Las Vegas, NV

We left the Hoover Dam and drove the 30 miles to Las Vegas.  It was a VERY hot 103 degrees outside, and not very comfortable to do much of anything.  Even too hot at night.

The previous day the temperatures were also over 100 degrees and only dropped into the low 80s during the night at our camp the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  Neither George nor I slept very well the night before at Lake Mead NRA as we could not run our AC in the campground after 10pm, and it quickly rose to 89 degrees for the duration of the night inside our van.  For this reason, on Tuesday morning we decided to look into hotel deals.  Hotels in Vegas can be had VERY inexpensively during the week-- they simply want your butt in their casino and will nearly give away rooms to do so-- and we found some spectacular deals.

Our first night we checked into the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for $20 plus a free drink.  Hard Rock in Vegas is rated as 4 stars, and though we may not necessarily agree (3-3.5 stars max, maybe), it sure beats an 89 degree campervan when paying campsite prices.

We had dinner at nearby Lee's Buffet.  It was basically your standard chinese buffet, but they had really delicious frozen yogurt.  I think the vanilla was actually banana flavored, and when mixed with the chocolate it was awesome!

When we checked out the next morning we headed for an awesome laundromat we found the night before in the shopping center across from Lee's Buffet.  It was called Waschen Guer.  In addition to having top load washers (my preferred) for only $1 a load, dryers that actually dry your clothes fully in only 20 minutes for .50 cents, they also provided free laundry detergent and bleach!  We got our laundry done for a mere $8 in record time.  They also provide free wifi that actually works well allowing us to find  a hotel for a second night for only $14.  The VW bus below is their sweet delivery van and "mascot."




Our second night was an even better deal.  We checked into El Cortez on Fremont St. in downtown Las Vegas for $14 plus fees/taxes.  George had never stayed in "old town" Vegas near Fremont street, but we were pleasantly surprised that it too is fairly revitalized and entertaining.  Upon checking in we received $10 free to gamble with, $10 food voucher from any of the El Cortez Casino restaurants, a free keychain, and a free drink each.  We had one of the vintage rooms in the original section of the casino, built in 1941.  Small and perhaps cramped by today's hotel standards, the room was remodeled with modern furniture and paint, but still had the original doors, fittings, small bathroom and low ceiling in place.  We loved it, and wish more of Las Vegas was like this; too many people are obviously overlooking historical accommodations such as this in favor of the huge mega-resorts.

Sections were added in the 1960's and again in 1980's, but we were in the oldest, least expensive, and in our opinion most desirable original section of the hotel c. 1941.

No elevator to these rooms; to access the original rooms one must climb a nondescript staircase off a corner of the casino floor.

Narrow old halls with original wooden doors lead to the rooms.

The walls are lined with original black-and-white photographs of the hotel from it's early days, as well as the surrounding Las Vegas area circa 50-70 years ago.

Small and plain room by today's standards, but clean, historic, and in a good location.

Not updated with flatscreen TV yet...

Guessing the bathroom was likely last updated sometime during the mid to late 1990's.

El Cortez is the oldest casino-hotel properties in Las Vegas having continuously operated at the same Fremont Street location since 1941.  On February 22, 2013, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Bugsy Siegel and a group of fellow organized crime figures owned El Cortez from 1945 to 1946, adding to its aura.  They sold the joint in '46 only to finance the Flamingo, but not before making a tidy 20% profit in only a year, selling back to its previous owner.  A bit of mafia strong-arming, perhaps?


Cafe Cortez, one of the Casino restaurants, was offering a special: a half pound Jackie burger, chips and a beer (or other beverage of your choice) for $5.  George added cheese to his burger special for .50 cents and I got the veggie burger, which came with two veggie patties, cheese, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, and french fries for $6.75.  Our total food bill was $2.43 after our voucher, and I had the largest veggie burger I've ever seen!


We took a few trips down Fremont Street Experience, gambled away our $10 comp in the slots, won 66 cents, gambled that away, enjoyed some drinks (George actually ordered a screwdriver!), and had a great time.

The entrance below to the revitalized Fremont Street area.

The iconic Las Vegas Cowboy from the Golden Nugget (I believe).

Late that night I submitted a few reviews on TripAdvisor and earned a $50 instant credit through Jetsetter.  It took a little while for the credit to show up in my account, but the next morning we got it all straightened out.  With that $50 credit we booked the Palms Hotel and Casino for a whopping $9!  The Palms was advertised on Jetsetter at $59 for Thursday night.  After applying our $50 credit, plus an additional 10% off coupon Jetsetter was running on Las Vegas and New York City hotels, we got our room for nearly nothing (plus taxes and fees, of course - "just pay shipping and handling").  In addition to all that we also received a complimentary room upgrade.  I found a buy one get one free coupon for dinner at the Silver Sevens Buffet.

On our way to check in we drove right by the World Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop made famous by the show Pawn Stars on History Channel so we stopped in for a quick look.

None of the recognizable characters were there that day, as based on their successful History Channel franchise none of them have to work, but their collection of art and "stuff" was very interesting.

After checking into our hotel room at the Palms, George headed to the pool.

The bathroom is slightly larger than the one in our campervan.

He returned about an hour later and regaled me with stories of his fellow pool goers acting like cliche` Vegas big shots.  Start with the old guys with obviously-dyed fake brown hair and their "wives" fresh off the boat from Asia.  There was a thought-she-was-very-classy 60 year old super thin lady in a teeny tiny gold bikini, or so it seemed, until she got out of the pool, revealed an enormous belly flapping down in front of her and her very raspy cigarette voice, and began talking about how her husband travels all over the world and he is now in Japan and she just decided she was going to come to the Palms for a few days.  This was followed by a group of Jersey Shore meatheads hanging out in a corner of the pool, striking muscle poses, taking selfies, and posting them to Instagram.  George said that these two particular events occurred within 4 seconds of each other causing him to nearly vomit.  Thus he quickly vacated the pool area.  We lounged around for a little before heading to dinner at Silver Sevens.  For $9.72 George and I enjoyed an enormous dinner complete with drinks.

After dinner we spent a few hours on the strip.

The shots below are from inside the Venetian, complete with canals.

And a merry-go-round made completely of flowers in the Wynn.

We even got to enjoy the Fountains at the Bellagio for a little.






It should be noted that George's LLC picked up the tab for the resort fees and taxes at Hard Rock and El Cortez; and the entire tab (room fee, resort fee, and any applicable taxes and other fees) at Palms, since he had to travel here on "business."  Resort fees can be rather pricey and add up quickly, often costing more than the room itself ($22 at Hard Rock, $10 at El Cortez, and $25 at Palms), however even including these costs, we managed to stay for three nights in Las Vegas at three and four star hotels for just over $100.  Not too bad to get out of that campervan heatbox for a couple days before returning to higher elevations.

Return to Our Fantastic Falcon Voyage.