We got up early in the morning to pack our things and hire "the grandpa car" we were planning to drive around in for the next week. It was a sky blue Grand Marquis with a boot that even Billunta could sit in comfortably if he should feel so inclined. Even then, it only managed to fit the 5 of us and our luggage.
We left LA into the Mohave desert, noting the stark difference of LA to the flat sandy plains and towering rocky mountains in the countryside around us. We also passed the greatest concentration of spectacular looking windmills i've ever seen.
Anyway, our first stop was at In-n-Out burger fast food restaurant - which only exists in California. I was recommended to order the burger with "animal fries", which appears to be a secret codeword for getting something not on the menu, which is fries drenched (literally) in bacon bits, melted cheese and 1000 island dressing. After filling my arteries with the stuff (I swear i could feel my heart murmuring while eating it), we continued on.
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK
We headed towards Joshua Tree National Park, famous for the strange hardy spiky trees that grow there, and only there in the whole world. It is a rather eerie landscape, being in the middle of the desert with random large boulders, mountains and trees scattered around the place - and nothing else. We spent a few hours climbing over things, taking photos, pretending to be trees, and other touristy things.
DRIVING DOWN ROUTE 66
We then headed out towards Las Vegas, where I had my first (and only) attempt at driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Boy it was scary! Even though i drove on just the highway with not many cars around, doing so on the wrong side of the road, in the biggest car i've ever driven, during nightfall, with headlights that were either too dim or too bright, in speeds of miles instead of kilometers, is a little overwhelming. The nice thing though was that I got to drive on the famous Route 66, which is an old road that originally connected across the whole country from left to right. Now it's only used for nostalgic reasons since new bigger faster highways have been built. It's nice to know that even though America is not as old as most countries, you can still get a feel of history by doing things like this. If only it was still light outside, i could enjoy the scenery more and imagine better what it was like 150 or so years ago..
FIRST IMPRESSION OF LAS VEGAS
We finally made it to Las Vegas at around midnight, tired, and hungry as we couldn't find anything open on the road, even fast food restaurants were closed. Many smaller casinos where open though, from the time we entered Nevada. It seems that Nevada is the only state that allows gambling, hence Las Vegas being built in such an area - the middle of the desert - but as close to LA as possible.
Approaching the Las Vegas strip however, all thoughts of tiredness and food were gone; I felt like a bug that's drawn towards a bug zapper. The neon lights of the strip reminded me of that too. The sense of size and amount of money you could see that has been spent on this place is overwhelming. Massive buildings and casinos advertising american consumerism and sin at it's best - giant coke bottles, harley davidson bikes, adult clubs, a hooters owned casino, a black pyramid that beams light up into space... huge casino complexes, some still being built, causing traffic chaos with it's construction, others providing some kitsch or unique element to draw in gamblers - paris with the full size eiffel tower; The Venetian with it's indoor and outdoor canals, towers and gondoliers; The Bellagio with the famous musical fountains in front (it's hard to imagine that Las Vegas has a water shortage crisis)..
I must admit that after driving through the strip I was slightly disappointed with where we were staying - Circus Circus - because it didn't really have any of that. We were also further away from the action that I thought, despite it being on the strip. I realised then that Circus Circus is one of the original casinos that is now lost it's appeal since the new grander ones were built, and now generally caters for families and people who can't afford the prices of it's neighbours. Circus Circus isn't cheap, but comparatively not expensive either, and in all i'm glad we stayed there instead of a hostel further out, just for the experience of staying on the strip itself.
Anyway, we managed to find parking and our way through a maze of corridors and pokies to the reception area, then through another maze of lifts and pokie areas to our room. Finally, we could relax. After freshening up, we went back down to the main casino area of Circus Circus to see what fun we could have. We went to a smaller casino next to and owned by Circus Circus called "Slots of Fun", quite a sad dingy casino compared to it's neigbours, but cheap and good enough for us. We got cheap beers and we sat out the front of the casino, enjoying the scene and drinking on the street - which is the only place you could do it in the US. I also ate my first foot long hotdog. It didn't last very long since i was famished.
We didn't do much more that night, being exhausted and all, so we called it a night. Unfortunetly, because there were two double beds and I was the only single person there, I had to sleep under the desk.
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