Las Vegas – Riviera Hotel and the Wynn

We’ve just finished sorting through about a thousand pictures and selected the best 500 or so.
Here are a couple! We’ll have the Las Vegas videos edited as soon as we get a better editing system since our machine is from 2004 and barely HD capable! Pictures of our exploits after the jump!

We flew on Virgin America to the McCarran International Airport near “The Strip” in Las Vegas, Nevada. “The Strip” is where all the hotel and casinos are (the tourist attractions).

The view was really interesting. Good thing about Virgin America are the seats, which are spacious and have a head rest with lips on the side to keep you from falling asleep on someone else’s lap or bosom :X

Big majestic mountains.

A smoke plume rising in the desert. Desolate.

The pilot mentioned there might be turbulence over the mountains but the trip was fairly smooth throughout with a gentle landing.

The Riviera Hotel’s new tower, which was very nice. The room was really clean, homey and the decor was exquisite for a hotel. Like a catalog picture but real which was amazing. Everything was clean, no-smoke scents in the room, and everything you should expect from a hotel. The window was a little dusty on the outside and there was absolutely no hot water on day two, but other than that rather invigorating shower ~with penguins and polar bears~ it was the best hotel room ever. It had a wall mounted flat screen HDTV which was playing standard definition TV and really nice chairs, a counter and a mini fridge. It also had the cutest tiniest mini shampoo and conditioner bottles. Pictures to come of those soon! (reviewed-March, 2010)

The swimming pool was closed off and empty so maybe that day they were filling up the pool and used up all the hot water :S

The hallways were clean and smoke-free.

While walking around Las Vegas or thru the casinos, you’ll notice the air is a little smokey since a lot more people smoke there than in other cities. If you’re allergic or sensitive to that, make sure to bring plenty of eye drops to make your trip as enjoyable as possible. There are Walgreens in different areas of the strip so if you need something it’s probably there, sometimes a little overpriced but it’s convenient.

The Wynn and Encore with the Stratosphere visible in the far distance, the Fashion Show mall on the left and Treasure Island reflected in the glass. On the strip you often get diverted over walkways or through hotels as you’re walking on the sidewalks. The sidewalk just ends and there’s no way to cross the street at times but to go over a walkway and enter through a hotel and exit somewhere else.

This is the entrance to the Wynn Hotel. They are all hotels/casinos actually.
You can see the horse sculpture in the distance there.

Most hotels are good about photography as long as you’re not taking pictures that are specifically of people gambling. Each hotel/casino usually has something spectacular for the public to see. This floor has restaurants, slot machines, all kinds of games. It’s really amazing how huge and elaborately decorated it is.

One note: you’ll find it difficult to make your way out of any hotel/casino. The maps are either upside down or the signs are missing at key points. So if you’re not familiar with the layout you might spend 10 minutes asking for directions and attempting to follow them to get to the right place. Sometimes not even the employees might know exactly where something might be even if it’s right next to them. They’re just so big! Kind of like cruise ships.

slot machines visible there. Wouldn’t it be great to own a house this big and beautiful?