Las Vegas

 There may have been frost on the van at 7am but by noon it was 80 degrees and then up to the mid 90s by mid afternoon!

Our last section of Route 66 for a while was from Williams to Kingman and from there we headed north on Rt 93.  The next stop was in the very bottom corner of the state of Nevada - the 726 ft tall Hoover Dam and the magnificent view of Lake Mead behind it.   In 1994 we flew to Las Vegas with R&N and rented a car to drive out to see the famous huge dam.  If you are wondering – the dam is 45 ft thick at the top and 660 ft thick at the bottom! Now there is a skyscraper tall bridge that spans the Colorado River just 1500 ft down stream from the dam.  The river looks as if it is a mile below us but is really only 900 ft down.  ONLY?   The dam and bright blue lake that it holds back is just as breath taking as ever, however the lake level is way down and various islands are now clearly visible where there were none before.

 

From there it was 30 miles to Las Vegas.   Once we were settled in our motel, we bravely set out to walk the block to the “Strip”.  H’s first objective was to find one of the newer casinos – New York New York.  We recalled how busy the street was back in the day and today the street is 6 lanes wide with even more bumper-to-bumper traffic and sidewalks crowded with even more camera and cell phone toting tourists.  Thankfully there are now pedestrian escalators and walkways that cross over the streets, joining one brightly lit casino with the one next to it.   We started out at Bally’s, checked out Paris, crossed over to Excalibur, then to New York New York.  Down on street level we kept going, past Mirage with its red rock waterfalls and volcano and finally reached the Treasure Island Casino with the old pirate ship show.  The ships are still there and still put on a good show but it’s no longer all pirates but are now “vixens”.  As we journeyed the mile hike back to our motel after the sun had set, the millions of bright lights and flashing neon and LCD screens did their best to put our senses on overload!

In the morning we climbed in the van and attempted to go downtown but there were more casinos in front of us.  We parked in the Tropicana’s mostly empty lot and passed thru the spacious marble entryway.  Their breakfast buffet was $18 each so it was thru Tropicana and over several more bridges, finally ending up back at MGM.   In 1994 the downtown casino area was just being covered up with a high domed canopy and the streets were being turned into pedestrian walkways. Yes, the Golden Nugget’s flashing gold sign and the tall neon cowboy are still standing high up in the metal arches.  The cowboy’s hat is not as tall and his arm no longer waves to the passersby below.

Monday morning – we are both ready to blow this town and head for some peace and quiet.  We got it -  Rt 93 then further south on Rt 95.  The busy traffic of “Lost Wages” gave way to rolling low hills of the California high desert, passing thru small gray towns before ending back on Rt 40 and a portion of our Route 66!    Rt 62 led us west thru towns like 29 Palms and Yucca Valley before we entered into Joshua Tree National Forest.   From the highway the “forest” and mammoth rock formations were almost non-existent but once we were a few miles into the park the trees appeared everywhere and in the most twisted forms.  H even noticed that several of the cactus looking trees had bursts of pale yellow clusters of flowers growing out of the palm tree looking branches.  Double click on that picture and you should see the clusters just beginning to bloom!   Back on the highway we headed for Redland and Yucaipa California.