Mark,

Thanks for sharing!

In defense of downtown Las Vegas, you need to spend more than just a little time there. The Fremont Street Experience at night is pretty cool, a visible example that some people who indulged in psychedelic drugs in the 60's and 70's put their knowledge to creative use as computer programmers in the 90' and 00's!

The downtown casinos are more cozy than the strip properties. That might not be what some people want, but I've been going to Vegas for 25 years, and the downtown casinos have just as much appeal to me as the new megaresorts on the strip. Some of them are much the same as they were 25 years ago. Others have undergone extensive renovations, but you can't retro-fit a six-story sky painted ceiling into an old building.

Downtown Las Vegas is different from the strip, just as Laughlin is different from everywhere else. I've been to Nevada 21 times over the last 2 years. I stayed in Laughlin three times, downtown Vegas four times, off-strip hotels three times and on the strip eleven times. Every area has its plusses and negatives. The plusses outweigh the negatives in all of them!

Bob