Vacation in the Desert, Las Vegas, Nevada July 2008

I recently got back from a family vacation in Las Vegas. For me this vacation was extra special because it was over my 21st birthday. We flew out on my birthday and upon arriving we checked into our hotel (Ti). We had some great food over the 4 days we were there, amazing Mexican at Isla, some good Vietnamese noodle soup, Thai food at The Lotus of Siam, Some great sandwiches at Canters deli in Ti.

Gambling was interesting. I am not really a big card player and stayed away from the tables so I would leave with some money. However I found the slot machines fun. Nickel slots were great. You could put in a dollar and play for a while. The first day I put in a dollar and my mom and I played. I cashed out at $5 because we went to eat dinner. Little did I know I should have stopped here and not played anymore for the trip. I ended up spending that $5 playing slots for quite a while. Over all I ended up $-4. Not too bad because my mom ended up winning a fairly significant sum from nickel slots. Over all the family came out in positive territory.

Shows in Vegas are great. If I ever go back to Vegas I will definitely go see some more shows. We saw Wayne Brady. He had a comedy/variety show that was great. Everyone was laughing and he would pull people up on stage and base that act on the answers they provided. It was a lot of fun and a good value for the money.

Hoover Dam was really neat. Despite temps that were well into the triple digits it was fun. We were able to go down inside the dam to see some of the huge pipes that feed the massive hydroelectric generators. I was also able to take some of the best panoramic photos that I have ever taken of the dam and Lake Mead.

Below you will find many photos from the trip. Mostly the photos are of Hoover Dam and of the Strip on the flight home. Be sure to check out the gallery for more photos. Enjoy.

Las Vegas 2008 Gallery

Hoover Dam Panoramic