I am an airplane junkie. Not military but passenger. We are few in number, but you can point us out in a crowd at the airport. We flew from Oakland to Las Vegas and back on Southwest. Southwest occupies Terminal 2 at Oakland. Everything else occupies Terminal 1. Before we boarded, I spotted at USAirways Airbus 319 in the Arizona Cardinals NFL theme jet along with Alaska with a lei around the neck of the Eskimo. Alaska has service to three islands in Hawaii from Oakland. I don't know where USAirways was headed. Probably either Phoenix or Philadelphia.
We boarded Southwest 1083 on time. It is a Boeing 737-700 N285WN. The flight attendants took our drink orders before we left. Water, for me, thanks. At those prices? Are you kidding? Especially when drinks are free in Vegas!
We pushed back from Terminal 2 Gate 26 on time (no surprise to me) and taxied out. We took off to the north. As we sped down the runway, I had San Francisco Bay as the view on my side of the aircraft. We lifted off and made a left turn over San Francisco.
We flew over South San Francisco and part of San Bruno where a Pacific Gas & Electric high pressure gas line exploded last September. I could not see that but I did think about the families who lost so much in the explosion. We also flew over San Francisco International. I loved landing at SFO. The end of the runway is in the Bay, so when we are landing, all we can see is water getting closer and closer.
We made our final turn toward Las Vegas. As we did, we got a great view of San Francisco all the way up to the Marin Headlands, Treasure Island, and Richmond.
We were on our way soaring higher and higher toward Las Vegas. We leveled out and got a great view of Oakland and the Oakland Airport and San Mateo Bridge.
We flew over the Altamont Pass and over the Central San Joaquin Valley, passing over Nasa Crows Landing Airport, among other sights.
As we made our way across the desert sky, we flew over what I think is Amaragosa Valley, Nevada. Possibly a "red light" district. Not sure, though. We circled the entire valley, over Nellis AFB and Henderson before finally getting clearance to land at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport.
We touched down in sunny (AND COLD!!!) Las Vegas ahead of schedule. When we were taxiing to our gate, we passed by two WestJet 737s. A first for me! WestJet is Canada's version of Southwest. Also, as we taxied in, there was a private Lockheed L-1011 parked. We parked at C-14. I saw the people mover system to Terminal D. Looks interesting.
Our room was at Imperial Palace on the 16th floor. Imperial Palace is one of the older casinos on The Strip. We did not have a view of The Strip. Instead, we had a wonderful view of the parking garage (shared with Harrah's) and one of Wells Fargo buildings.
Imperial Palace is across The Strip from Caesar's Palace and Mirage. Some of the casinos have walkways over The Strip to make crossing easier. The closest one was at Caesar's Palace and Bally's. There is really no way to say "X number of blocks, either, since every casino is a different size. In the picture at right, all buildings show are part of Caesar's Palace which, in a normal city like San Francisco or Seattle would be about 4 or 6 blocks. In Las Vegas, that is one block.
Our hotel/casino was two down from Venetian and Palazzo. This was the first time I had been inside this pair of casinos. They have The Grand Shops and canals and gondolas like in Venice. The art and architecture was stunning.
The first night we were there, we just wandered around. Belaggio was close (reletively speaking) so we saw two fountain shows there. One was Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini (right) the other was Time To Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boccelli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP0K6H2QK7A We applauded; some wept. That is one of the best shows I have seen.
We also visited Hoover Dam which straddles the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona. We first drove across the new bridge in front of The Dam. We walked twice from Nevada to Arizona: Once on the bridge and once on The Dam. We did not take The Dam tour. I have seen the inside of dams before. Lots of cement, lots of pipes, lots of wires.
The above four pics are dedicated to trasportation peeps. There are many transportation options in Las Vegas. Taxis are not allowed to pick up fares on The Strip. I found that out on my 2004 stop in Las Vegas. Also, in 2004, the monorail was not in service. I got to ride it a little this time. Imperial Palace shares a monorail stop with Harrah's. It reminds me a lot of the one in Seattle. Functional and quick. There are trams running between Mirage and Treasure Island. There is another tram running between Exaclibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. Imperial Palace has part of Harrah's world famous Car Collection. Several one-of-a-kind cars are featured including an extra long four door Rolls Royce. Clark County Transit has two special lines working The Strip. One is a double decker bus called "The Duce." That's right: They have a Big Duce on The Strip!
Lot 666... A chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of The Phantom Of The Opera..... A special theater was built inside Venitian just for Phantom. They sped it up a bit and took out a few scenes. We did not even notice. Plus, they added fireworks. Fireworks! Inside the theater! It was a phenominal show!!!
Phantom was short enough that we were able to catch the Volcano show at Mirage. We were on the other side of The Strip for that one, but it was still very good!
Our final day in Sin City started off with a bit of a let down: We drove 40 miles one way to Primm Valley on I-15 on the Nevada/California border. Terribles and Buffalo Bills Hotel Resort and Casino has one of the tallest roller coasters in the world. I rode it in 2004 and want to ride it again. We got all the way out there and found they only run it on the weekends during the winter. NOOOOO!!!!! We got back into town and went straight to New York New York to ride The Roller Coaster. Excellent ride. The flip at the end is lots of fun. We headed down The Strip to Fremont Street Experience. As we drove, we passed Stratosphere, one of the tallest free standing structures west of the Mississippi. We also stopped in at Gold & Silver Pawn (as featured on Pawn Stars on Discovery Channel). No sign of Chumlee, The Old Man, or anyone else. When we finally arrived at Fremont Street, we were greeted by a giant lighted pump. The Fremont Street Experience is about three blocks long. A lighted canopy over the walkway. When a song is about to be played, all the lights of the casinos are turned off and the song begins. They played two songs by George Thurgood and American Pie by Don McLean. Since Fremont Street Experience is about three blocks long, the best way to get from one end to the other is zip line. Fantastic ride. Two thumbs up.
Like all trips, this one had to come to an end. We pushed back from Gate B-15 at Las Vegas on time. We flew over the snow covered terrain. Which included Yosemite National Park. We flew back over Altamont and over the Hayward BART yard before we landed safely and smoothly at Oakland International Airport and pulled to Gate 24 in Terminal 2. All in all, a good vacation.
