Geocaching and the Vegas Vacation.

Good morning everyone.  Did you know there are 56 Virtual caches in the state of Nevada?  32 of those are in Clark County, where you'll find a city you may have heard of.  Las Vegas.  You'll also find in Clark County 44 Earthcaches, 24 WherIGos, 42 Letterbox (Washoe County, home of Reno has 225), 102 multi-stage, 372 unknown/mystery, and 6,337 traditional caches.  E.T. Highway power trail accounts for a good percentage of those traditional caches.

I was looking over all the blogs I have written and it occurred to me that I haven't written about one particular vacation I took.  This goes back to February, 2017 when I went to Las Vegas with sm66, her sister and brother-in-law.  Myself and sm66 had never been to Vegas, while her sister and husband have been, so we were relying on their experience to help us newbies.  Like any geocacher, I checked out the map on Geocaching.com to see what geocaches are available.  This trip wasn't about geocaching, but since I'm there, may as well grab a few.  The best ones to do in a situation like this are Virtual caches as I can be a total tourist and no one around me would know that I was actually geocaching, except for sm66 and her sister and husband.

Once we arrived and checked into our hotel, it was off to the strip.  For first-timers, it was a visual sensory overload.  So much activity and larger than life buildings.  There is so much to see and do that it's impossible to get everything in on a short visit.  We were staying five nights and that was too short to take everything in.  Fortunately there are virtuals all along the strip and slightly off the strip.

(sm66 and myself at the virtual in front of the M&M store  MM MM Good GC4CE1)

(another virtual I managed to get from the skywalk near the MGM lion  'In The Belly Of The Beast' GC4E94)

One thing that they advise tourists is to stay away from parkades as there is a risk of being robbed.  With time to kill before seeing Chris Angel, Mind Freak show at the Luxor, we wandered over to a nearby parkade to get the only traditional cache I would get on this trip.  I felt safe enough as there was four of us, and the parkade wasn't full of vehicles.  It was a LPC hide and a quick find.  Another reason for getting this one was to show sm66's sister and husband what it's like to find an actual container and what to do when you do find one.

(the view from GZ.  'Cache With A view'  GC1V196)

Another thing on our to-do list was to go on the High Roller observation wheel behind our hotel.  The view from the top is spectacular, especially at night with all the lights.  At the right spot and time, you can catch the fountain show from the Fountains of Bellagio.  

(I was able to claim 'Lake Vegas GC4E95 from here)

Another thing on our to-do list was Freemont street.  This is an absolute must if you like people watching (anywhere in Vegas is good for people watching).  Freemont street also has an overhead show that is worth checking out.  A visual display set to music.  At one end of Freemont street is Heart Attack Grill.  Another must stop for two reasons.  There's a virtual just outside, (NE-On The Strip GC4E96) and the restaurant itself.  If you don't finish eating what you ordered, you get paddled.  A couple of guys did get paddled while we were there.  You could hear the crack of the paddle on their backside very clearly.  Ouch.  You can also get from one end of Freemont to the other via zip line.  sm66 was brave enough to give it a try.    

(A view of Freemont street)

We did a lot of walking and checking out the different hotels as each had it's own theme and free shows.  sm66 and myself also saw the Bodies exhibit.  That's the one with preserved human bodies in various poses to give a three-dimensional view.  It is very educational and also helpful that I had a nurse (sm66) explaining stuff to me.

Another virtual that I managed to get was 'Toga Party', GCB0EB.  This one was across the street from our hotel and I was able to get it while on one of our walks around the strip.  Good thing it wasn't a chilly day outside.

As mentioned, there is so much to see and do in Las Vegas that geocaching can be almost forgotten about.  These are just some pics I took as we walked back to our hotel from the Luxor, after seeing Chris Angel, Mind Freak.  Above is New York, New York, all lit up at night.  Below is the Excalibur Hotel, which is across the street from New York, New York.

I didn't get all the Virtuals that are on the strip.  With 'Eiffel Tower'  GC9D67, one way to log it as found is to go up to the top and get a picture.  We didn't go up.  Maybe the next time.  Even from the ground, it's a spectacular view.

(myself and sm66 at the Fountains of Bellagio, with the Eiffel Tower behind us)

Something that I was aware of is that after my visit to Las Vegas, a couple of the Virtuals were archived.  'LV Money-makers' GCG2VN (I have that one but didn't take a picture), and 'The Presidential Suite' GCFF01.  I did get that one on our last day in Vegas as it was also next door to the hotel.  I'm not sure how many others were archived in Las Vegas, but I know there was more.  Looking at the cache owner's profile, they had owned twelve Virtuals at one time or another, not all of them were in Vegas and all archived.

(The Presidential Suite Virtual.  It's an interesting read in the middle of a garden, between hotels)

It's not a trip to Vegas if you don't see Elvis and his twin (or is it a clone?)

I'm not a slots/gambling type of person.  I don't see the appeal of being inside a casino, playing slots or whatever gambling game you wish to play, when there's so much to see and do outside.  sm66 and myself did give it a try just to say we did gamble.  It's more entertaining to people watch.  People passing by or sitting and gambling with all their silly rituals that they think will bring them good luck.

(I didn't lose it all in the casino.  Still enough to make a phone call.  LOL)

Monthly challenge update:  There isn't anything to update as I haven't found any geocaches.  I still have half a month left.  Plenty of time as it ticks away.  With that said, No, I didn't complete the latest Geocaching HQ promotion.  I'll touch on that more in another blog topic that I have an idea to write about.

That's it for this week.  Until next time, be safe, be happy, hug your loved ones, enjoy life, and most of all, have fun.  Peace out.