Vacation Day 8: Leaving Las Vegas ... leaving for good

The original plan was to stay two nights Vegas mainly to avoid the frenetic traffic of losers heading back to LA on I-15.  Hotels.com screwed up the second night reservation so were were faced with some alternatives ... one, book another night in Vegas ourselves; two, head to Laughlin for a night; or three, head straight to LA.

We opted for option two, Laughlin, on the lower Colorado River, another gambling town.  We had big breakfast at the Golden Nugget and hit the road.  We take US 95 south.  The road climbs and passes through Searchlight, an old mining town, hometown to Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).  A left turn took us down to Laughlin where it was 107 degrees.  My younger son commented "It's an imitation of Las Vegas and Las Vegas is an imitation."  That sealed it for us.  We decided to push on toward LA, with maybe an overnight stop in Barstow.

We paralleled the Colorado River along it's western side and picked up I-40 at Needles.  From there, we gathered speed toward LA.  We blazed through the inhospitable looking town of Barstow.  It's amazing how LA sprawl has spread to the High Desert.  People with barely the means to qualify for a home mortgage bought there first homes in places like Hesperia only to tragically losing them when the bubble burst.

Before we knew it we were crossing Cajon Pass in the greater LA.  We made a quick stop in Rancho Cucamonga to look at the first house I bought and later joined by my wife.  Times were different then, much better.

We took the 210 across the alluvial fans that emanate from the San Gabriel Mountains ... Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Claremont, Azusa, Monrovia, Arcadia, Pasadena.  Our last hurdle was Rocky Peak before reaching our destination in Simi valley to spend a few days with my wife's sister's family.

Vacation Day 7: Fear and Loathing

We left Kingman in the morning after breakfast at the hotel that included the universal waffles from the ubiquitous hotel waffle maker.  The Comfort Inn where we stayed was adequate and I'm being nice.  It was kind of a smaller hotel and I suspect of cheap construction as some of the doors were rather ill-fitting.  This building was not built to last.

We made a bee line course northward on US 93 that follows a straight shot down the center of a valley known as Detrital Valley because it's filled with, and I'm not making this up, detritus.  Our initial destination was Hoover Dam followed by Las Vegas.

When we reached Hoover Dam it was 11 am and already 105 degrees.  We parked on the Arizona side and walked across the top along with a few hundred other tourists.  The dam is, without a doubt, a marvel of engineering.  The Art Deco details are pretty cool, classic 1930s.  The modern bridge that spans the canyon is nearly completed.  It was $8 to access the visitor center.  We decided we'd seen enough already.

It was on to Las Vegas.  We made a stop in Henderson for lunch at the Sunset Pizzeria.  The pizza was excellent.  Henderson is the nice suburb of Las Vegas.

We had reservations at the Golden Nugget downtown.  We arrived, parked, and checked in.  It's a nice hotel but everything above and beyond your room you pay extra.  I decided not to opt for the $12.99 internet access.  The pool was closed because of some biohazard, probably a drunk guy that barfed in the water I was guessing.  The boys opted out of the pool because they didn't want to swim around with drunk old people.

We strolled around downtown along an arcade street, checking out the shops, kiosks, and the strange people tha Vegas attracts.  In a way, it's a rather sad place.

After our late afternoon stroll we drove down to the Strip and parked at Bellagio.  The interior of Bellagio is incredible, awesomely beautiful, but like everything in Vegas, it is excessive and unreal.  We walked down the Strip and dropped into the Harley-Davidson Las Vegas Cafe.  The food was excellent.

After dinner we walked further, spending far too long in the M&Ms place, where you can buy anything and everything related to M&Ms colorful candy, plain or peanut.

We walked down to Luxor, a must see according to my brother-in-law.  It is impressive and excessive, like everything in Vegas.

The strip was buzzing with all manner of people.  Pretty girls in tight dresses, guys looking for girls, cougars, and even familys with small children in strollers (I don't get that ... please parents, grow up and act like parents).  On every corner, presumably illegal immigrants hired for this express purpose, are flipping cards to you of naked women you can have in your room in like 20 minutes, if you can hold out that long.  It's amazing that you can walk around with drinks, some with huge drinks.

I don't get Vegas.  For sure, I don't like it.

The following photographs represent interesting people observed in Las Vegas.