There are several day trips available from Las Vegas. The grandest of them all is of course the Grand Canyon. However, in order to see it properly you will either have to rent a helicopter from Vegas or stay overnight closer to the canyon. As Las Vegas was just a side step on our trip to LA, we wanted to give Grand Canyon the time it deserves, sometime later. So it was either Death Valley or the Hoover Dam. I remember when I had a summer job in the US, some of my fellow summer workers got a job in Death Valley while I lived and worked in the Boston area. Even Boston was hot enough during the summer. Hoover Dam was closer so we drove there.
To our surprise there were two things there which were amazing: the dam itself as well as the bridge. In the movies you usually see people driving across the dam itself but actually the highway doesn't run on top of the dam but there is a huge bridge next to the dam. Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge clearance is 270 m. So you could almost fit the Eiffel Tower between the bridge and the Lake Mead.
The Hoover Dam is so famous that ticking it off from the bucket list while in Vegas is worth the 50 km drive.
I am going to be the first one in human history to break the famous "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"-rule. The following really happened in Vegas:
The first experience is of course the Arrival. Ours was like this:
Accommodation: We chose to stay in the MGM Grand. We booked the room from hotels.com and it cost 63 €/night. A bargain compared to LA. A small drawback was the resort fee which hotels.com didn't mention but apparently is standard practice even if booked from elsewhere. The room didn't have a view to the Strip but who cares. Also free parking was available.
The gamble: Slots everywhere. Mostly table games had a minimum bet of $10 or even more. If you had a black jack or a roulette with less than $10 minimum, the table was "automatic" without a live dealer. We played slot machines. The sound was hypnotic. Whenever you won, you just couldn't stop playing because of the ring. The drinks were free as long as you sat by a machine. While I was away getting my membership card, Minna hit the jackpot. With a 1 cent bet, it wasn't really a lot of money but it was a lot of ringing.
Neon museum is also called the Neon Boneyard. It's the place where the neon signs go to die. Or actually to get refurbished and their stories told. Book your slot beforehand and remember that the tours fill up very quickly. You will need to attend a tour as the guest are constantly supervised and cannot explore the museum on their own. This is really a must-see as it has some of the signs of long gone casinos and landmarks.
The show: We tried to book seats for O Cirque du Soleil through the internet but for some reason the transaction didn't go through. So we had to walk to Bellagio to find out that the show was fully booked. However, if you will wait in line 1 hour before the show, there may be some leftover seats. The thing is: you don't know which seats you're going to get and especially how much they are. Or you will end up queueing for an hour and the show is sold out anyway and you just spent an hour in the queue for nothing. As we wanted to get the show-box ticked as soon as possible, we waited in line and got quite good and reasonably-priced tickets, if you can call them reasonably-priced in the first place as they are always very expensive.
The buffet: Based on a thorough investigation on the Internet, we chose The Bacchanal at Ceasars Palace with a wine package. We soon realized that we could have left out the wine package as there was so much to eat that drinking wine at the same time would be too much. Even eating was too much. Stone crabs, sushi, shrimps, jumbo shrimps, meats, pizza, you name it. Come dessert and you will feel sick.
The silver ball: I knew there had to be pinball arcade in Las Vegas and really there was a good one: The Pinball Hall of Fame. Lots of games, lots of modified games (for example Scared Stiff with colored animations as opposed to my original orange-colored animations) and lots of rare games. Even Space Mission which I had played last time in Pekan Baari when I was 10 years old. And of course Kiss (Bally)
I have always wanted to go to Vegas. Not only to gamble (mainly because Minna doesn't let me) but to see the atmosphere but also the Stratosphere. The drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas was absolutely amazing...ly boring. However, worth to do at least once.
The distance is about 450 km. We stopped twice. The first stop was in Calico Ghost Town which was kind of a disappointment. It wasn't actually a Ghost Town, just a tourist attraction. You basically had to pay an entrance fee to a streetful of shops where you could by some tourist junk.
The next stop was right after the border of Nevada. Primm Outlets. It was a mini-Las Vegas with gambling, shopping and rides for families whose children have turned their parents crazy so that their dad doesn't want to drive any further. Only 72 km to go.
Breakfast at the Farmers Market and then off to see the stars and sights. Farmers market was an excellent place for street food. We chose hot dogs.
First up the hill to the Griffith Observatory in the footsteps of James Dean and Natalie Wood. The Griffith Park is the best location for the pictures of Hollywood sign. It is still not very close to the sign though but a long lense will make it look closer.
And a fellow tourist offered his help and took a picture of both of us, just like Natalie and James.
The afternoon was spent by walking over the stars of Hollywood Boulevard and driving the famous Mulholland Drive with a Homes of the Stars map.
