American Adventure

Nevada (Vegas)

Starting on Saturday, September 28, 2002, 11:23:12 PM

The highway from Death Valley to Pahrump was actually a pretty nice highway and I didn't have any problems. I rode on and got a little confused in Pahrump as to where to get on the main hwy, 160 to go to Vegas.

I found it and headed towards the light. And boy was there light. I had never seen a city cast so much light upon the sky. I stopped along the highway to get these shots of the city in the distance. From the hill that I had to come over from Pahrump you could see all of Las Vegas in the valley below. Everything was lit up so bright it made me stop and wonder what feeds the power for this enormous waste of energy.

I had been to Vegas a few times before and am always amazed at all the new and interesting places there. And all the same ones. My main concern was to find a Kinko's. In my Kinko's pamphlet it showed to have several of them. Without getting my street map out, which is on my laptop, I decided to go exploring a bit to see if I could stumble across one. Usually I can find a busy cross street that matches the addresses in my Kinko's book.

Here is a picture of the front of the Luxor Casino and hotel. This one really fascinated me back when I visited Vegas before. With the extremely bright light shining up through the center of the pyramid you could see the beam for hundreds of miles away. All the rooms are on the outside of the pyramid. The elevators are actually called, inclinators. They rise up the structure from all four corners at an angle. The rooms all open up to the inside of the hotel where you can look down upon the open structure inside. I was told that the area could fit 18, full size, 747 jumbo jets in there. After going inside, which I didn't on this trip, I could tell. It is amazingly vast inside there and doesn't look near that big from the outside. The also have some neat rides and things to do inside. Its like a whole city itself with stores and shops and attractions. And of course gambling too.

I rode on along the strip and almost regretted it when I got stuck in traffic. Passing some of the older hotels like the Flamingo and the Stardust and the slightly newer ones like the Stratosphere and Treasure Island.

I had stayed at the Treasure Island many years ago when it opened. It was quite impressive with an elaborate pirate show right on the street in front of the hotel. They have several shows, every hour, throughout the evening. You can also get tickets and see the amazing show inside. Much like the Cirque de Soleil, the show, Mystere' is quite an amazing display of human feats and very entertaining. Then of course, next door, is the Mirage casino with the famous Sigfreid and Roy show. Yeah, the one with the white tigers.

On down the street was another casino which I hadn't seen before. The Monte Carlo was quite huge. At first I thought it was part of Caesar's Palace, which I then saw and realized was totally different. Excalibur is another slightly newer attraction with its medieval theme. Then there's New York, New York, with the uncanny semblance of the New York skyline.

The MGM Grand hotel had changed since I had been there before. I guess they had previously had a fire and had remodeled and changed the look a little bit.

I found one of the Kinko's and stopped to update my site and go through my emails. I left and got these shots on the hill, heading back out of town towards Hoover Dam and Arizona.

Las Vegas is an amazing place. Built out in the desert, many years ago, to me, it had always had a negative feel. A bad and sinful place, catering to people's darker pleasures. I had never had a desire to go there until I was finally talked into it. It changed my perspective on the whole place. Yeah there's still all those things there like the gambling and the drinking and a few other things, but there's also so much more. They have really changed the place over the years to appeal to a wider audience. There's so many things to do and see there that people of any age can enjoy. With all the fascinating illusionists to all the rides and attractions. Oh, and don't forget the food. You can have some amazing meals for very good prices.

I do enjoy Vegas but didn't indulge in any of it on this trip, other than ride down the strip and get a few pictures.