The Great American Southwest (Part 2): Las Vegas and Arizona

- Dec. 22-24, 2015, Tuesday to Thursday.

- The first two full days that my family and I had in the American Southwest was a back-to-back trip to two of the most famous theme parks - Universal Studios and Disneyland (click here for Part 1.) Since I am not much of a theme-park person, I knew that the "real" adventure was just starting, now that we had finished visiting the theme parks.

- Our new tour group left rainy Anaheim, California early in the morning of the 22nd, and went on a long road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. The road trip (including stopovers) totaled around 6 hours (though I was told that a nonstop trip without traffic would take half the time we did.) We were told that Nevada was going to be sunny, unlike California those days; at least I could have some time to dry my soul from the evening downpour in Disneyland the previous night.

Plenty of solar panels on the way to Las Vegas.

- We reached Las Vegas around 3 in the afternoon and checked in at Circus Circus Hotel. Circus Circus is located at the near end of the main row of hotels/casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard South that is dubbed as "The Strip." After checking in and settling down, my family opted to join the optional night tour offered by the travel agency handling our tour (with additional costs that is,) while I decided to walk along "The Strip" all on my own for the evening.

- The state of Nevada (Spanish for "the snowy one") is so named because of its snow-capped mountains. Las Vegas, on the other hand, is Spanish for "the meadows," and is surrounded by the snow-capped mountain ranges. Situated in the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas is generally dry (though with desert vegetation like various species of cacti and wild grass) and rocky.  Las Vegas was initially inhabited by nomadic indigenous Americans, but was later developed particularly through the aid of military officer, mapmaker, and explorer, John Fremont. The legalization of casinos in Las Vegas in the early 20th century paved way to the construction of more casinos in the city. After World War II, Las Vegas was filled with lavish and themed casinos, similar to how the city is known today.

- I strolled along The Strip for the night, and unlike a lot of blogs, fora, and other websites that described The Strip as an "obstacle course" or a "confusing place to walk," I found walking along The Strip easy to manage, as long as common sense is used. The Strip may look short in any tourist map or even when you're there, but in reality it is around 7 kilometers long from end to end (i.e. from the Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay.) The Strip only looks short because the hotels/casinos are close to, or beside each other, though many people fail to realize that each hotel is enormous.

- Getting around The Strip is quite straightforward: it's just one long street. While there is a monorail line that has stations in every few casinos, on trip can cost as much as 5 USD (I was told) for a short distance and the monorail stations are located far behind the casinos; one needs to go to the front of the casinos to get to the main street, and finding one's way within the casinos (i.e. from where the monorail stations are to the front of the casinos) can waste a lot of time too, since the casinos were designed to be like mazes. As an alternative, most internet sources and locals will suggest going around via taxi or bus (for those who know how.) However, for someone like me who likes going on long strolls, walking is still the best option to see any place.

The Stratosphere - the first thing I saw as I started my walk.

- The Strip had plenty of interesting and famous hotels/casinos. From the Italian-themed ones like the Venetian, and Caesars Palace, to the French-themed Paris Las Vegas, to the American ones like New York New York and MGM Grand, and the Egyptian-themed Luxor, ones eyes will be overfed with blinding lights and architectural grandeur. I also caught Bellagio's musical fountain show; the hotel/casino boasts its extreme shooters that can shoot water as high as 460 feet!! The fountain show is scheduled every half-hour from midday until 8pm, and every 15 minutes from 8pm until midnight. The fountain show is done outside, so any passerby can watch for free.

They're bigger than they look.

Ehem, Trump.

Treasure Island. 

Looks like the one in Macau.

Oh, Caesars Palace!! Reminds me of "The One in Vegas" 2-part episode of Friends.

Looks like the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

Julius Caesar himself.

A replica of The Winged Victory of Samothrace (aka Nike of Samothrace) outside Caesars Palace.

Bellagio.

Paris Las Vegas.

Ooh!! Fountain show!!

Look at those shooters!!

Planet Hollywood.

View of The Strip from an overpass.

MGM Grand.

That majestic lion outside MGM Grand.

New York New York.

Luxor.

Hello Vegas.