And we drove back to LA through Malibu and its famous beach. I had booked the hotel on the Sunset Strip: Andaz West Hollywood. The hotel is next to Rainbow Bar and Grill and Whisky a Go Go plus further down the road Troubadour. Andaz West Hollywood is the place where Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Rolling Stones used to stay and throw TV off the balconies. The Strip was just a TV's throw away from our room.
This is the hotel where Robert Plant claimed to be the Golden God. Unfortunately the Strip didn't seem to be what it used to be in the 80's when Guns and Roses and Mötley Crue hung around. I didn't see any strippers, no drugs. Rockers yes, Michael Schenker was on at Whiskey a Go Go. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared and didn't have the tickets.
And, the first piece of luggage had arrived to our hotel only five days after we had arrived. Free wine tasting in the lobby and half of our luggage. I loved this place. They even had e-check-in service: check in online and they will send you an email when the room is ready. Parking was bit on the expensive side, though.
We took the scenic route today and drove to the wine country (not Napa, though) through highway 154. Great views and excellent weather. Did some sipping in Los Olivos too. Los Olivos was the nicest of the towns we visited today and the two others (Lompoc and Buellton) were not worth a visit at all.
Apparently Sideways was filmed somewhere close so we had a Pinot Noir tasting. Clearly very different grape from what we've been used to. http://site.thelosolivostastingroom.com/Menu.html There was of course plenty to choose from. The tasting cost $20 and you got at least 8 different wines. We also bought one called Wrath. It was from Monterey, so not that close but I got the Steinbeck reference.
Lonely Planet recommended a visit to La Purisima mission http://www.lapurisimamission.org/ so we did visit it. It was part of the El Camino Real and had been renovated during the depression after been abandoned for a long time.
On the way back to Santa Barbara we sampled more of the PCH scenery.
We also visited a used car dealership.
Yesterday I noticed that the colours of my pictures really didn't portray California as well as they could have. That's why I started using filters today. This is how I always imagined California to look like. Saturated colourse from the 60's and 70's.
We left Santa Monica yesterday. The hotel had the best location right by the beach but it was also quite expensive with our own sea view patio and all. We took the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to Santa Barbara. Driving this highway has been my childhood dream. Unfortunately we don't have time to drive all the way to San Francisco.
Santa Barbara is the center of the Los Angeles wine country so we will be doing some sipping today.
And we passed Santa Claus Lane in Carpintiria.
One of our baggages has been Processed for Delivery, so there may be hope in getting it back before we will fly back.
Today we've been mostly replenishing our supplies. The baggage is in God knows where and I am running the second day with the same underwear. I managed to wash the undies yesterday thanks to the soap bar, which felt like plastic, and Value Inns hairdryer. For tomorrow I have a clean set of everything because we did some shopping in http://www.citadeloutlets.com/
The worst thing though is that I am running out of power. I know now how Mad Max the Road Warrior felt. I had a back-up battery for the phone, two chargers (mains and 12 V) and a charging cable, all in the check-in luggage. I bought a 12 V charger today for charging the phone while I am driving. I have the offline maps of California in my Lumia 1020, but apparently Here Drive software eats a lot of juice because the phone is in power saving mode after navigation, even if it is plugged in to a charger. So driving doesn't get my phone charged. And I am expecting a phone call from my airline. I have diverted the calls to Minna's phone now.
Tomorow is Wednesday. We're in Santa Monica now. In the http://baysidehotel.com/, with a seaview. And my car is parked in a place where it is forbidden to park between 7 am and 9 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. After 9 am it is possible to park for 5 h. But because tomorrow is Wednesday, the car has to go somewhere for two hours. And, what I've noticed, most of the parking spaces are like that.
After a long day's journey we finally landed in LAX. We like to travel light especially now when all our luggage didn't make through the well-organized luggage handling process of Charles de Gaulle airport. This was the fourth time my luggage got stranded in Paris. Coincidence?
This is particularly inconvenient now when we keep moving on. The first night at LAX and the second night at Santa Barbara and we don't even know yet where we will be tomorrow.
Did I mention that we missed our plane in Philadelphia because we had the slowest immigration officer. We got 2,5 hours quality time at PHL aiport.
Thanks to Avis, I didn't have any problems getting my wheels. I will be driving Ford Edge for little over a week and it will cost me around 520€. Not bad.
We are staying in Value Inn Worldwide. Does it sound cheap or good value for money?
Morning at the pool and then watching some big lizards on our yard and Debbie Doo's sandwich lunch at the beach. Try the Capitan sandwich unless you're a vegetarian.
