Las Vegas

After Laramie I caught a lift down to Denver with some of the departing relations, I stayed the night in an airport hotel (which was kind of weird, I got dropped off at the airport and then got the free shuttle to the hotel. There is a pocket of about a dozen hotels just sitting in the middle of the prarie, there is a road in and a road out, in the distance you can make out the airport and the new conference centre they're building and that's it. It was kind of odd)

The next morning I flew into Vegas. Everyone when I told them went: "Ooooh Vegas" which ok, I can understand, but it was the closest airport to where I wanted to get to and it has cheap hotels, so it made sense.

I stayed at Treasure Island. I like staying on the Strip when I'm there (I was last in Vegas about 15 years ago, I'm not a frequent traveller) I don't gamble, but I do like walking around. My first room was on the 6th floor and looked north, which wasn't a good view, but it was a room and it was cheap.

I arrived, checked in, then went for a wander, came back, let it get dark and went for another wander. I like Vegas at night, I like the lighting, everything looks more dramatic and you can't see some of the more unsavoury areas.

The following day I got up and headed out for a laundromat. Ok, very mundane, but I thought I'd mention it. I'd been in the US for about a week by now and I needed to do some washing. The hotel in Laramie had a complimentary washing machine, but it was always in use when I wanted it. The hotel in Vegas had a laundry service - $2.50 for a pair of socks... and I had a week's worth of washing to to, so I pulled out the laptop, did some research and the following morning disappeared away from the strip.

Was about a 20 minute walk, so I'm guessing about a mile. A very good laundry, free washing powder, friendly people (24 Hour Laundromat Twain on E Twain Ave - I just looked it up) I did all my washing and dried it for $2.50 and took about an hour. I should have put another $0.25 in the dryer though, byt I wanted to get back.

I walked back, was getting pretty warm by then, but was still early in the morning. Next stop was The Mirage to visit the dolphins because it's Vegas and I like phins. More wandering around and sometime in the afternoon Ash arrived. Ash is a friend I've known for years now, from Australia originally and now living in California. When I said I was pondering a trip, he offered to provide a car and himself so I was all for that.

I bought Penn & Teller tickets at the Rio, so we went there, saw the show (it was good and we got cake!) then we came back, did some late night wanderings, took the High Roller which is the huge ferris wheel and eventually made it back to the hotel in the early hours of the following morning.

I forgot to mention, on the 6th floor there was a lot of noise from the AC units on top of the main casino floor, not far below my window, so I asked if there was something quieter, or at least further away from the AC units. They gave me a room on the 31st floor which was rather unexpected. A good view too.

Anyway, the following morning we staggered out of bed and headed off to begin to roadtrip.