Here's a pic of the inbuilt gps (not exciting if you already have one like this but I've never seen anything like it. Nice big screen and easy to use)...
So we were off, Troy at the wheel, gps set for Las Vegas and we affectionately named our gps voice 'Nancy the Navigator'.
It's about a 4 hour trip from LA to Las Vegas but the trip out there seemed to go quite fast. Many of you reading this have been there so you know what the landscape looks like. For those who haven't, picture desert and hills. Every now and then, a town will pop up in the middle of the desert. Here are some pics from our road trip...
I'm still trying to work out how to say this road name...
And of course it is very much RV country around this part of the world... this was the biggest one we saw along the way (it wouldn't fit in one photo!)...
We stopped about a half hour out of Vegas at a place called Primm where one of the fashion factory outlets is located for a bit of a look around and a shop. There were also a couple of casinos there, including one which has a rollercoaster going around think (a bit similar to the Luna Park rollercoaster).
On the road again and heading into Vegas... Here are a couple of pics of our first impressions...
Billboards everywhere!
And then we arrived at our accommodation...
We found a park easily then headed inside to check in - oh my goodness, this place was insane! People everywhere, everything over the top (like all of Vegas). We then headed up to our room - we had to walk through the casino to get there. That was interesting trying to get through the crowd with all of our luggage! It was also Friday so a lot seemed to be arriving for the weekend, plus we found out on the way there on the radio that it was spring break too. Great.
Here are a few pics of the hotel and the view walking from the hotel to the strip at night...
We settled in (we had a really nice room which had been recently renovated), then headed out for dinner before returning to the Bellagio to have a look around the casino at night. Wow, Vegas really attracts all types from all walks of life. Our people watching radar was going off the scale! Our first impression of Vegas was it was as we expected - very bright, busy, full on and over the top.
It seems no one can understand me on the west coast either - I kept having to repeat myself. Am I really that hard to understand? They seemed to understand Troy perfectly. Although, Troy did ask a sales assistant where the jumpers were and she asked what a jumper is! Anyway, we had a pretty early night ahead of a big shopping day the next day.
So our shopping day arrived (yay!) We got to the second factory outlet just after opening time and I won't tell you what time we left! After a big day of shopping we headed back to the strip and decided to drive up and down to have a look. An hour later, we had driven the short distance up
and back! As we started driving up the strip, a lot of the big resorts had their lights off so it didn't look as full on as usual. Half way down I clicked it was earth hour. So by the end of our drive, everything was back on. We drove by Circus Circus (see pic) where my family stayed in 1983! We didn't end up going in though.
We dropped the car and our shopping off at the hotel and ended up at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant called 'Burgr' at the Planet Hollywood hotel/casino. Oh my goodness - we had the best gourmet burger either of us have ever tasted! Very fresh, quality produce, it was great. We decided to have a 'sensible' gamble each after dinner. We didn't spend much at all but we both left 'up' which was good!
Our last day arrived and repacking was a fairly seamless process which was good. We said goodbye to Vegas and headed back down the I15 - along with every man and his dog leaving after the weekend. Oh my goodness - the traffic was horrendous and travelling at a snail's pace. We stopped a short while later to get some petrol, lunch and a couple of last minute items at the shops. Trying to get petrol was a nightmare, plus if you're paying with cash, you have to pre pay, guess how much you need then go back in for change, but we worked it out (eventually).
Finally back on the road - it was one of the most nerve wracking car rides of my life. People say the NYC taxi drivers are bad, but the west coast drivers are worse! Constantly breaking on the freeway, swerving in and out (and not leaving much room for error!) We passed a five car pile up about half way through our trip. We made it back in one piece though - it's a four hour trip, it took us eight hours! Once we dropped the car off it was a very seamless process getting from there to the airport via the shuttle, checked in in plenty of time etc.
Troy had the same seat on the flight home as he had on the flight over which he was happy about and we both managed to get some sleep.
We had a wonderful trip - three weeks was the perfect amount of time for us.
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