It is a beautiful morning for a stroll along The Strip to people watch and absorb the view.  We make it as far as Caesars and decide that we just have to see the Fall of Atlantis statue performance.  Carol has never seen it and it is impossible for me to adequately describe.  It is as cheesy this time as last but still fun.  We take a few and relax with a drink overlooking the casino then head back to relax before our evening out “Mindfreak”. 

Kent is back into town and joins us after a little guy time out at the motorhome by himself.  He is just in time for a delicious lunch at the Earl of Sandwich.     

Mindfreak.  It is time for Criss Angel with his magic, escapes, and a magnificent levitation illusion.  The show is loud and chock with flashy distractions but the tricks are truly mind boggling.

We close out the evening with dinner at Yolo’s; classic Mexican fare and smooth Margaritas.             

Kent heads back to the motorhome after he drops the kids off at the airport and I stay in town with Carol.  We have a quiet afternoon then head out to a Japanese restaurant, Koi.  It is a great choice.  We start with steamed edamame with garlic and spices…not spectacular but interesting.  The wasabi braised short ribs and the scallop dish that follow are fantastic.  We even try dessert, mochi, ice cream in a flavored marshmallow-like wrapper.  Ours are mango, caramel and berry coated discs with a smooth vanilla center.  It was a perfect little sweet.

It is a lovely evening for strolling so out we check out the Bellagio fountain shows after dark.  Streams of water dance and sway to Cher, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Broadway tunes. 

They don’t fly out until evening so we manage to fit in a stop at the Neon Museum.  They have a pretty cool collection of signs; some familiar from movies and ads and some less known like a “happy shirt” from a cleaners (who claims to have done Liberace’s laundry).  The docents are great at answering questions…do you know the difference between skeleton and channeled neon?  Now I do!  It is worth a stop.  More restored signs are scattered along Las Vegas Boulevard and the neighborhood is home to several more of the older style casinos.  We check them out as we make a quick stop at Ethyl M chocolates in the Californian Casino.  Now it is time to head back to the strip to meet Carol for a late lunch.

Gordon Ramsey Fish and Chips is the place.  It is busy with long lines and little seating but it works out splendidly.  As you might expect, the food was great.     

There is a bit more strolling then we send Brian and Johnna on their way back to Texas.

Thanks for joining us guys.  It was a wonderful visit.

Today we are off to see Hoover Dam.  We walk, gawk, take photos, and learn lots. 

We are disappointed to learn that our Colorado Float trip for tomorrow is cancelled because of a high wind advisory in the river canyon.  New plan, off to Red rock Canyon tomorrow. 

Thursday included a couple of hikes on the northern part of the park.  We had traversed the dirt road across to the north earlier before the latest rain and noted the uniform brown color splattered on the official white pickup that came into camp via the dirt road.  So today we started our driving by going around via paved roads.  It adds about 50 miles and zero time.  The dirt roads are pretty rough courtesy of the flooding rains they had about 2 weeks ago.  We finished our hikes around 2 pm and feeling brave we headed toward home across the rough but passible dirt roads.  This route would have been really fun yesterday as I noticed tracks in the road indicating someone had been traveling with tire chains yesterday.  Fortunately, it had dried quite a bit since then and there was only one real muddy spot.  We noticed heavy equipment tracks as well.  That is good, maybe they have worked on the many places where sand was washed onto the road and portions where edges were washed out earlier. 

We were on the home stretch when we met a ranger about 2 miles from camp,  “We just pulled a car out of the sand ahead.  It is only soft for about 50 yards.  You’re going downhill so keep your momentum up and don’t spin the wheels and you should be fine.”  Well that adds a little stress to the trip.  Now, we can turn around and go back about 80 miles or we can take our chances in the sand pit. We have come this far, we may as well at least give it a look.  When we get to the area it appears when they worked on it today they must have removed too much roadbed and were left with only deep sand.  Opps!  Anyhow it seemed passable so we slogged through and found our way home.  It was a little challenging but we made it.  Probably will go around if we need to go this way again.  We had considered taking this route with the motorhome,  THAT would be a mistake now.

Update! While finishing breakfast we noted (4) rolloff dumpster delivery trucks with tagalong trailers hauling empty dumpsters past camp.  They had already passed the sand pit which was kind of a surprise.  In about 1 hour the empty trucks and trailers went past camp going toward the sand pit presumably headed back to Las Vegas.  It wasn’t long until we noticed a Preserve Backhoe scurrying up the road toward the sandpit.  Over the next couple of hours various combinations of the trucks went by in various directions until apparently the backhoe was successful in freeing the 1st truck and clearing a path so all the trucks could make it north.  Seems like it must have been a fun morning for all involved.  We enjoyed watching all the activity out the Motorhome window.