April 4th in Las Vegas

A gorgeous day in sin city, not a cloud in the sky.

   We got moving a little late in the day, but went to Ihop for breakfast.  It was a busy place and with 11 of us, seating was a bit tricky.  We did manage to get in within a reasonable time, although we didn't all sit together.  It was a first Ihop for the Smith family and they made out well.  Marg & I had the 2x2x2, pretty normal, especially for me.  It was just bustling in the place, so gave that diner feel which has a lot more character than eating in most restaurants.

  The restaurant was up by the Stratosphere, so on the north end of the strip.  After breakfast we took advantage of the location and went up to Gold & Siler Pawn, it is the shop featured on the tv show Pawn Stars.  We were really lucky as there was almost no lineup and got right in.  Funny thing in the parking lot, the attendant asked if I knew I had a bird in my grill.  I guess I picked it up on the highway yesterday.  Anyway Phil pulled it out, the only birdie for that day, LOL.  It was pretty interesting in the shop, as usual and not sure what anyone purchased, although Marg got me a shirt.

  When we left we drove a bit further north to see where the wedding chapel was.  The Wee Kirk at the Heather, it turns out is the oldest wedding chapel in Las Vegas.  There are dozens of them along that strip and we wanted to make sure we were there for 2PM.  That was time Char & Phil had arranged to renew their vows in the Elvis ceremony.  Then it was back to the hotel to change and on the road again.  The folks at the chapel were great to deal with.  They said they enjoyed the Elvis ceremonies the most and we had their best Elvis.  The ceremony went of well and he was a great impersonator, even singing a couple of songs, finishing with Viva Las Vegas.  We spent quite a bit of time taking photos outside, they don't permit it inside, but Char will no doubt be buying some from them.
  After the ceremony it was over to the Stratosphere for a bite to eat.  Being a bit off peak, we managed to get seating for all of us at one table.  I believe the place was one of the Johnny Rocket restaurants.  Mostly we made out with appies. Marg stopped at a slot outside the door and turned a dollar into 31, so a good experience.
  After eating [I guess that was lunch], the gals went back to the hotel and the guys went to a car show across the road.  It was actually a rat rod club, so not your typical car show, although there were some nice cars as well.  Bill met with some guys from the tv show that does car restoration, buying and selling them, they were called The Count and took some pics on his cell phone.  I wasn't really sure who they were so never got any but they had some nicely decorated cars at the show.

 

  When we got back to the hotel we had a bit of a break and then it was out on the strip for a Las Vegas experience.  The roadway on the strip had been busy, but was nothing compared to the sidewalks.  At times the crowd was so thick it was all we could do to inch along the sidewalk.  There were lots of people dressed up as characters and charging for a picture with them and Brennan did it a couple of times: once with tinkerbell and the second with a scantily clad dancer.  On the way up we walked through the New York New York and it was the first for all of them except Marg & me.  We walked up to the Bellagio [a fair hike from here] and watched the fountain display.  We got an ice cold beer from a street vendor and it was really welcome after that walk.  After we made it to the other side of the strip and stopped at the Harley Davidson café for something to eat.  By then it was about 10PM, so we were all starting to get hungry.  The food was good and we continued our trek back towards the Mandalay Bay.  On the way the girls stopped at an Elvis impersonator to get their pictures taken and then at the M&M store.  By then we were pretty much done so made it back to the Excaliber and took the tram back to the Mandalay Bay.  Marg & Bill stopped for a few pulls on the old slots while the rest of us went back to our rooms.  Not too sure, but I think the casino tried to reclaim some of their dollars, although Marg said she is still up overall for this trip.