Las Vegas: Spielplatz der Erwachsenen

Las Vegas....Playground of the adults. Last time i was here was in the late eighties on a business trip to APG (Ford proving grounds) in Arizona. The closest airport for this test track in Las Vegas, and so one "must" spend some time on the strip. As I remember I had to travel to APG right in the middle of a visit from Petra's Cousins from Germany (Gabi & Kirsten). Middle of a Detroit winter, snow 2 feet high (had to shovel out of the house), and I had to go to the heat in the desert :).
As i remember i spent a night on the way back in Las Vegas. Found that gambling was not my thing, but instead enjoyed watching others lose, both rich and poor, upper class and lower. At that time the casinos gave free drinks, and so it was a good night more me! Free drinks and all the entertainment one could stand to watch!

Anyway, this time around i booked a hotel (CircusCircus) as i thought it would be good for the kids. Well, it's good for smaller kids (sub 8 year olds). The rest is all about money making! The hotel itself is OK (built in the 60's), clean enough and the beds are comfortable, and the rate is good. But that is about all that can be said positively about this establishment. There are hundreds (thousands??) of kids. The pools are completely overfilled, and you have to wait for everything. The restaurants are OK, but the total impression is a bit sleazy.
Won't be going back there.
It's all just too much for me, and reminds me clearly of my impression back in the late eighties.

Anyway, one of the days we splurged and got the all-day ticket to the rides....

Then we spent one evening walking the stip. It's all a bit surreal. So much money. So many lights. So many cars. So many limousines. So many huge hotels.

Don't want to get too serious here, but one could probably feed the total hunger of Africa in about a week's worth of spending from this town.

The most impressive hotel for us was the Venetian.... makes night time into daylight. It looked so realistic!