The Lucky Donut

Here's something new to cross of the list of things to see and do in Las Vegas.

[X] See a dead body on the sidewalk.

At least that's what I think it was. I didn't stop to ask the cops.

It's definitely person-shaped.

I drove past close enough to see a nose-shaped bump at the other end of the sheet.

Because I'm only human, I went round the block three more times trying to get a better look. It didn't really help, but they didn't seem to be in a hurry to move it.

One seven-out too many?

Given the distance from the nearest tall building, I think we can rule out it being a jumper.

So what happened? I guess we'll never know.

But is it normal to leave a body warming up on the kerbside with just a bit of yellow tape and a bedsheet to try to keep it out of public view?  It didn't work.

It's the return of an old favourite. Binion's are bringing back the million dollar display!

I assume it's not the same million dollars that Becky Binion spent before she ran the place into the ground, but you never know. Surely it is going to be clean, crisp hundies and not the rare $10,000 bills on display - but I guess you never know.

If nothing else, it's always reassuring to know that the place has a million to hand.

In other changes at Binion's, I'm sure the pastrami sandwich has been downgraded a little. It's no longer touted as a "full pound of meat" and wasn't so much of a challenge to eat, although it's still pretty fine.

The poker room is also set for an overhaul.

These pictures of the drawings on display aren't great but even up close I couldn't really figure out what was meant to be going on anyway.

I'm a little worried about this and it will be interesting to see what kind of job they do. There are dozens of spanking new poker rooms all over town; Binion's is the only one with that kind of history.

Laughlin looks amazing from the Arizona side of the Colorado River, especially at night. Here are a few pictures I took that don't really do it justice.

"Your room is in the North tower, 18th floor. The first elevator on the left is an express elevator".

I didn't really think too much of this at first, until I saw this sign.

Harrah's Laughlin has suites? They've never, ever appeared as options when you try to make a reservation online.

So am I actually kind of a big deal or what?

Maybe it is because I won last time? Or perhaps they felt sorry for me because I didn't check in until 1am after a flat tyre incident just outside of Searchlight, NV - a town that has little more than a gas station and a Terrible's casino.

Searchlight is about half way between Las Vegas and Laughlin (and just about the only thing resembling civilisation along the way) and we decided that carrying on driving on the temporary wheel was asking for trouble - especially as we'd be driving back in triple digit heat on Sunday morning - so we took the car back to Vegas to swap it while it was (relatively) cool.

Bye bye Hyundai Sonata, hello Chrysler Sebring. Which is apparently an upgrade, even though it's much noisier and appears to be made out of 95% plastic.

The anticipation in the private elevator was unbearable. Would it be really be a suite?

Damn right it was. Separate living and sleeping quarters, with a wet bar...

... a large plasma TV in the bedroom as well as the living area...

... and another television in the bathroom (although out of shot below) which you could watch from the Jacuzzi bath!

In another separate room there was also a double shower!

So we were winners before we started, but then Claire went on to hit three more royal flushes on the multi-line machine.

She leads me in royals 4-0 now this trip. Must try harder.

Construction of the massive Echelon project on the former Stardust site has been suspended.

You can read more here.

This is what it looked like when I went past today, and how you can expect it to look for the next year or so.

I finally managed to get a picture of this sign last night, and it looks like I was just in time too.

When I drove past it this morning, they'd fixed the McTypo.

Since Vij and Claire did most of the driving yesterday, I've managed to get some other pictures from the road that I'd never otherwise have had chance to snap.

Enjoy the randomness.