Vegas!!

Wed - Mar 30

We were looking forward to a short drive to Las Vegas today but ran into a headwind from Needles to Searchlight, NV.  Evidently that portion of the highway is slightly uphill and the headwind was so strong that, with the accelerator floored and the turbo humming, we slowed down to 45 mph in some places.  Never could get up to 65.  Engine and transmission starting to heat up.  Not good.  But, after we passed Searchlight, we had a slight downhill run and that made a big difference.  Still some wind but the turbo wasn't always kicking in.  Had a little confusion finding the Oasis RV Resort as Mapquest and the Garmin gave opposite directions.  Might have been operator error (Joyce's).  We are in site 157 - no grass although we do have a small shade tree but half of it is dead.  We think we averaged 6 miles per gallon on the leg to Searchlight.

Met up with our friends Mike & Merrie McElreath who recently moved to Vegas from Laramie, WY.  They took us to the South Point Casino for dinner and gave us lots of advice about what to see and how to get there.

Thurs - Mar 31
Drove to Hoover Dam to see the new bridge.  You really don't even realize you are on it when you drive over it but it is awesome to see it from the dam.

We also toured the Boulder Dam Hotel and museum in Boulder City.  The hotel was built in 1933 and is on the National Register of Historic Places and is still in operation.  You can actually stay there.

Fri - Apr 1
Took a short drive out to Red Rock Canyon about 15 miles west of town.  It is a National Conservation Area.  We took the 13-mile loop drive.  Amazing rock formations.  Really rugged country.

High Point Overlook is at 4,771 feet.  This is a popular hiking and rock climbing spot.  No hiking for us since it was a record high 92 degrees that day.  Wild horses and burros live here, although we didn't see any.

Mike & Merrie had us over for dinner at their beautiful home on Friday evening.  Mike was best man at our wedding, almost 50 years ago.  Had a great time getting caught up and sharing medical stories.

Sat - Apr 2
The RV park gave us a coupon book for nearby South Point Casino so we had to go get our $20 of free slot play and a discounted mocha for Joyce.  Jim gave back his $20 but Joyce won back enough of hers to buy lunch later in the day.

Braved the Strip to visit the Mirage, Caesar's Palace and the Bellagio.  Beautiful fountains at the Bellagio.  Also some Chihuly glass in the lobby.  A huge fish tank at the Mirage.  We decided to stay an extra night in Las Vegas because of the high winds.  They are supposed to die down on Monday.

Sun - Apr 3
Went to the Fremont Street Experience Sunday night.  Wow!  We tried to take pictures but it's impossible to capture.  It is described as a covered mall.  It's about 4 blocks long and they constantly project images, coordinated with music, on the overhead cover.

This isn't Jim but shows the zip line

Neon lights everywhere. You can get your picture taken with Darth Vader, some of the guys from Kiss, Elvis, a couple of scantily-clad showgirls, a Roman Gladiator, or a Johnny Depp style pirate...you name it. The light show is fantastic. They also have 4 zip lines so people go sailing by over your head as you walk below. Jim couldn't resist taking a ride on the zip line. The start is 6 floors up, you travel 800 feet at 35 mph and you end up 2 floors off the ground. He said the ride was too short.