May 31 - United States: Las Vegas, Nevada

We woke up, took down the tent, and loaded the car.  Breakfast was Pop Tarts, and we stopped by the Jacob Lake Bakery (about 30 miles outside the Grand Canyon) for some blueberry turnovers.

St. George, Utah

Then the drive began.  We drove through some very pretty countryside and rocky terrain, until we got to St. George, Utah.  There, we stopped at a few of the outlets and found some new Polo shirts for Jon.  We also bought a new sheet set for our bed at home.  In NY, we have two sets of sheets: one is about 10 years old and the other is 3 years old.  We figure that both will need to be replaced after a year with our sub-lettors.  We also went to Wal-Mart to return the charcoal we didn't open in the Grand Canyon.  On the way to Wal-Mart, we passed a "Fantastic Sam's" and Jon dropped me off to get my haircut.  I thought I would grow it out a bit, but I'm kind of happy with the long-bangs-short-back hairstyle.  So I went in for a quick $11.95 trim at Fantastic Sam's.

Vegas, baby!  VEGAS!

We hopped back in the car and drove the rest of the way to Las Vegas.  On the way there, the temperature outside reached 113° at one point, and Jon was SO HAPPY that we'd gotten the air conditioner fixed.  The drive wasn't terribly exciting, because the landscape surrounding the city is hardly picturesque.  But that's why Las Vegas is such the oasis in the middle of the desert.  Where else could you have a successfully cheesy town like this?

I lived here when I was in the 3rd and 4th grades, when my father was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base.  Las Vegas was a whole different town then.  Twenty years ago it was seedy and gross, and most of the casinos barred children from entering them.  The only place we could go was Circus Circus, and I remember that they had a boxing kangaroo.  We lived in a pretty scary neighborhood, and once our house was broken into and someone took off with all Mom's rings.  We used to say that "It's a great place to visit, but you don't want to live there."  I'm sure that's still true, but I do have some great memories of visiting Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.

Luxor Hotel

We arrived at the swanky and over-the-top Luxor Hotel in the middle of The Strip.  Jon wanted to find a local Wal-Mart so he could develop our film.  He was worried about the heat ruining his exposed film, and we worked so hard for some of the pictures that we just didn't want to take that chance.  So I took care of checking in and Jon took off to the Wal-Mart.

This place is HUGE!  We got a room in the pyramid, as opposed to in one of the towers.  We're on the 26th floor in a great room with a gorgeous view!

View From Our Window on the 26th Floor

I settled in for some time on the laptop and in front of the TV.  I didn't shower or anything because expected Jon to call up to find out what  room we were in.

Four hours later, I was still sitting in the hotel room waiting for him to show up.  I had the mobile phone so I could communicate with Ketron, who was in route from LA.  But this meant that Jon couldn't call me to tell me where he was or what he was doing.  He finally showed up around 7:00, and had to stay long at Wal-Mart because he overloaded their systems with our 26 rolls of film.

Ketron finally arrived at 7:30 after a six hour drive from LA.  We haven't seen her since April, but time doesn't ever seem to matter.  As was evidenced by the fact that she walked in and climbed up to stand on a chair in front of the window.  Why?  Because she'd been driving for six hours and didn't want to sit, of course.

In 'N Out Burger

Jon's been craving In 'N Out Burger since we last left LA, but we haven't come across any on the road.  Luckily, there was one just a few blocks away.  Of course, "just a few blocks" involved a walk around this massive hotel/casino and a hike underneath I-15, but we were so excited to go that the long hike didn't matter.  It was packed, which wasn't a big surprise at 9:00PM on a Friday night in Las Vegas.  

New York New York

After our late dinner, we decided to go to New York New York, the casino that's supposed to be a mini New York.  Of course, nothing can be a mini New York so this was more like the Las Vegas version of New York with flashy lights, cheesy souvenir shops, and tons of slot machines.

New York New York Casino

We walked through the gambling floor and got such a kick out of the little New York things that they'd thrown in to make the casino more NYish.  The gambling floor was supposed to be Central Park, with little trellises and a Tavern on the Green for high-stakes gambling.  There was even a clock just like in Grand Central.  It was really nostalgic.  

As we wandered around, we happened upon a craps table that was half-filled.  The three of us watched as the game got rowdy and exciting, but we had no idea why because none of us know how to play.  One of the dealers saw us hovering nearby, and motioned us over.  Demitrice then proceeded to teach us some of the basics of Craps while simultaneously dealing the table.  We didn't get into the more complicated stuff, but we learned well enough that I was up $40 at one point.  Then I was down.  And then I was up again.  Of course, it all ended when I was down.  But the hours just flew by!  Next thing we knew, it was 2:30 in the morning and we - the Pro Crap Players - took our butts back out onto The Strip.

Which hadn't quieted down at all, by the way.

Vegas was just getting started, and there were people EVERYWHERE!  We stopped for some pictures in the front of New York New York, which was a riot.  Every time Jon tried to get me and Ketron to settle down and pose, we would start to crack up again.  So we have a whole slew of pictures showing us in various stages of hilarity.

Heidi and Ketron on the Vegas Strip

One of the pictures is us in front of the Excaliber, and Ketron is doing pirouettes (for some unknown reason).  The funny thing is that we hadn't had more than one of two drinks each.  Just high on life, I guess.

We were back in the room and dead asleep by 3:00AM.