- Walking along The Strip was no joke - I don't think I could have done this successfully during the summer season (and netizens also discourage future travelers from doing so in the summer.) The whole round trip took me 4 hours, considering my normal walking speed is a "brisk" walk for other people. I also went further - around 5 more minutes of walking from Mandalay Bay - and reached the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign for a few photos.

Welcome!!

The lights on the star flicker so it was hard to take this perfectly-timed photo.

Hard Rock Cafe.

- I had dinner on the way back to my hotel from the welcome sign, and ate at Bobby's Burger Palace. I was introduced to the restaurant (though another branch) during my visit to Washington D.C. last October (no photos available,) and was highly-recommended to me by my friend Dorenett. This is one of celebrity chef Bobby Flay's restaurants.

My Las Vegas burger from Bobby's Burger Palace.

Harley Davidson Cafe.

- On the way back to my hotel, I passed by Bellagio again and caught another fountain show, and looked at some of the gondolas outside the Venetian. I arrived at the hotel not long after my family had finished their night tour. I felt that my long walk around The Strip was one of the best moments I had throughout my two-week visit in the Southwest. I got used to traveling alone and doing my own thing that being bound by a tour group just does not work for me anymore, so I felt that I just needed to have time for myself. I was able to spend a good 4 hours alone, just walking and resting occasionally, and enjoying everything within my own bubble, and with mental background music if the moment needs it.

Another fountain show.

Casino Royale.

Outside the Venetian.

Venetian.

The Stratosphere at night.

The famous fortune telling machine - Zoltar!!

A closer view of the Stratosphere.

- After arriving I had to rest earlier for our day trip the next day to Arizona - the home of the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai people ("people of the tall pines.") Apart from the idea of seeing one of the natural wonders of the world, we were also told by the tour guide that we might even be able to encounter and interact with the local Hualapai people. Two good things stored for a day trip would supposedly keep me up for the whole night because of excitement, but since I was tired from my long walk, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

- The following morning, we left at 7am for a 2-hour drive to the west rim of the Grand Canyon. While many people (netizens, friends, travel magazine writers, etc.) argue that the south rim of the Grand Canyon is the "real Grand Canyon" because of more prominent rock formations, going to the south rim was going to be 2 hours farther from the west rim. Prior to our Grand Canyon tour day, we were given the choice of driving farther to the south rim, but with only 30-45 minutes to look around, or go to the west rim and have a good 3 hours to enjoy the scenery and some of the activities there. In the end, we chose to go to the west rim so we won't feel rushed, and so we can enjoy the view of the canyon more. Also, the famed "Skywalk" is also located in the west rim; my dad wanted to experience that too.

- We arrived at the west rim around 9am, and had to wait for our turn at the (optional but worth it) plane tour of the canyon. The plane trip takes around 20-30 minutes, and the tour shows passengers a breathtaking view of the canyon and the Colorado River. A multilingual audio guide headset is also available for each passenger, to let passengers understand the history, geography, and culture of the area. The Grand Canyon has been inhabited and visited by many American indigenous groups apart from the Hualapai people. They consider the canyon as a holy site, and frequently went on pilgrimages to the canyon. In the 1500s, the Spanish conquistadors discovered and explored the Canyon with native guides, but they did not pursue the area after failing to find a water source; it was said that their Hopi guides hesitated to inform the Spanish about the river in the canyon bed. American explorers soon journeyed to the Grand Canyon and were more successful in maximizing/exploiting the resources of the canyon. They mined in the canyon for decades until it was suspended in 2009 to prevent the uranium mined from contaminating the Colorado River.

Colorado River from the airplane.

Some views of the west rim from the tiny plane we were in.

Impressive!!

