Another late start yesterday, which is just fine because it was a really early start today.
The focus was getting to Las Vegas for our last night of the tour. The idea was to get to the Freemont Experience on the Strip by lunchtime. Since it is only about a 3 or so hour drive with stops from Springdale, we were able to leave at 9:30. Many in the group were appreciative of the late start.
Since I get up early no matter what, I took the time for breakfast, packing, and a morning walk. As a result, I was past 8,000 steps before 7:30 am. I also checked into my flight home. This was an adventure because once I got the flights up on the website, there was no obvious option to check in. I even got an alert on the app to check in there. Again, no obvious way to do that.
So I decided to hold off for a bit. An hour after my check-in time started, I was able to do it on the app. I don't know what the delay was, but I got into the last boarding group--group 7-for both my flights: Las Vegas to Charlotte and Charlotte to Boston. Both flights are on American Airlines, which is my personal third choice of airlines (Southwest and JetBlue are first and second, respectively.) But when you book flights for these trips through AAA, it is almost always American.
Finally, 9:30 came around and it was time to leave for Las Vegas. It was a relatively short drive from here, only about 3 1/2 hours with one stop. It went by quickly, and before we knew it, the Vegas skyline was appearing right in front of us, growing up out of the desert floor. I had been here many times before, to visit my sister when she lived in the area. To be honest, I had never visited Las Vegas before that, and this is my first time back since she moved away.
I don't know what it was like during the city's brief family-friendly phase, but from what I've seen it has not changed much from my previous experience.
Speaking of experience, our first stop in town was the Fremont Street Experience. We were there for an a little more than an hour. Walking around the area, there are still the performers trying to get you to watch their show (don't get me started on the Naked Guy, that may be going a bit far.)
Lunch was a White Castle, and for a first experience with the burger joint, it was OK. Maybe different locations are better. Maybe you need to be high to appreciate it? If so, I'll skip it from now on. I am neither Harold nor Kumar.
Back on the bus, and we head down the strip to the Bellagio and Paris. We see the sights there, including what is purported to be the largest chocolate fountain. In Bellagio there was also a flower display that changes every season. Right now, it's a garden scene with a tree house and creatures. It is really a beautiful display.
Back on the bus, and we drive the rest of the way to our home for the night: the huge Luxor complex. As the second largest hotel in the word, the Luxor has 4,000 rooms across two towers and the main building, the famous Luxor pyramid. We got really lucky, though. Not only was the whole group staying in the same tower, we stayed on the same floor. This made it easy for everyone, including the luggage team responsible for bringing our checked bags to our rooms.
We arrived at the hotel just after 4:00, giving us an hour and a half until leaving for dinner. After cleaning up a bit, I went exploring. First, looking out my window, my room (we were all in the East Tower) my view was the big pool complex. Too bad there was no time to get a closer look.
Then, I went looking for where to meet our transportation in the morning. Not all of us will be taking our bus to the airport, and we had to get our transport at a different location at the main entrance. It was relatively easy to find, but it was a long walk. Then again, it's Vegas, everything is a long walk.
The last order of business for the day was dinner at Maggiano's Restaurant a little outside of town. The food was delicious, served in family style. As it happens, with the exception of one person who didn't come because she had show tickets, our table was the same people as our table at the Welcome Dinner. This was a nice bookend to the trip.
While some of us didn't go to the dinner because of other plans, on the bus back home we did get a chance to see a show. One of the group is a budding comedian, and he got on the mic and did a 5 minute set about our time together. He was hilarious.
And so ends the official tour. Once we got back to the hotel, it was time for the rest of us to start going our separate ways. This was a great group of people, and I am looking forward to traveling with them again.
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