[censored][censored] car stranded with little or no cell service...and they don't give crap
If your rich go to Sedona...its epic
If your poor go to flagstaff, it epic also, just make reservations...make them...just make them
Being drunk after enjoying the flagstaff night life is cool, being eaten alive by the fleas in your bed is not.
Rodeway Motel..eat !@#$ and die.
Lesson is: While going where the wind takes u might sound sexy...some times it just sounds like fleas eating your flesh in bed.

Kingman AZ is also cool; An honest side of the road town. Hampton inn rocked on this one...I almost got screwed over by a bus tour of old folks, but I was smart enough to reserve a room (see above notes). If you can get to the Dambar, do it. Its an un-pretentious bar where u can get u a steak and beer reasonably. Life is for the living.
Lesson is: your here, try to do it

Hoover Dam. Go, do, spend for the big tour...be a man. Lesson is: Just Do it.

Las Vegas: So this is where we will all diverge. I will give my opinion and you can work from there. Caesers is big; its not just big its huge. You can walk for 10 minutes and still be next to Caesers. That being said it is not worth it in my opinion. I was given an "non-smoking" room...it stank of smoke; I gambled there...it was boring, it was like spending time in a old-age home. My place was at O'Shea's, live music, low limits; you do the math. Before you judge and inflict your opinion, just spend some time at O'Shea's when they have live music...its electric and to me was the full experience. Back to Caesar's, first day I did not have a "do not disturb" sign on my door, so I did the logical thing the next morning and called the front desk and ask for one, they said "someone will be up shortly to place one on your door"...Great! i thought...only to comeback to a room with the "do not disturb" sign on the door and a room that had been clearly made up...aka disturbed. Next day I figure I have the immutable power of the "do not disturb" sign and should expect to come back to my room exactly as I left it. Things were not to be, Upon my return the sign was not on my door, my room had been made up, and further the sign had been permanently removed from my room. So, in all honesty I just gave up, I put the valuable belongings I could not carry in the safe, and tried to carry the high value stuff on me at all times...but laptop etc. it isn't always is so easy. Lesson is: yeah if it is that important don't bring it


Lets talks security...as I person I have harbored several impressions growing up that had been terribly shattered as an adult. 1 was any plane diverging from course over Wash. D.C. would immediately be shot out of the sky...not sure who told that to me but I believed that growing up. 2, I also believed that Casinos considered their patrons holy and no one could mess with them...fast forward to reality, I am walking through Caesars and get attacked by what I can only describe as a crack head lady of the night. So feeling empowered I crossed my arms and sidestepped the crack [censored] expecting the elite Caeser security shock troops to whisk her way in seconds...unfortunately this did not occur. Rather, she followed me and started grabbing at parts of my personal anatomy which are very...well personal. So there I was side stepping and waiting for the Caeser SWAT team to rescue me from the much maligned advances of those who can see the word STD and claim ownership. It was not to be...men in black never appeared, pit bosses who I looked to with yearning eyes of escape just looked away. Caesers ignored my crys for help, after what seemed like 10 minutes, I finally got extremely rude and told her to "F-off" and her response was "so you really want me to go?"...Lesson is: the casinos don't care about you.

Red Rocks is worth seeing, as far as I can tell its the only thing worth seeing to justify having a rental car in LV, other than that, you would be better off cabbing around. So if your on a budget take note.

As I said before if you have an inclining to gamble O'Sheas is my place of choice. If you get to pick your hotel, Venetian is my place of choice, I understand not all budgets can work that but I figure I'd throw it out there.

I attended an "EMP" talk while I was there which made me very distrustful of my Photon micro...I need to carry a bic or old-school lighter in such cases (yes, those EMP cases which I can foresee)...take note. If you want to be hard-core be ready to respond to EMP!!

The Casinos seem to have poor cell coverage, either by design or circumstance, SMS messages are the best option for communication. Lesson is just be aware of your texting plan.

LV airport seems to be slightly better than average. No idea why, but they seem to be the testing grounds for experimental passenger management techniques; I moved from taxi door to clear of security on a post-conference monday in 30 minutes. I had arrived 3 hrs. ahead of departure.

Caveats: I know everyone's experience is different...

Marc