Las Vegas, Nevada is namedropped in media, advertising, and tourism.

We were at the American Southwest, so we stayed there briefly before our return to the Nor’East.

Our stay was 36 hours, and 36 hours was enough.

Driving into Las Vegas was relatively straightforward. After parking, we began a long trek to the entrance, then through the casino floor maze to locate the Reception Desk.

Swarming crowds and smoking on the floors didn’t help.

The receptionist offered to upgrade our room for a nominal fee. We paid, and our room was a 14 floorer overlooking the Bellagio fountains.

WARNING: THERE ARE CANDIES, DRINKS, ETC. IN THE ROOM; DON’T EAT AND DRINK THESE! OPENING THEM ADDS CHARGES!

We chose Caesar’s Palace due to our Ancient Roman History obsession, plus price and location. Despite what you might hear, hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada are antithetical to affordable. The room price might appear a bargain on the internet, but there are charges – taxes, resort fee, the apparently-free-yet-truly-scammy room food and drink, etc. that make staying at the city moderately to severely expensive. The upgraded room was fabulous, but there was no ambiance for a hotel known for being named after Julius and Augustus and appearing to mimic their era of the Italian peninsula. The Ancient Rome-emulating decor, itself less detailed, accurate, and noticeable than you’d believe, gets lost in the kerfuffle, giving the entire facility a “nothing special” atmosphere. While we’re at it, look up Orlando, Florida’s now-defunct Holy Land Experience, compare it to Las Vegas, Nevada’s Caesar’s Palace decor, and you’ll get the same impression one of our blog authors got: so many possibilities, so little real effort due to surface focus. We were raised Roman Catholic (at least one of us isn’t anymore), so keep in mind we say that as people who aren’t evangelical Christians.

The pools, at least at Caesar’s, close at 5:00 p.m. when lesser-known hotels keep theirs open for longer. We knew this going in, yet we desperately hoped the time published wasn’t for June.

Absent the pool, we checked out the Las Vegas Strip.

After an eternity negotiating construction work, we reached the main street’s “free” activities.

The “free” activities, offered by most hotels to lure people into casinos, restaurants, and shops, are lame. Animatronics look as if they’re from the 1970s, sound is gaudy and low quality, and you’re barely able to move around these activities. All that’s AFTER you weave through the casino floor labyrinths.

After, two of us went for Mexican and got a plate of Nachos to split at $30 since the meals were too expensive. The rest of us opted for pizza, yet we didn’t get it since it cost $50. We instead got garlic roles and cheese fries (it’s difficult to mess these up, yet somehow they did).

By this point, we were disillusioned by Las Vegas, Nevada and its offerings.

We went on a river tour near the Hoover Dam the next day. We booked that in advance since we feared walking the strip again in the summer desert heat would be too exhausting.

A vacation otherwise among our most splendid ended sourly with the Las Vegas, Nevada portion and a return plane ride where … bluntly, it was the worst plane ride in our entire vacation history. We won’t even go into detail about it here, it was that bad.

We won’t be back in a hurry. For us, the only thing Las Vegas offered was its location. It’s an ok base or airport for Death Valley, Zion, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, the Hoover Dam, and other Southwestern places. Stay on the exterior and merely venture in to walk the “strip”; the exterior hotels are closer to nearby historic and geologic marvels.