What Happens In Vegas, Gets Blogged About

Las Vegas, Nevada has been called many things – Sin City, The City That Never Sleeps, The City of Lights, The Birthplace of Culture, The City of Brotherly Love, The Big Apple, etc. etc. etc. This jack-of-all trades city is many things, but there’s one thing it isn’t – cold. 110 degrees during the day, 90 at night, and I haven’t sweated this much since my last Econ final.

We rolled into Las Vegas after leaving Zion National Park – with a quick stop in nearby Hurricane, UT for a daytime viewing of the newest Harry Potter (for a few of the girls) and Transformers (the best movie ever made). After hearing that our original plan to visit the Grand Canyon wasn’t going to pan out, we called ahead and reserved rooms at The Sahara, a desert-themed Vegas-mainstay hotel on The Strip. Braving heat waves hot enough to melt the sole off of Lucas’ sandals while driving (true story), we rolled into LV with only a couple desperation stops for water and ice cream.

Las Vegas was described by Brent as the best city in the world for about 4 hours, and then pretty awful after that. We had a good time for a little longer than that, but the assessment was largely correct. We were awed, amazed, and a bit put-off at times by the extravagance of the city, although we made sure to take in all the hotels and their grandeur. The fountains at the Bellagio - set in time to God Bless America – helped ring in the first birthday of the summer! Happy birthday Frances!

The night and next day were passed in numerous ways – shopping, riding roller coasters, touring the various hotels and casinos, watching pirates do battle at Treasure Island, slipping a couple quarters into slot machines, and enjoying the famous Vegas buffets. Frances, Lucas, and Esther stopped at a nearby elementary school and presented the bus to every single kid in the school! They rejoined the rest of the crew rejuvenated and ecstatic about a successful event.

A sushi dinner for Frances’ birthday finished our Vegas stay, along with the presentation of cake, a pink cowboy hat and matching boa, a badge proclaiming “Francis” the sheriff of Las Vegas, and a “We Live On A Bus” t-shirt to top it all off. We once again packed onto the bus, and headed for cooler weather and fewer bright lights.

- chris

Merritt, Nate, and Brent fit right in at The Sahara!

The group out for Frances' birthday dinner at Ra Sushi!

Fact-o-the-day: Las Vegas is planning to build a new city center that will be LEED certified. Read more about LEED certification here: http://www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/leed.asp