Sin City

Las Vegas is quite the city. It is almost comical to look at it while flying in on an airplane. In a valley in the middle of a desert a million people live completely on tourism and big events. Huge hotels in random shapes rise up along one strip and lights of all colors flash all night long.

Of course the city's main attraction is gambling, but gambling has lost ground to a huge array of entertainment offered. One of our main reasons for making the trip was to see Celine Dion's show. She has performed at Cesar's Palace for 5 years and this is her last month. Both of us are fans of Celine's music so we booked Saturday's show.

It was terrific. I was surprised by the fact that it was more of a show and less of a concert. She was singing the whole 90 minutes but the performance was very artsy with interpretive dancers and amazing sets. It was very well done.

We stayed at Rio which is just off the strip. They conveniently had a free shuttle between several other casinos that we took advantage of.

We had a nice view of the strip from our room.

Besides the marathon and the Celine Dion show we had a lot of time to see the other sights of the city. It was great walking through all the hotels and casinos. Everything is totally over the top, more than you can believe. You can see why, though, if you just watch people gamble for awhile. It is amazing how much money gets thrown around.

On Sunday I ran 26 miles in the morning and walked 6-10 miles the rest of the day. On Monday we walked another 6+ miles so I basically went 40 miles in 2 days.

We walked all over the strip and Erin loved the Bellagio fountain most. It is impressive.Here is a sampling of the other over-the-top sights:

Cesar's Palace

Inside the Bellagio - Christmas just for me

Looking down the strip

New York New York - hey...we were just there
M&M world - I loved it! The Mirage Volcano, which erupts every hour
Paris - oh so romantic :)

The Venetian with the canals of Venice inside.And the Cheesecake Factory

Man that was a lot of walking. Of course, the question everyone wants to ask is 'how much money did you lose gambling'? And the answer...NONE! We beat Vegas this time.