Las Vegas New Year's EveHappy New Year to everyone. I had this brilliant idea to see the fireworks down on the strip this year. A popular place to view the fireworks is along Industrial, which is now Dean Martin Dr. Since I can’t park the truck close to our house, it’s parked at the Wild Wild West truck stop which is at Tropicana and Dean Martin Dr. We drove down there very early, pay for parking, load some things in the truck, clean the inside, watch TV, gamble a little, take a nap (we got there early), get up and watch the fireworks. It was a good plan to avoid the traffic and the struggle to find a place to park along Dean Martin Dr.

Las Vegas fireworks are supposed to be some of the best and can be seen from almost anywhere in the valley. Usually more than one hotel rooftop is the launching point and they are synchronized with each other and music. A very big deal. This year launched from three hotel rooftops simultaneously lasting for eight minutes.

Las Vegas New Year's EveI must be getting old, I’ve been to Industrial to watch them before and every hotel on the strip had fireworks, from Mandalay Bay to Bellagio. At least five or six groups of fireworks going at the same time, even from Industrial Drive you could feel the booms exploding. This year, not so much. Three rooftops, the new City Center construction blocking most of the strip, they didn’t seem high enough and not very loud at all. It didn’t seem like eight minutes and you couldn’t even tell there was a finale.

Back in the old days, the fireworks were for the entire city to see, now it seems they are only for the drunken hordes that are clogging the strip.

First picture is looking toward the City Center construction with the fireworks probably coming from Planet Hollywood with more to the left that you can’t see, probably fired from the Paris or the Flamingo.

The second is New York New York with the fireworks behind being fired from the MGM Grand.