- After the plane ride, we rode the free shuttle bus from the plane terminal (right beside the visitor center) to the other points in the park. The first of three points after the plane terminal is the Hualapi ranch, and is just a ranch replica for photo taking. There is nothing else to do there, and because our tour guide had informed us about that on the way to the Grand Canyon, my family opted not to spend time there, and go to the other more interesting points instead. Skipping the ranch, we went directly to the second shuttle stop, Eagle Point. This is where people could walk around the canyon (very carefully,) and where people could experience the Skywalk. Photo taking is not allowed at the Skywalk, probably as a way to control the crowd, and to minimize incidents of cameras and gadgets falling to the canyon bed. The Skywalk is a sturdy and well-engineered U-shaped glass viewing deck, where people can feel as if they're walking mid-air because of the glass floors. To ensure maintenance of the deck, the ticket price per person can be quite hefty - around 40 USD per person. As someone who's not too fond of great heights, it was a miracle that I made it around the U-shaped Skywalk. I barely looked down because the canyon has a gravitational effect that seems to pull people down upon having a glimpse of the canyon bed 4000-feet below.      

View from Eagle Point.

With the Hualapai Seal inside the Skywalk gift shop.

Hualapai headdress.

- From Eagle Point, we rode the free shuttle again to the third and last stop, Guano Point. We had a simple lunch in Guano point and had more opportunities to take photos of the Grand Canyon before heading back to the starting point (at the visitor center/plane terminal.) Since we had around 45 minutes to kill before departure, we went to the visitor center to look for nice souvenirs. To my surprise, there were some elderly Hualapi people in the visitor center who occasionally performed for the visitors. While I was appalled to see that the elderly Hualapi people (some who even needed walking sticks to walk) were still made to dance even when it's evident that they have physical limitations (given their age,) I lightened up and became happy because I finally had the chance to interact with them while they were not dancing. I did not have the chance to encounter any Hualapi people during the morning until we took time to look at the souvenirs in the visitor center. It has always been one of my dreams to interact with native American Indians (not just Indians from India,) because I have also developed a fascination for the native American cultures; well, come to think of it, I'm fascinated with culture, in general.

View from Guano Point.

Look at those layers.

With Flo (to my left) and her friend (too bad I wasn't able to catch her name.)

I like talking to people.

Still talking.

- According to Flo, one of the Hualapai people I was able to interact with, one important aspect of the Hualapai identity can be seen in the Hualapai seal/emblem - with the image of a man and a woman, both of which created equally by the Great Spirit, and were tasked to take care of the land hand in hand. Through this cooperation, they will be able to find happiness.

- Before leaving, Flo and the other Hualapi women there noticed my native American necklace which I had bought from the Museum of the American Indian in New York (click here to see; and here to see the Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C..) Although Flo told me that my necklace could possibly be made by another American Indian group, the design is also something that the Hualapai people might do. After all, there had been a lot of borrowing and sharing of cultures among the American Indian ethno-linguistic groups especially after the pan-Indian movement that started in the 1900s. I asked what my necklace meant, at least based on Hualapai symbolism, and Flo told me how certain colors mean something, like yellow or orange for the sun and life, white for purity, red for man, brown for society, and blue for the sky.

Flo telling me how the Hualapai people may interpret the design of my American-Indian necklace.

- I finally had to say goodbye to Flo and the other Hualapai people when it was about time for our tour bus to go. On the way back to Las Vegas, we had a short visit to Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam is a large dam between Nevada and Arizona that was built during the Great Depression. We saw the dam from another architectural wonder - the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Hoover Dam at the back.

At the border of Arizona and Nevada.

The bridge I was standing on.

- We finally reached our hotel in Las Vegas around 3pm, leaving us time to rest or go around the area before our 6pm call time for our night show. To kill time, I decided to go to downtown Las Vegas. took a cab to Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. There is more to Las Vegas than the enormous hotels of The Strip, one of which is the downtown where most people live and other commercial activities are done. Fremont Street (named after the earlier mentioned explorer, John Fremont, is actually considered by many from Las Vegas to be the "true face" of Las Vegas; the establishments in Fremont Street are more commonly used to represent Las Vegas in various media, and not those from The Strip. From my hotel, the best option to go to Fremont Street was by taking a cab; the 10-minute ride to Fremont Street was one of the most expensive cab rides I've ever experienced.

- Fremont Street is a covered street that houses quite a few smaller but equally bedazzled casinos compared to the ones along The Strip. Since I wasn't able to go there at night (like my family did during their night tour the night before,) I didn't see Fremont Street fully lit. Well, what was important was I was still able to see experience strolling along Fremont Street.

Welcome to Fremont!!

Nope, it's not Woody.

