was a gloomy feel to the place. However, they were allowing cameras in the casino, which is normally a huge no-no in any casino, so that was a bit of a perk.

As we gambled, banks of slot machines were falling silent, the ringing of bells and the sound of money getting fainter and fainter. The hotel had personified Vegas's glory days of gambling and glitz.

The hotel opened in 1952, and was Morrocan themed, with faux camels at the door, onion domes throughout the casino, and rows of the fabulous chandeliers.

Above, one of the giant crystal chandeliers. Below, a bank of slots and the car you may (or more likely, may not) win.

Above, one final spin of the roulette wheel. Below, Steven trying for one final win at a Sahara slot. Alas, 'twas not to be.