Las Vegas Sights

Las Vegas is a place that's close to my heart.

Strictly speaking, it's the entire Las Vegas Valley that I love and not just the City of Las Vegas. The entire Las Vegas Valley includes other major cities like Henderson and North Las Vegas, and the towns of Summerlin, Spring Valley, Paradise, Sunrise Manor, Whitney, Winchester and Enterprise. The sights and sounds that Vegas is widely known for? That's mostly found on The Strip along South Las Vegas Boulevard where hotels and casinos abound.

Speaking of Las Vegas sights, here are some pics that I'd like to share with you along with some trivia about it.

The Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino is one of the hotel and casinos located along the famous Las Vegas Strip. Its sign resembles a hot-air balloon. True to its theme (Paris, France), Paris Las Vegas is easily distinguishable because of its replica of the famous Eiffel Tower.

This double decker bus that plies the Las Vegas Strip is also called as The Deuce. It is being operated by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC). Its "All Access Pass" is relatively more expensive than that of the regular Las Vegas RTC buses but your pass allows you to ride the others buses plying the RTC residential routes as well. If you are a tourist, this is a cheaper way to explore.

We have an inside joke about the Deuce, though. Whatever you do, don't ride on the second deck. Why? Because it doesn't have a driver. :-)

 

This structure situated along West Bonneville Avenue is the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Its architectural style is referred to as deconstructivism. Its unique design looks like a building that collapsed.

The "Siren of TI" Chopper is a rideable art from bike builders Rick Hill and Big Dan. This is displayed at the Treasure Island Las Vegas. The display sign says that the bike took 6 months to build and weighs more than 900 lbs. The metal art was by Scott Cawood.

The Excalibur Hotel & Casino is the first building you'll pass by along Tropicana Avenue as you take Exit 37 Tropicana Avenue East of I-15. My youngest daughter refers to this as her castle as the facade indeed looks like a castle.

The above picture of the northern part of the 4.2 mile long Strip was taken while we were on a Ferris wheel. If you're used to the sights and sounds of the Vegas nightlife, you'll probably be surprised to see the Strip stripped (pun intended) of its dazzling lights during the day. From the left, there's the Encore, Wynn, Treasure Island, The Palazzo and Mirage.

The Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower (now called The Strat Hotel, Casino & Skypod) is at the northern part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is the tallest freestanding observation tower in the whole USA. There are actually various rides on the top of that tower that you will enjoy if you get a high out of thrilling and death-defying HOLY $#*T moments. Unfortunately, I'm too chicken out to even try any of the tower rides (definitely not the Skyjump!). It's one of the unique structures in the Strip though.

Have you been to Las Vegas or are you planning to go there? If you do plan to travel to Vegas, it's best to go there to sight-see during fall and spring. Summer could get awfully hot, as places in the desert do, while winter is chilly although it rarely snows (only during quite rare freakish instances would there be hail and snow).