24.4.2012 – 24.4.2012  33 °C

After a great little sleep in, we wandered downstairs of Paris to the patisserie for some croissants and coffee for brekky. After checking out of the hotel we drove across to Excalibur (where we are spending tonight) and discovered that we couldn’t check in yet so grabbed the bus and headed back down the strip to the Imperial Palace to see the ‘world’s largest car showroom’

The showroom was one story of the parking lot for the Imperial that has been modified to an indoor showroom. Most of the cars inside were on sale and ranged in price from a measly 4k right up to 1.2mil! Lots of Rolls Royce, Bentleys and hot rod style cars as well as little roadsters just for someone like me!! A couple of cars caught my eye; a beetle bus that was completely restored and decked out as a camper and a replica 1880s push bike/ car. After oohing and aahing for forty minutes or so we decided to continue our strip tour and go down to the old part of Las Vegas, the Freemont Centre.

I’m not sure if my hunch is right, but I definitely had the impression that the Freemont strip is the original Las Vegas strip. It is home to the famous Golden Nugget and the sign of the moving cowboy. Today the street has been turned into a pedestrian mall (that is covered thank goodness) so that you can wander at leisure and check out the old glitz of LV.

We stopped into one casino in the Freemont centre, Sam Boyles, where we had a very mediocre Chinese lunch but two dollar Heinkens and a one dollar margarita.. (The liquid lunch was far superior to the edible). We decided to try our luck in this old casino, so D hit the blackjack tables and M and I went hunting a fun looking pokie to play.. We found the Wheel of Fortune machine and tried our luck… We invested a total of 4 dollars (2 each) and managed to pull out a whopping 511 dollars!!!! Holy dooley, we aren’t even sure how we did it!!!!!

We grabbed D off the black jack table and left immediately with our winnings, knowing that our luck was high and not wanting to lose the charm.. M and I couldn’t stop laughing.. the pokie duo had done it again.. M sure knows how to pick em and somehow they just seem to come up with cash when I push the button… Great team effort!!

On our winning high, we caught the bus back to our digs and checked in (by now it was getting late in the afternoon). After a bit of a rest and a beverage we took a wander over to Luxor to have a bite to eat and spend some more money in the machines.. Our luck had turned, and we lost our combined 20 dollars so we called it quits with us being very far in front!

Tomorrow see’s us leave the lights of Vegas and head out towards the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam.. All in all, LV=0 D, M&I= 770 dollars in front!!!!! (well minus about forty odd dollars that I put into the various machines, sixty dollars from M and one hundred from D)… Ok maybe only 500 or so ahead but still a nice little haul in Vegas!!!

Song of the Day– Kenny Rogers, the Gambler