It was about a five hour drive from Flagstaff to Las Vegas, and we started the day off at Target. The Target in Flagstaff was weird, for a couple of reasons - it was so like our neighborhood Target, but the layout was completely different. It really, really freaked me out. Also, they had BEER! Which now our Target does too, but that was the first time I had seen alcohol products in Target and that was also weird.
We were surprised to come across...the Hoover Dam! The drive was kind of boring for most of the way. Once we hit Nevada, the scenery became really, really pretty - we drove through parts of the Lake Mead Recreation Area and it was gorgeous. Some of the mountain ranges/canyons looked like they could have been as revered as the Grand Canyon. Pete and I both thought it was interesting that neither of us had even HEARD of Lake Mead before...
The Hoover Dam was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Granted, we didn't really get out of the car. It didn't seem worthwhile. The first picture is from a lookout point above the dam, and the second picture is a new bridge that they're building to keep pass-through traffic (like me and Pete) from having to drive over the actual dam. That bridge looks beautiful but terrifying. I would close my eyes and hold my breath the whole way across.
Then we got to Vegas. Hilarious. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think I would like to go back. I don't have money to blow and I'm not a huge partier, which I think is what it takes to really enjoy Vegas. We didn't see any shows and we didn't stay at a place on the strip - we just spent like eight hours walking around and taking it all in...
Also - it was sad driving into Las Vegas from the Flagstaff side, as opposed to the Los Angeles side. We didn't see the famous WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS sign or anything. I also think it would have looked cooler if we had driven in at night.
So close!
View of the strip - Venetian on the right. Not sure what else is in there...
Right as I took this picture, a bus full of tourists drove by, mouths agape...
Just makes me laugh.
Pete at the famous Trevi fountain. Love the girl in the right corner.
Paris! Or as close as I'll get for awhile.
Duh! I'm obviously acting like a flamingo.
At Hash House a Go Go - which is awesome. Go if you're in Vegas! That pancake was probably close to 11 inches wide!
Pete got a meatloaf sandwich.
Night lights.
The Bellagio
The Eiffel Tower
The guys from The Hangover
The famous fountain show in front of the Bellagio
The Chihuly ceiling inside the Bellagio (one of my favorite parts of Vegas)
Me losing money
Pete losing money
All in all, we had a good time in the Vegas. But we were exhausted after only one day and after we had only lost about $50. My highlights were the Chihuly ceiling and the Serendipity Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate we got (which of COURSE we didn't take any pictures of). We were ready to get on the road the next morning and head to CALIFORNIA!
Also, some other things about Vegas: over Las Vegas Boulevard (the major street where many of the famous casinos are) there are overhead walkways. So people don't have to wait to cross the street with all the cars. It took Pete and I...well, it took us awhile to figure that out. St. Louis just isn't as fancy. Also, to get the overhead walkways there are almost always escalators. Crazy!
There were rows and rows of men standing on the streets with neon shirts that say GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS that try to hand you business cards for escorts or call girls or whatever you want to call them. Along those lines, there were also kiosks of catalogs all over the place. The catalogs were again for escorts or prostitutes. Very surreal. Of course I took one and it was the talk of a party that Pete and I had for some friends last weekend.
Lastly, Vegas has a monorail system. WHAT?! I thought only Disney World had that! I said that exact thing to Pete, who said, "...well, Vegas is kind of like Disney World. A weird, twisted, adult version of Disney World."
I like Disney World better.
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