This March, Swirly Rat Jr. and I made the trek to the Land of Liberace, the Disneyland of Decadence, the Tinseltown of Tackyness. Armed with weekend tickets and advance hotel reservations, we flew into McCarran International, hopped in our rented Chrysler Sebring convertible and prepared to give this town something it hadn't seen since, probably, Tuesday.

First of all, some logistics... Many of you probably have visions of $29 hotel rooms and free buffets when you think of Vegas.

And you can find those things. On Tuesdays. In December.

But, as you may or may not know, the price of accomodations in Vegas fluctuates wildly - depending upon if something big is going on in town. And NASCAR is BIG. So, therefore, a room that goes for $40 on the Tuesday before NASCAR weekend will cost well over $200 on Saturday night. If it's not already booked.

We opted to stay at the Golden Gate, one of the original Vegas hot spots, located right at the gaping maw of the Fremont Street Experience. The price, for 3 nights, was $75 a night. Compared to what the strip hotels were charging, that was a bargain. The room was drab but clean, the noise wasn't bad at all, and, as it turned out, most of the action was in the downtown area anyway. We made reservations in November and alot of the less expensive hotels were already booked.

Now for the car! If there is one piece of advice I would give to the first-time visitor to Vegas, it is this... RENT A CONVERTIBLE! There is NOTHING Cooler than driving down Las Vegas Blvd - blasting St. Etienne or ZZTop or Kraftwerk or Peggy Lee or whatever - whooping it up with the top down and having one and all staring at you... It makes you feel like... like.... SOMEBODY!

By the way, if you're really into the Eagles, you can leave all your CDs at home. The Eagles are the Official Music of Las Vegas, and everywhere you go you'll hear them constantly.

Next page