Fremont Casino.

4 Queens casino.

Tourist photo.

People ziplining through Fremont.

Yes, yes it is so.

- I got back to the hotel with some minutes to spare for resting, and afterwards we met with the buses that would bring us to our night show. The hotels and casinos along The Strip have different attractions inside, and most of them have large theaters that have regular shows (for Cirque du Soleil or David Copperfield) or special events (like the controversial Miss Universe 2015.) For that evening, my family decided to watch Cirque du Soleil's "Ka." Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun") is a world-renowned circus group from Canada, and has performed their shows throughout the world, including the Philippines. What makes Cirque shows different from normal circus acts, is that they mix the typical circus/acrobatic acts with a coherent story, which makes the whole show a "performance" rather than an "exhibition." Tickets may cost cheaper in Las Vegas, since some of the costs are subsidized by the hotels and casinos where they perform. By the way, Cirque du Soleil has many shows that they have a mainstay performance in almost every hotel along The Strip (i.e. O, Zumanity, La Reve, Zarkana, Mystere, Ka, etc.) For "Ka," Cirque does it in MGM Grand.

The show hasn't started and I'm already impressed; they have some fire display before the show (yes, fire, not fireworks.)

My ticket.

- "Ka" is a story set in the fictional land of Ka, where the cultures are mostly "orientalist," meaning an exoticized version of Asian and African cultures. However, since the orientalist approach was intentional and well thought of, I was not annoyed by this. (I do not always agree with orientalism, and I may only agree or disagree with the portrayal/execution of something orientalist depending on the art form.) To summarize, but not to give everything away, it is a story about twins - a prince and a princess - who were separated after a rival kingdom attacks theirs. They both journey through the different parts of Ka and gain new friends. In the end, the twins and their friends emerge triumphant.

Statues outside the theater. The costumes are impressive!!

- After one of the most spectacular stage performances I've seen in my life, we all went back to our hotel and prepared (we mostly prepared out butts) for our almost-whole-day drive from Nevada to California. Had I more time in Las Vegas, I would have wanted to see more Cirque shows, or perhaps a David Copperfield magic show.

- While driving in the wild wild unknown, we stopped by at Ethel M Chocolate Factory, where people may see how premium chocolates are being made; needless to say, people can also buy chocolates from the factory store. Since it was the holiday season, there was no one making chocolates inside the factory. Right beside the factory is a small botanical garden (read "cactus garden") that has more than 300 types of cacti. The water used to sustain this garden comes from waste water recycled from the chocolate factory.

With Ethel M.

Chocolate mixers; too bad there was no one there. I would've wanted to see them make chocolate!!

At the botanical garden.

Taller than I am.

They look like prickly watermelons. I love watermelons.

Cactus skeletons.

Taller than I am.

Probably the tallest cactus among the rest. It's so cute it looks like a cartoon.

- We made another stopover in the middle of nowhere, and it was a chain of outlet stores. Now my friends in the US have told me that the best (cheapest, that is) place to shop are outlet stores (when they're sell items for a lower price than other retail stores of the same brand,) or a retail store during sale season - when a store in America says "sale," chances are there are pretty good deals. Now, visiting outlet stores during sale season is probably one of the best things that could happen to someone who likes to shop, and this was what the kind of shopping heaven I was in when I visited the in-the-middle-of-nowhere-in-California chain of outlet stores. Although I don't usually shop for regular clothes, I ended up grabbing a bunch of shirts that I actually liked (and needed;) they were branded clothes for street-market/bazaar prices.

- Our group eventually reached Howard Johnson Inn in Fullerton. My family and I had dinner at the nearby branch of the famed In-N-Out Burger. It was nothing spectacular, but it was a good burger for a "fastfood" burger.

In-N-Out.

- We spent Christmas eve in the hotel, and I was probably the only one who stayed up until past midnight. I didn't see Santa Claus, but I still could not get over the big sale in the factory outlets that afternoon - probably a manifestation of Santa's Christmas gift to me. I didn't celebrate Christmas long because I had to sleep for the upcoming leg of our American Southwest tour - San Francisco!! (Don't forget to read part 1 here, 3 here, and 4 here!!)