DAY 7 – Barstow to Las Vegas (117 miles driven, 8.32 miles walked)
When we arrived at our emergency hotel last night on the bedside table was a set of ear plugs. When a hotel provides you with complementary ear plugs that has got to be a red flag. However, we were pretty far from the freeway so I didn’t think much more of it.
In the middle of the night I was woken by an almighty racket which turned out was the sound of a train passing by. These were freight trains with four engines, miles of carriages and loud horns. So that’s what the ear plugs were for!
It was a relatively short drive to todays stop – Las Vegas. We decided to experience some calm before the storm and so visited Red Rock Canyon on the way. It’s an amazing place as I have never seen such striking striped rocks before (well that’s not strictly true as I have been here twice before) and all only 20 minutes drive from the bustle of the strip.
We’re staying at the Mandalay Bay which is at the far end of the strip relative to where we wanted to be so we dumped our stuff and made our way slowly to the Bellagio. It’s hard work traversing the various casinos as it is made very difficult for you to orient yourself and find your way out. Why would they make it easy for you to leave and spend your money elsewhere?
I have to admit that we found it pretty wearing and the 30 degree heat didn’t help much either. Despite the temperature I still took a jumper with me as the air conditioning is so fierce inside. 😂
I’m writing this waiting outside the theatre to see the Cirque du Soleil show ‘O’. We’d have liked to have seen Ka this time as we saw O on our last trip but it wasn’t on today. Nevertheless we know we are in for a fantastic night as the show is spectacular.
Tomorrow it is back to the more sedate park life and I can’t wait as Vegas has been too much for me this time.