City Center Vegas

After a nice one day stay in Albuquerque, I was off to Vegas to retrieve the aircraft and passengers. Vegas is a frequent destination for me. My company is involved in several power projects in the city.

On this trip I stayed down by the Strip. This is a view from my hotel's rooftop bar. It's taken looking southwest. You can see the New York,New York, the Excalibur, the Monte Carlo and part of Mandalay Bay hotels.

I don't like staying in the casino hotels. They are too crowded, too smoky, too impersonal, too gaudy, etc. I will normally try to stay off the strip. This trip I was able to get a room in the Marriott Grande Chateau. It's a time-share that books single nights when not full(common in Vegas lately).

This hotel is in the center of the city on E. Harmon, across from Planet Hollywood. It is a nice alternative to the casinos and right in the center of the action, if you need that. It's a Marriott and to me that means customer oriented. It has a no smoking policy and it is comfortable and quiet. It has everything a traveler needs. The casino hotels provide nothing so you stay out of the room. The rooftop has a bar and a pool. I took a picture of the newest Strip project. The City Center Complex.

This is a 9 Billion dollar project which will include a hotel, casino, shopping center and Condo complex. This is looking west from the Marriott. It is at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Harmon Av.

An overnight and off to the airport for the trip home. Computer planning says it's a 4:06 min flight. Just our luck, the airplane landing on the runway we're waiting to use for take-off, blows a tire. Now we have a 30 min delay for takeoff while they get the airplane towed off the runway.

Bottom line: takeoff at 1235 EST and land in Trenton at 1700, 4 hours and 25 min.