17 Sept 13 Route 66

17 September Route 66

We woke at a civilised hour and took brekky at Subway. We had a leisurely couple of hours before catching two buses to the Greyhound station. This was all simple stuff with further advice from Christian downstairs. The bus was good – lots of legroom but little recline on the seats. They even had free wifi on board. After a 10 minute stop at San Bernadino we took to the desert and reached Vegas at 5.30 after a painless 5 hours.

The city blocks of downtown LA don’t have too many tall buildings. Some of them were quite architecturally pleasing to look at. The sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles went on forever as we whizzed along the freeway.  Some of the interchanges were 4 or 5 levels high with cars zapping along in all directions. We then went upwards into the surrounding mountain ranges which had some interesting geological shapes.  We drove through the Mojave Desert, including a short stretch on the old Route 66.  Initially you didn’t go more than 50km before there was a major town complete with all manner of shops and EVERY fast food store known to mankind.  No one would ever starve on this highway.  Eventually these townships thinned out and then there was miles of not much. We passed the turnoff to Death Valley and crossed the state line into Nevada.  As we neared Vegas the vegetation changed into a tall cactus which we discovered is called a Joshua Tree. (My newest grandchild is Joshua)  Several kms prior to Vegas there was a small outcrop of casino/hotels, complete with roller coaster - a precursor of what was to come.  Vegas is much larger than I imagined with suburbs spreading in all directions.  We ran parallel to ‘the Strip’ and felt some excitement at seeing all the big casino buildings and names while being stuck in a slow moving traffic jam, eventually arriving at the Greyhound terminal near the old part of town. (5.30pm)  It is hot with a strong desert wind blowing.

We found a taxi easily enough and had a ride down the Strip for $18 (happens to be cost of 2 tickets for the 5 hour coach trip!) – we are in the BW Casino Royale towards the bottom. Very nice although not grand on the scale of the Bellagio etc. Rooms are certainly cheaper here. Free wifi here too. We settled in, did laundry, showered and had a nap.

We headed out into the evening crush in time for the start of the free entertainment. It was still hot but the strong wind had stopped. The streets were crammed with a mass of pedestrians, which banked up at the corners when the lights changed and poured out onto the roads in between the taxis and streeeeetch limos. The massive scope of the bigger resorts only becomes apparent when they are lit up. 30 years ago the strip was a discordant flashing mess of colour with casinos competing for attention. Now the resorts span something like half a kilometre frontage and probably the same depth. The land value must be colossal and no expense has been spared adding land and waterscaping and huge, elegant buildings.

We started at Treasure Island or TI as they call themselves. They put on a pirate show on a grand scale with one 40m galleon moored to a jetty being attacked by another one which moves forward maybe 100m during the battle. One is “manned” by nubile dancers who move like strippers and the other is crewed by horny but amicable pirates, who are lured to destruction by the sultry singing sirens. There are obviously no hard feelings though because they sing and dance their way up the rigging and off backstage. (This show is full of pyrotechnics and fire)

The crowd was large and tightly packed. You certainly need to keep your hands in your pockets and expect to have some numnut come and stand right in front of you, start smoking and, when the show starts, hold up a large tablet above their head and record long stretches of the action. I am surprised more tablets and smokers don’t get thrown into the lake.

The mob moved off after the 20 minute show, which repeats every 90 minutes, with many heading south to the Mirage, right in front of our hotel, where they have a volcano which erupts in sound and light (and fire).   Further south, the Bellagio has a 200m lake across its frontage, with hundreds or thousands of fountains and lights which pump water up in the air to dizzying heights and in rippling and wriggling patterns to the tune of Hey Big Spender.

Of course everybody who is anybody is on the strip – Celine and Elton and not one but about four different shows by Cirque du Soleil. We were accosted at a desk in the hotel by a pair offering free tickets in exchange for participating in some sales presentation. We were in a hurry but might invest some time another day. We didn’t bother with dinner and shared a foot long hot dog (cheap and nasty) rather than anything from our in-house Subway, which had full Perth pricing more than double what we had paid in LA this morning.

Our room at the 'Casino Royale'

 Volcano exploding

 Paris

 Enough said really

 A whole M & Ms shop.  Whoohoo

 

There were very few beggars on the streets but no shortage of people handing out cards with pictures of naked women who proffer services for $35, $69 (no surprises there) or $99 for two. We noticed on the way in that bail bonding seems to be a very busy industry in the city and the area off the strip is full of seedy 24 hour “theatres”.

The crowds thinned out but there were still a lot of people out there. Some sections of the Strip can only be crossed by footbridge and this applies to some of the intersections lengthwise as well. There are escalators or lifts around for most of them but you do keep your heart rate up.

We made our way a kilometre or so to the south, by which stage most of the large resorts were left behind, although there was still plenty of action just in less lavish premises. We found a supermarket and bought some muesli ingredients, milk, juice and muesli bars for brekky and snacks. We shared a tub of very nice Rocky Road ice cream for dinner and repaired to our room, where the laundry was just about dry and our large King bed was most welcoming