We have been to Florida many times but we had not seen everything yet. For example, we have never seen a manatee before and today we finally saw one. It was much bigger than we anticipated. As big as the kayak in this picture.We were at Robbies to see the tarpons being fed. They were also huge but then the manatee appeared by the pier. It was amazing. As we had been to Robbies before I almost drove by but then decided to turn as Mona had not seen the tarpons before. It was a good decision.
After the manatee sighting we almost drove to Cuba, or at least as close as you can drive. On arrival we had ice cream and I had rainbow ice cream to blend in. Sunset celebration at Mallory Square had actually the new performers as well but the banjo-playing guy with a money-collecting dog was my favorite.
Thai and sushi dinner and then drive back to Islamorada. The distances at the Key as longer than expected. No matter where you go, you will never get there on time.
And Kia is now 16 years old.
It was the warmest day today. We stayed mainly at the pool. The girls got some sunburn and I got some tan. I ate some Conch at Mrs Mac's Kitchen. In overall the Islander Resort is a good place to stay at the lower Keys. Tomorrow some more sun and a trip to Key West for some sunset celebration. I stopped at each retro neon sign for a picture. . Stopped at Worldwide Sportsman for some lures. I bought bait lures. What is bait here is regular fish in Finland.
Today we drove from Ft Myers Beach to Islamorada at the Keys. The next three nights we will be here at Islander Resort. We've stayed here once long time ago but since then the place has been renovated and it looks great.
On the way here we crossed the Everglades and we expected to see some gators. And there were plenty lying around the roadside. There is a large ditch on the north side of Tamiami Trail and if you pay close attention you will see them waiting for teenage girls to fall into the ditch.
Well, none of the girls fell in and we managed to reach our destination. Before checking in at the Islander we had dinner (not too cheap but the fish was worth it) at the Wahoo's Bar and Grill. Minna had mahi mahi, aka dolphinfish (not dolphin...), which may be the best tasting fish of all the fishes. I had tuna and I need to get mahi mahi also this week, it just can't go wrong.
By the way, they don't want to give my money back. The weatherman promised above 25 degrees for the rest of the week.
I want my money back. The second time in a row Florida offers us below 20 degrees Celsius temperatures. We moved to Ft Myers Beach and tomorrow the temperature will go up to 20. Tonight it was 10 degrees. Luckily the locals suffer more than us so I can handle it. Everyone keeps telling that last week it was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (above 30 degrees Celsius anyway). The rest of the week should be OK though.
Our hotel Lani Kai Beachfront Resort offers barbershop-like reception, sea views and kitchy-retroesque decoration. I have to admit that this is what we are used to. The Orlando hotel was way above our league, at a very affordable price. But in Orlando you always get more with your money, especially in Ponderosa buffet. Well, we didn't eat at Ponderosa for a reason. Lani Kai doesn't have a wifi. So I will need to find a cafe with wifi in the morning.
Sorry to say, we've been eating fast food so far. Today we actually went to a restaurant and had a dinner and a couple of Margaritas, finally. The Beached Whale at Ft Myers Beach had excellent fajitas and decent ribs. And Minna got a new favorite: Buffalo Shrimp. They were so good that she had to get some for dessert after having dinner at the Surf Club the next evening... The Surf Club had very good burgers.
The ride to Ft Myers was interesting. We took the scenic route instead of the highway to Tampa. We drove through the orange groves and saw an endless stretch of trailer parks and taquerias. Trucks filled with oranges and grapefruit. Needless to say the mexicans do all the picking. Perhaps we could have gotten the best tacos of the southeast if we had stopped in Arcadia or Fort Meade.
Tomorrow some sun and drive to the Keys.
We've just spent 4 nights in Orlando shopping and rollercoasting. We didn't have anything booked for the next two nights to have some room for improvisation. Minna booked the next two nights at Ft Myers Beach. It's furher south as yesterday was really cold. We barely managed to stay at Universal for the Mardi Gras parade as it was maybe 13 degrees in the evening. The best rides: The Revenge of the Mummy and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, front row seats, with Motley Crue's Kickstart my heart playing on the speakers. And of course The Simpsons. Kia and Mona got to ride Rip Ride Rockit twice in a row as the video recording system didn't work the first time. They got to bypass the lines and got front row seats on the second ride (they had just denied front row as on the first go it was too scary...). And got the video. Unfortunately the video had just very little of the actual ride. More animation than real riding.
Every time we had planned to play the minigolf here. Now we finally managed to do so at Pirate's Cove. . Very annoying when a couple of families with small kids didn't even count the score and were always coming behind us because it takes a bit longer when you actually follow the rules. They shouldn't even let small kids to come and play this serious sport.
The Hoover Dam is so famous that ticking it off from the bucket list while in Vegas is worth the 50 km drive.
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