Las Vegas - Downtown


From Sedona a drive of about 5 hours brought us back to Las Vegas where we ditched the rental car and settled into our enormous hotel room – all 950 square feet of it, more than three times the size of the Nest, the 1954 trailer we are staying in back in Olympia.  Our hotel room even has a full kitchen so we can save the cost and inconvenience of constantly eating out. The Platinum Hotel and Spa is technically only a block from the famous Las Vegas Strip (although in Las Vegas the blocks are absolutely huge). But being right on the strip wasn’t important to us anyway since we aren’t gamblers or heavy drinkers or serious shoppers. We just came to Las Vegas to escape to escape to the sun for a several days, catch a few shows, and relax in a comfortable and affordable space where Deborah didn’t feel compelled to work on projects nonstop.

We have seen three shows here. The first was Human Nature, a vocal group of white guys from Australia that, unexpectedly, specializes in Motown hits. This, however, was a holiday show so unfortunately there fewer Motown hits (which I prefer) and more Christmas songs (which I don’t prefer). That show was more for Deborah. The second show was Storm Large, a talented American singer/songwriter with a serious potty mouth, who performed at Myron’s Jazz Cabaret in the classy Smith Center. We had tickets to see her a couple of years ago when we still lived in Hawaii but couldn’t go due to a change of plans, so it was great to finally see her in concert.  The third show we saw was called “Le Reve – The Dream,” which was performed at an aquatic theatre-in-the-round. It presented a dream fantasy world of imaginative sets and costumes, great music with live singing, fountains, pyrotechnics, and an amazing cast performing acrobatics, dancing, gymnastics, magic, synchronized swimming, and high diving. Really spectacular.

The Storm Large concert was near Downtown Las Vegas, the historic center of the city dating to the early 1900s. The development of mega-casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip eventually pulled visitors away from old-school Downtown, but in recent years the area has been the focus of a revitalization effort. Downtown is home to the Mob Museum and the Neon Museum (Las Vegas also has the Pinball Hall of Fame, the Burlesque Hall of Fame, and the National Atomic Testing Museum). Here are some photos of Downtown including its art installations and street murals.



Big Rig Jig, made from old tanker trucks



Downtown Container Park, shopping center built from shipping containers











Fremont Street Experience - pedestrian mall covered by a huge LED display canopy



Old school hotel sign
(photo by Deborah)


(photo by Deborah)



Chemistry humor
(photo by Deborah)






(photo by Deborah)























This restaurant has a scale out front. If you weigh more than 350 lbs you eat free.







Slotzilla Zipline



Zero attempt at political correctness here.



Storm Large at Myron's Jazz Cabaret



Le Reve - The Dream



Video of display on the canopy


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