Article & photos by Lenora A. Hayman
Wow, I am standing on the private terrace of the 60th floor of my Eastside Tower suite at the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas overlooking the Las Vegas Strip and the Paris Resort and Eiffel Tower and gasping at the elegant white lights of the soaring Bellagio Musical fountains. The hypershooters explode 76.2 metres( 25 ft.) in the air and provide the staccato while the robotic oarsmen move side to side and front to back to provide the legato. From this height, during the day. the metal fountain spouts can be seen weaving snake-like under the crystal, clean, green water.
My 620 sq. ft. studio included a kitchenette, marble-floored bathroom with a huge shower, for 2, if you wish to shower with a friend and save water, and a Jacuzzi. Of the 5 bars in the hotel, my guilty pleasure was within The Chandelier which offers the guests 3 unique experiences on 3 floors where you are enclosed within or around the crystal beaded curtains suspended from the 3rd floor ceiling.
It was 40 degrees Celsius(104 degrees Fahrenheit) outside so the 3 pools were busy. The Boulevard Pool overlooking the strip had musical performances on the pool stage and the Bamboo Pool offered pilates and yoga sessions. A party deck overlooked the Marquee Day Club pool with cabanas set in the refreshing pool.
With my only staying 2 nights I didn’t have the opportunity to experience their Sahra Spa and Hammam. Next time I plan to try one of their 13 restaurants in the hotel and include a massage afterwards!
Nevada’s First State Park, the Valley of Fire is just 80 kms(50 miles)NE of Las Vegas and an ideal 6hr. trip with Pink Jeep Tours. Dave White, our guide, explained that the red sandstone formations creating the backdrop of the Mohave Desert appear in the sun to be on fire.
Our first stop was the First Nations Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza which sells the largest variety of fireworks in Nevada, has a casino, café, gas station and convenience store.
Driving through the 34,880 acre park we saw wind holes eroding the jagged walls and interesting, natural, rock formations resembling a cobra, an elephant, a dog, a Volkswagen and a rock precariously balancing on top of another.
The Anasazi tribe, prior to 1150AD. carved rock-graphic petroglyphs in the natural, black varnish blackboard on the rocks. The black varnish was created by the interaction of sun, water, algae, manganese and iron. Petroglyphs are incised on cliffs and pictographs are images drawn or painted, often in colour, on a rock face. The Petroglyph Canyon is in the centre of the Valley of Fire and ends at the Mouse’s Tank. At Atlatl Rock we saw many petroglyphs on the lower walls. Others in the extreme heat, climbed many steps to view the Atlatl man holding his Atlatl or stick with a hook at the end. “The Anasazi put 2 fingers in the carved slots, laid a spear atop the Atlatl and used the extra force generated by the Atlatl’s length to propel the spear”. Apparently the thrown spears could penetrate a mammoth’s skin.
Nearby were 3, now unused sandstone cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corp(CCC) as shelters for visitors. The CCC from 1933-1942, under Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt offered to 18-25yr. old unemployed, unmarried men from families on relief, food and accommodation in a work relief program. The men received $30 a month, $25 of which was sent to their families. In return the lads built fire look-out towers, controlled erosion and flooding and planted trees etc.
In the heat, wee antelope ground squirrels were running around using their white tails as umbrellas to shade them from the sun.
Red barrel cacti were flourishing amongst the rocks. Although their water makes you ill, the Indians hollowed them out, creating cooking pots and used the spines as needles.
Do spend time in the Visitors Bureau to watch a film on petroglyphs and learn more about desert tortoises, great horned owls and horny toads. In the office was a live chuckwalla , the 2nd largest lizard in the region at 28-50 cms (11-20 inches). When threatened, it scurries into a crack and fills its skin with a layer of air to wedge in tightly and prevent its attacker from pulling it loose.
After a day in the extreme August sun, it was a relief to relax back at the hotel in the air-conditioned casino, prior to walking over to Caesar’s Palace and its Colosseum for Celine Dion’s show. This theatre was originally built in March 2003, for 95 million dollars, for Celine Dion’s “A New Day”. Although there are 4,300 seats, the theatre has an intimate setting since the most distant seat is only 37m.(120ft.) from the stage. Celine’s new show opened March 15, 2011 and will run from 2011-2014. Her new show began with a retrospective video-review of her world wide”Taking Chances Tour” of 25 countries including South Africa and New Zealand and also honouring Michael Jackson and her own family of husband, older son and twin babies. Celine had many costume changes and her powerful voice sang Hollywood and romantic classics backed by a 31 piece orchestra and dancers.
I was short of time so I took the 4hr. hotel to hotel Papillon Fixed Plane Visionary Air Tour out of Boulder City for the 1hr10min. flight over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and the Colorado River snaking through the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon West is not part of the Grand Canyon National Park but located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation “People of the Ponderosa Pine”, 120 miles east of Las Vegas. The West Rim is closer to Las Vegas that the South Rim..
Their income is derived from tourism, river rafting, cattle-ranching and folk arts such as basket weaving and doll making.
On my return to the hotel, friends David and Connie, whisked me off for lunch at the newest Hard Rock Café on the Strip which opened Sept. 4, 2009 in the vicinity of the Monte Carlo and New York New York hotels. It has 3 floors. Buy your gifts in The Rock Shop on the 1st floor. The 2nd floor has a psychedelic bar and dining area with a patio overlooking the Strip. Memorabilia adorn the walls including 7 pairs of John Lennon’s glasses, Frank Sinatra’s gold-plated microphone, a Liberace jacket and a Sammy Davis Tuxedo. The 3rd floor has 3 private dining rooms, the Chapel, the Cavern Club and the Iron Curtain, a patio, oval bar and live venue concert stage, capable of entertaining 1200 people. Wedding receptions are popular here.
Each Hard Rock has a signature burger so I chose the Local Legendary honouring the mobster Bugsy Siegel. I had a generous 10 oz meat patty topped with Caprese mozzarella buffalo cheese and tomatoes with sweet potato fries and paired it with a Tropical Breeze cocktail.
After lunch, we visited Las Vegas Mob Experience at the Tropicana Hotel and learned about the Mob and “Omerta” the code of silence. Live actors interact with visitors who become “the wise guys”. James Caan was a holographic mafia narrator. In 1946 mobsters Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Vincent :Jimmy Blue Eyes: and Bugsy Siegel launched the Flamingo Hotel as the first resort in Las Vegas. Bugsy’s limo and Lansky’s diaries are also on display.
Although my 2 night stay in Las Vegas had quickly ended , my final pleasure was the flight back to Vancouver in Business Class(Mabuhay) on Philippine Airlines that flies 4 times a week between Vancouver and Las Vegas. A glass of refreshing, velvety, French Discipulus MannyO Blanc Sauvignon paired well with my rigatoni arrabiata with thyme grilled chicken. And yes, economy is served a meal too! Now that’s better than just peanuts on other airlines!