Las Vegas Impact

I saw their famous magic and comedy show while in Vegas. Although it was enjoyable, I didn't enjoy listening to Penn rant for twenty minutes in at the beginning about his personal views of God or a creator.

This was a great day! I booked a trip to Hoover Dam thinking it would be a nice distraction from all the craziness of Vegas but to my surprise it turned out to be the best thing I did in Vegas. I went with Comedy on Deck Tours because they have comedians as tour guides and why not have a little fun if you can?

Our tour guide, Joni Maclain, was so funny, I'm not kidding I think she should have her own TV show. We laughed all the way to the Dam and once we got there she took us on a guided walk over the top and peppered her talk with historical jokes about the dam as well.

All of us were amazed at the information on the dam. It is said that 96 people died during the construction but they were just the official deaths, in reality many more died but the company that built the dam didn't want to pay death benefits, so only counted 96. I was so impressed with the volume of concrete, the fact that it had no rebar (something I understand since my dad's a mason) in it and the height. I was also struck by how sever the drought is getting, the water line was unbelievable showing the water to be down over 100 feet.

Inside the dam we got to view the generators and walk into one of the tunnels (56' in diameter) built to take the water around the construction site so they would have a dry riverbed. I found walking through the tunnels 500' feet into the canyon to be nearly as interesting as viewing the generators. Talk about information, there was so much I couldn't possibly take it all in. I even learned more when we made a stop at the Boulder/Hoover Dam Museum; it was upstairs in the supposedly haunted Boulder Dam Hotel in Boulder City. I had an excellent lunch at the hotel ( I recommend the chicken Parmesan sandwich) and to top the whole day off we learned all about Las Vegas history on the trip back to town. I couldn't imagine a better time visiting Hoover Dam or in Vegas for that matter. This was better then the shows I saw.

I experience a fantastic trip to Las Vegas and highly recommend the Comedy Bus to Hoover Dam, the Bellagio Fountains, and the Fremont Street Experience. To my surprise Hoover Dam was actually the most enjoyable and the most fun. I have to give credit to our guide Jonie Maclain, she is a professional comedienne (the company she works for is called Comedy on Deck Tours) and very knowledgeable about the Dam; she calls herself a "dam encyclopedia". I laughed all the way to and from the dam. It's a great idea to put comedians on as guides and even better that they are so well trained (at least ours was).

In addition to Hoover Dam must see sites are the Bellagio Fountains (beautiful) and the Fremont Street Experience in old downtown.

The Bellagio Fountains are actually water canons and blast the water 400' into the air. It's even better because of the music Celine Dion, Frank Sinatra etc. If you are smart you will get reservations at Mon Ami Gabi, a restaurant across the street from the Bellagio. You can enjoy a delicious dinner outside on the terrace and see and hear the fountain show go off every 15 minutes, it was magical.

Fremont Street Experience: Every hour on the hour after dark all the casinos dim their lights and a light show goes off over you head on a canopy that is four blocks long. They turned downtown into a boardwalk so it is very eclectic, you can get everything from deep fried Twinkies to blueberry Margaritas, see street performers, and listen to live music.

Watch out, I had my pocket picked while I was in Las Vegas. I was talking with a friend and a woman came up and pumped into me. I may have been suspicious if she had quickly left but instead she apologized and started a short but friendly conversation, when she left, the money I had just put into my back pocket was gone too.