Entries about las vegas

41 million visitors annually, according to the Las Vegas guide. We are here to add to the total. Neither of us gamble, but both of us like to people watch from time-to-time, and this is the place to do it. We drove in from Barstow, California ready for something different from the National Parks we had been visiting for the past 2 weeks. We drove the strip, with TaJ on the back just to have a look-see at the place.

In the early afternoon the traffic along the strip was busy. They have these neat rolling billboards that cruise up and down the strip, advertising, well, just about everything. Here is one we caught on camera later that night.

We parked TaJ at Sam's Town a casino/hotel/rv park a few miles from downtown. Over 700 rv sites, and only $30 a night, and that includes a free shuttle bus down to the Las Vegas Strip. Pretty good deal. The rv spots are small, but full service and the park was about 75% full.

We took an hour long break and caught the 4:00pm shuttle which drops you off at Harrah's, right at the north end of the strip. You walk through a massive casino to get to the street, and even mid afternoon there was a good number of people staring at slot machines or playing roulette or craps or poker.

We had no sooner stepped out on the street and there were hawkers, handing out cards for the 'services' of young ladies, with pictures, phone numbers and even prices. I decided right off the bat to collect them as they were offered and by the end of the night had over 200 in my pocket.

Our afternoon stroll brought us past Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, with its currently quiet fountain, and past hotels and casinos and stores with names like Prada, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and so on, offering goods that are so pricey that our minds shudder at the thought. I offered to get Jenny a Fendi bag, but we would have to go home immediately after the purchase Luckily she declined the offer so our trip continues.

As evening approached we considered our options for supper and finally decided on pizza and beer. Supper was finished just as dusk fell and we returned to walking, this time back towards Harrah's from the south end of the strip.

We caught the 7:30pm show of the Bellagio Fountain.

We were struck by the number of people carrying drinks along the strip. There are no limits to drinking alcohol on the street. There was also a lot of smokers about, even inside the casinos. There were two wedding parties along this part of the strip in the evening. Our evening ended with the 9:10pm bus back to the campground. Definitely not your usual Las Vegas visitors. Everything got brighter as the evening progressed.

The massive ferris wheel even offers service with your own bartender for the 1/2 hour ride around the ring in the sky:

We had a good night in the Vegas campground and internet was acceptable, if not great. We did manage to find a used Video store and were able to obtain Season 4 of the TV series Fringe, which we have been watching since we left home. We expect to finish the whole series before we get back to Nova Scotia.

We had two firsts in Vegas. I had a White Castle burger (can't see what the excitement is all about) and we had lunch at an In N Out Burger joint. The In N Out was quite a revelation. Hamburgers, fries, milkshakes, that is all they sell and they do it very well.

Our drive on the 28th led us south out of Vegas through Bloulder City. We almost got off at the exit for the Hoover Dam but decided against it. Good think we did. As we passed the entrance road you could see the line up of cars waiting to get in...it could have been hours before we got back out to the highway.

Our destination for the day is Seligman AZ, on the historic Route 66. The longest remaining stretch of the old Highway runs from Kingman to Seligman and we thought it would be good to drive it. Interesting scenery along the way, but much of the historic road is long gone.
There are a few attractions in Seligman, enough for it to be a bus tour stop. As we passed through to our campground there were 3 large tour buses and people scurrying along the road to take photos of the old cars and buildings. A bit of a cottage industry for an otherwise sleepy little town.

Route 66 is now a cliche, a tourist draw if you will, at least in this area. Cheap trinkets and even cheaper T-shirts, at high prices are everywhere. Better to let the old highway die away than its memory sold for a few $. The closed motels and gas stations are more interesting than the resurrected ones.

As this is written on the 29th we have decided to take a day off the road to recharge the travel batteries. We have decisions to make on our path forward and need internet time to make a plan. We are beginning to see the end of our travel $$ for 2017 and need to get focused.

Our October: We will hit 4 more National Parks, Petrified Forest, Saguarro, both in Arizona, then Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and finally Big Bend in Texas. On October 25 we wioll likely arrive in Mission Texas to visit with George and Karmen Reid for 10 days or so and then depart on a 7 day run back to Nova Scotia and the end of this journey. We expect to be home in Aylesford on November 10