Day 1, Departure: Los Angeles Three days of sightseeing, including transportation, hotels and entertainment for $99! Los Angeles Times staffers Rosemary McClure and Anne Cusack signed on, buying the tour online at
www.GotoBus.com. They boarded a shuttle in Chinatown that took them to San Gabriel.
Day 1, Stop 1. San Gabriel Anne and Rosemary board Big Yellow 18, a crowded 60-passenger coach bus that had seen better days.
Day 1, Stop 2: Barstow The tour-goers all liked the
Tanger Outlet Mall, which offered more practical fare than the souvenir shops favored by many tour bus companies.
2796 Tanger Way, Barstow, CA 92311;
(800) 409-3175 or (760) 253-4813.
Day 1, Stop 3: Lake Havasu City
Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Most of the tour-goers were underwhelmed by the London Bridge, though: its graceful 176-year-old stone arches seemed an odd backdrop for the nearby Hawaiian shave-ice stand, Javelina Cantina and Dixie Belle restaurant.
314 London Bridge Road, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403
(928) 453-3444
Day 1, Stop 4: Laughlin
Laughlin, Nev., a small-scale Vegas on the Colorado River but without the glitter and high prices, serves a preponderance of blue-collar tourists.
Day 2, Stop 1: Grand Canyon United States history is not too long. A little more than 200 years. But the
Grand Canyon history is very long,â tour guide Chris Quach said.
Day 2, Stop 2: Las Vegas Anne and I hit several Strip casinos and hotels, had dinner at the Bellagio, rode the inexpensive Deuce bus back downtown and watched the big screen Vista Vision light and sound show that plays above Fremont Street.
We stayed at the
Plaza Hotel and CasinoPlaza Hotel and Casino, 1 Main St., Las Vegas, NV 89101.
The 1,000-room downtown hotel, at the western edge of the Fremont Street Experience, has seen better days. The carpet in my room looked like it had once served as flooring in a pre-school cafeteria. But Anneâs room was fine and others in the group were pleased too.
Day 3, Stop 1: Back in Barstow Anne and Rosemary return to Los Angeles, stopping one more time at the Tanger Factory Outlet.Blue Man at the Luxor Showtime in Las Vegas: beating the ticket-price game
Here's how to score in-demand seats and save in Sin City.
By Debora Vrana, Special to the Los Angeles Times
May 02, 2007
Showtime in Las Vegas: beating the ticket-price gameAmazing Hot Springs in Middle of Nowhere Fly Geyser
Fly Geyser
