Day 1 – Las Vegas, Valley of the Fire State Park & Hoover Dam
October 3, 2009
Well, we landed at Los Vegas this morning at around 12:40 am Pacific Time - 3:40 EST. We are all tired and grouchy. The airport was unorganized... our baggage took forever to get to the baggage claim and we had to take a bus to get to the rental car. But we got through it all and headed to the hotel.
The lights of Vegas greeted us brightly – truly this is the city that never sleeps. By time we got to the hotel it was approaching 4:30 AM EST and I was running on fumes. We valet parked, got help with our bags from the bellboy and headed up to our adjoining room with my mother. We are staying at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino and I must say it is Gold... ther e is gold everywhere. The rooms are nice though – spacious and scream pampering, hee.
We didn’t look much though – just went upstairs and crashed.
The call came at 8:30 am PST (11:30 EST)- > the bank calling me back to real life. I handled that briefly and was elated to know we have an entire day ahead of us. I was still slightly tired – but excited at the same time.
We got dressed and went down into the lobby. We decided to eat at the restaurant in the lobby vs finding something once we got the car. It wasn’t the greatest food, but it was fairly affordable and we got to people watch which is always fun. Man you should see the people out here – all kinds – in all states of dress. I mean you’ve seen it before, but well there are some characters – that is for sure.
After breakfast we picked up the car and headed out – Valley of the Fire State Park here we come. The drive from here to there wa s eye opening. Vast expanses of dirt and weeds, right up next to rock/dirt mountains with no life on them. In GA there are trees and life on every mountain, not here – just risen desert really,lol.
We drove on for a ways and then stopped at the convenience store right before heading into the park. It was a biker hangout and was ...interesting. But we were able to use the facilities and get som e water which was the main objective. We then headed on into the park. The mountian ranges and odd rock formations really are quite impressive. Like red cities rising out of the ground... caves and creavaces here and there... We explored and took pictures for two or three hours and then headed back to grab some lunch before finishing our afternoon at Hoover Dam.
The drive to Hoover Dam was exciting in that we saw a Ram on the side of the road. Sadly I had my wide angle lens on so while I took a picture it wasn’t as close as I woul d have liked - > really need two cameras so I can have both lens ready ...Yea I need a raise first :)
Hoover Dam was impressive – WOW it is huge. Unfortunatley the bridge they are building behind it took away from some of the photo ops. Between the bridge construction (the bridge will look good when finished) and all the power lines (yes I know it’s a power plant)... well it just took my good photo ops away. Hee. It was impressive to see though and I think Jack enjoyed it.
We then headed back to Vegas with a Target stop on the way – Have to get some necessaities, bottle water, SUN SCREEN, MORE SUN SCREEN and chapstick. Man the wind is brutal out here on the lips... I know sit here taking a breather; putting our feet up before we hit Vegas. I’m looking forward to the pretty lights and the lobbies... Hopefully I can handle the crowds. We shall see – More to follow soon :)
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