Sin City – Day 2

Saturday June 27- Today we got up at the crack of 8:30 had a leisurely breakfast and headed to Hoover Dam. The dam itself is quite impressive. Definitely not as wide as Grand Coulee but it is sure tall. It is interesting with all the homeland security that they still let you drive and walk across the dam. That may all change next year since they are building a bridge just a little downstream that will cross the Colorado River so all of the traffic will probably be directed to cross there. We bypassed the $7 parking lots, drove across the dam to free parking on the AZ side and then walked across and back again. It is a good thing that they built the dam so that the area around her could have some usable water. Lake Mead behind the dam is a beautiful expanse of water but it is a little funny that even with all that water there is very little green vegetation around the lake. In fact it is so arid a here that even the cactus refuse to grow.
On the way back from Hoover dam we took a side trip through the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. Dianne’s Little Old Lady Pass (LOLP) saved us another $5. With the economy the way it is that means five more dollars that can be reappropriated to help the poor struggling Casinos. After all we wouldn’t want them to ask for bailout money like AIG and GM now would we? On the way through the recreational area we saw people running a marathon along side of the road. At least it was supposed to be along side of the road. Some of the runners must have figured that if they ran out in the lane of traffic they may be able to hitch a ride on the front bumper of a passing car. By this time of the day the temperature was pushing pass the three digit mark. We figured that anyone that would run a marathon in 3 digit temperature could not possibly have a three digit IQ.
We stopped at a liquor store today just to see how the Nevada and Washington prices compare. Wow big difference. Things are less than half the price than back home. The more interesting thing was that as we entered the store there were two mighty fine looking young ladies giving out free samples. Now, now, I know this is called “Sin City” but get your mind out of the gutter. They were handing out free samples of rum and tequila. When was the last time you went to the liquor store just to graze? We were worried it might now be legal to leave without buying anything but no one chased us down as we drove out of the parking lot.
It was really hot today, at least for us anyway. At 2:30 the thermometer hit 103 degrees. I know everyone says that it is a dry heat. I don’t care what you say 103 degrees dry or not is HOT. The oven in the kitchen produces dry heat also but you would not want to sit in it.
Spent late afternoon until 10:30 on the Strip using the casinos’ air conditioning and had dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant in New York New York. Yesterday the casinos taketh-today they giveth. Well kind of. We did get back $25 of Dianne’s Social Security Check. But tomorrow is another day…
More to come.
Stay cool.

Hoover Dam

Excalibur Casino

The Las Vegas Strip