Nevada

May 7th, 2023

We were staying at the Nomad Hotel which is a hotel in the Park MGM.   It was a nice hotel but as I said before, I am not a huge fan of Vegas and although temperatures were warming up (low 70’s) it wasn’t warm enough to lounge by the pool.  I noticed that there was an ABC store across the street.  I sent a picture to Cindy as we are always joking about the ever-present ABC stores in Hawaii.  I guess it makes sense to have one in what the Hawaiian’s call the ninth island. We stopped in and they had pretty much the same things they would in an ABC store in Hawaii.

Although they have built trams to get around you still do a lot of walking and we did a lot of walking.   One of my favorite hotels is the Bellagio, I remember the first time I saw the glass flower ceiling.  They put in a botanical gardens which wasn’t there the last time I visited.   It was very nice and I could smell the flowers as I went through it!

That night we saw Cirque Du Soleil’s “O”, it was very good.  I kept cracking up, the woman on the other side of us kept saying “Holy Crap!” and “Oh My God”, it was funny and the show was amazing!

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Las Vegas

May 6th, 2023

A few years back, I took Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train from Los Angeles to Seattle.  Although the scenery was great, I wasn’t sure if I would do it again. It was more than a 30-hour train ride in an old and not so well-maintained train.

I heard about the Canadian Rocky Mountaineer and saw that they offered rail-tours, where you get on and off the train.  I liked the idea and was looking at a few Canadian trips when I noticed they offered a trip here in the USA through some of our national parks.

This trip starts in Las Vegas, but we won’t board the train until later in the week, we start in Las Vegas and by van, go through Bryce Canyon, and a few other stops and end in Moab.  After a couple of days in Moab, we we board the Rocky Mountaineer to Glenwood Springs and the following day, we go to Denver.   I would have loved to have spent more days on the train but this served two purposes – I would get to see some national parks that I have always wanted to see and I would get to ride the Rocky Mountaineer.

The downside of the trip was that it started in Las Vegas.  I am not a huge fan of Las Vegas; I am not a gambler.  Over the years, I have spent countless weeks at various conventions and I watched Las Vegas transform itself from a run-down hotels and casinos to what it is today.  As much as I am not a fan of Las Vegas, there are plenty of dining options and shows to see.   We are planning on having dinner at the Voltaggio brothers new restaurant called Retro and seeing a Cirque Du Soleil show called “O”.

I have flown through Salt Lake City, but I have never spent any time in Utah.  I was really looking forward to seeing Bryce Canyon and Moab!