The Sahara has seen so many highs and lows that it would take 50 posts to cover them all. Some of the notables though are: Being the setting for the original “Ocean’s eleven” film, hosting the Beatles and of course Dean Martin.

I have traveled to Las Vegas many times and I have to admit the location all the way at the north end of the strip has, in the past, been a bit of a deterrent. Not anymore. Thanks to one of the hottest thrill rides to ever be created. Speed The Ride has quickly become one of the greatest rides you will ever experience. Don’t know what I am talking about? To be honest words don’t do it justice. So here is a little youtube video for you.

If you are looking for a las Vegas hotel deal the Sahara is offering special rates for it’s 55th anniversary. Originally I probably would not have stayed at this las Vegas Hotel as it is a little bit too far to walk if you want to visit the main part of the Strip. But, now with the monorail offering service all over the Strip it is back on my radar. As opposed to some of the newer hotels the rate here are quite reasonable and the hotel offers some very nice food amenities, The NASCAR Car is a personal favourite.

So, next the time you book a trip to Sin City don’t exclude any of the hotels. You can quite often save hundreds of dollars on room rates alone. One last word of advice though, you may want to know how to get around the city if you are staying a little further out.

On Friday Jan 26^th 2008 a fire swept through the top two floors of the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas. Amazingly the majority of the fire was on the exterior of the building. I will repeat that.. the majority of the fire was on the EXTERIOR of the building.

Am I the only person on the planet that finds this a little odd? I mean the majority of flammables and fire starters. The exterior of the Monte Carlo is apparently sprayed with a textured “foam like building material” that is extremely flammable.

Fire Chief Steve Smithsaid it was too early to assess damage or say what caused the fire, which began just before 11 a.m. There was no immediate indication of criminal activity or arson, but "nothing is ruled out at this time," he said.

Let’s hope they get this sorted out, and this is just a thought .. but maybe you guys should not spray flammable foam on the outside of your billion dollar resorts.

The newest resort in Las Vegas is set to have it’s grand opening this week. The $1.9 billion Palazzo is a first in a new generation of Las Vegas resorts.

Instead of being a theme based hotel such as a pyramid or an ancient roman palace, Palazzo is the first in what is soon to be a succession of hotels that are going for a newer more sleek architecture.

This is not to say that it is boring, in fact anything but. It has an awe inspiring 2 storey high waterfall and together with the adjoining Venetian make the largest hotel and convention centre.

With the slowing US economy and weakening dollar, Las Vegas is booking on Americans staying home for their vacations. Now may  be the time to look into what type of deals Las Vegas has in store for you.

Singer Barbra Streisand, Sylverster Stallone, James Brolin, Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy, Kevin Spacey and Demi Moore were among those who attended the grand opening.

Will be interesting to see as they did some re-modeling to the already impressive Aladdin. As you can see the outside looks nothing like the desert themed Aladdin

The city of Las Vegas acquires about 88% of its water from Lake Mead. Lake Mead is the man-made lake created by Hoover Dam. I guess you could say that the only reason that Las Vegas exists today is because of the Hoover Dam, after all the city itself only receives about 3-5 inches of rain a year. This wouldn’t be enough to service the 1.8 million people that live in Las Vegas, never mind the 35 million visitors each year.

So how much water do the fountains, the tropical landscaping, and the assorted pools and water features actually use?

Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy says that in reality, hotel-casinos consume a very small proportion of the water used here.

In fact, she says, local hotels account for 7 percent of the area’s total use, even though their visitors account for an average of 14 percent of the people in the valley at any given time.

This is because the mega-resorts have been forced to be pro-active in water efficiency.  The MGM Grand, the largest single hotel in Las Vegas, uses more water than any other property in Las Vegas, but only modest amounts on a per room basis, 94,000 gallons, thanks to modern water management systems.

But what about the fountains at the Bellagio? According to Jamie Cruz Director of Energy and Environmental Services for the MGM Mirage:

“The Bellagio fountains are mostly using well water that exists beneath the Bellagio landscape.  That well water was used previously to maintain a golf course that previously existed there.  The beauty of that is the current water use, because of the lake, represents only two-thirds of the water that was used before when the golf course existed, so in reality, the Bellagio uses less water than the golf course that use to be there before”

“The water for this Treasure Island Cove comes from the 3,000 guest rooms here at Treasure Island.  The water that is used once in the showers and sinks is put through a sophisticated process of filtration called reverse osmosis in a state-of-the-art plant located here at Treasure Island and up to 100,000 gallons of water a day can be processed and reclaimed to fill this water feature.”

To make the unbelievable a reality, water shows in a desert, Las Vegas has been forced to be water conscious and frugal. The Bellagio may have the fountains but, the casino company recently removed more than 20,000 square feet of turf from the MGM Grand property and converted it to rock mulch and xeriscaping, converted more than 1.5 acres of shrub-landscaped areas from overhead spray irrigation to drip irrigation to save up to 80 percent of its water, and replaced all parking lot planters with water-wise landscape.

We could all learn a little from the casinos.