Viva Las Vegas

It is one of those places that some hope to never see, while others dream of going to. Truth be told it is a rather a mixed bag. We drove down from Utah this morning hoping to get the worst of the driving finished before it got too hot. I know that the east is suffering from a nasty heatwave with some terrible humidity, which makes me happy to be west, but by midmorning we were starting to puddle. As you come down from UT on the I-15 you pass through the upper corner of AZ and this small stretch follows the Virgin River as it cuts it's way through the canyon. It is as twisty and winding as you could imagine, surrounded by varying shades of red and yellow. Above is the bright blue sky, barely a cloud in the sky. I have driven this stretch once before but it was at night. Picture if you will, red rock walls surrounding you and a black blanket studded with white stars above. Not really for the claustrophobic but gorgeous all the same. I did enjoy seeing the contrast between last trip and this one, you can really appreciate the beauty of the countryside. The countryside gets successively drier and a kaleidoscope of brown and red, but striking when one is used to shades of green and forests. The closer we got to Las Vegas the more excited we got, and who wouldn't be. We had stopped at the Nevada tourist info stop just after we got into the state and the man there was an absolute gem. He gave us the perfect instructions for driving into Vegas and finding our hotel. His final word of advice "Drivers down there are aggressive, your gps will not help you. Be aggressive and go for it." I am glad he gave us directions, they were spot on and found our hotel without any trouble, and KJ rocked as navigator. Honestly driving into Vegas wasn't that bad, it was like fast 400 series in TO at rush hour, scary but not impossible. We were staying at one of the older hotels in downtown Vegas, right near the Freemont street experience. It was one of those old style Casino and bar hotels, tons of wooden panelling and soft lights except at the tables or slot machines. The front desk was a sweet old guy who was very helpful and full of info on the area. Our room had a kinda retro feel, dark walls and bright colours, and the window looked right onto Freemont where they do the light show at night.

After everyone got cleaned up we headed out to make our way to the famous Las Vegas Strip. We passed through Freemont, which during the afternoon is pretty quiet but tons of stores and casinos, and caught a bus that would take us to the strip and past all the really big casinos. Unfortunately for us there was a back up of traffic so it took a lot longer than it should have. About an hour after we got to Vegas President Obama landed at the airport. I guess that he was here for some sort of fundraiser rally thing and his motorcade backed traffic us something awful. He was staying at Caesar's Palace but the rally was somewhere else first. It made traffic a mess, there was a guy on the bus near us that was 2hrs late for work by the time we made it down the strip. We stopped at the Bellagio to see the fountain show, so cool, set to music with a definite American theme probably as a 'subtle' hint to Obama. There were a couple of Elvis near the fountains posing with the tourists, very nice guys, like most they pose for photos with tourists for tips. If you are gonna get a picture with Elvis you might as well get it in Vegas :) We worked out way down the strip headed for TI (Treasure Island) and the pirate show. It was just such an interesting feeling to walk down the strip past the casinos and shows, listening to the jumbles of noise pouring out onto the street, cool air and lights coming out from the bars and casinos, and tourists stopping along the way to take pictures. I loved the pirate show at TI, the Sirens lure the Pirates in and the they battle it out on the water. It was a mix of acrobatics, sexy dance show, and pyrotechnics. Caught the bus back to Freemont to watch some of the light show and listen to the music. Walking back we met up with Captain jack Sparrow who was wandering around the street and posing. Smile for the camera Captain :) The music was a mix of Queen, Kiss, and AC/DC with the canopy lit up above and the casinos full of lights and noise. One thing I observed when passing the casinos was people didn't seem very happy, but the people watching the show above were smiling. We could watch the show from our window that opened out onto the street and even though the music was loud till after 1am we were so tired we totally crashed.

Next morning we drove back down the strip on our way out of town. It was amazing how quiet and clean it was in contrast to the night before. The Casinos though open were quiet and almost dark in comparison to the night before. The main reason we chose to drive down the strip was to get a shot of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, cheesy but fun. Next stop: California!