I think it's taken 30 years of visiting Las Vegas to overlook the obvious negatives and "see the trees" - well there aren't many. The weather in Las Vegas is amazing. To have 65 degree days in the middle of January with brilliant blue skies every day makes up for lots. After spending each morning inside the World Market Center, I had to get outside in the afternoons. And three days I spend an hour or two each by three of the nicest pools I've seen in a while. My top pic is the ultra hip Cosmopolitan and the Cosmopolitan pool (top pic). It was really no contest, but had it been a draw, the poolside ping pong tables would have sinched the deal. But, just talking Hotel, the Mandarin is the place. If I can afford it, that's where we'll be staying. But then again, $39 at Balleys (connected to Paris) is going to be hard to beat.
