<< Day 13: Just Take the Dam Tour |

Viva Las Vegas and Home!

Our plan was to spend the day relaxing in Las Vegas. For tonight, we had tickets to see “The Lion King” show.

Our “campground” in Las Vegas had a heated outdoor pool:

Even though the air was chilly, Genevieve and Sebastian enjoyed the pool immensely.

Sebastian was learning how to swim underwater:

Genevieve let him climb on her back for some underwater rides:

The large parking lot environment provided a lot of room for riding scooters:

Genevieve and Sebastian found a spot of green within the RV park.

They even enhanced their resting spot by inserting a leafy branch into the tabletop umbrella hole.

This afternoon, we returned to the Circus Circus amusement park area to spend a few quarters in the video arcade. Sebastian and Ben raced motorcycles together:

Sebastian loves the race car games, and he is quite good—he went from the back of the pack to first place:

(He used to want to be a race car driver when he grows up, but now he wants to be a mechanical engineer so that he can design race cars and invent new techniques for moving vehicles through space.)

We all took turns playing air hockey together:

Genevieve tried her luck at “the claw,” and won! Then Ben took a turn and won a matching bear for Sebastian.

Genevieve named her bear “Wages”, and Sebastian named his “Lost.” (Ben had previously told the children that Las Vegas was nicknamed “Lost Wages” because so many people lose their money here through gambling.)

Can you tell that Genevieve enjoyed her chocolate ice cream treat?

We headed down the strip to the Mandalay Bay casino, where “The Lion King” was playing. We had heard the show was "spectacular," and we thought that it would be a great finale for our trip.

We had planned to stay another night in Las Vegas, and had already paid for our RV spot. However, we thought about the long 9-hour drive home tomorrow, and we decided to get a head start by driving part way tonight.

Leaving Circus Circus:

When we had visited Las Vegas two summers ago, construction projects had been in full swing. Today we witnessed the effects of the economic recession—many of those projects looked like they had been stopped, at least temporarily. One unfinished project had a big sign announcing the completion date of fall 2009 (last year).

During our last visit, we had walked down the strip and visited quite a few of the casinos to see exhibits and shows. This time, we were content with just viewing the exteriors in passing.

Ceasar’s Palace:

The Harley Davidson Café:

Excalibur:

At the far end of the strip was Mandalay Bay:

As we pulled into the parking lot, a groom was helping his bride (and her massive skirt) climb into the getaway vehicle:

Genevieve and Sebastian, with their normal enthusiasm and curiosity, skipped across the parking lot and immediately found something to hide behind.

After claiming our tickets at the will-call booth, we found a cozy spot to wait for the theater to open.

At last!

Taking photos of the actual show is prohibited, so I snapped a few of the displays outside:

We found our seats and eagerly waited for the performance to begin.

From beginning to end, we were all enthralled with the show. The costumes were jaw-dropping in their beauty and originality. The script was witty and entertaining, and the acting and singing were superb. We all left the theater completely dazzled by the display of talent and creativity that we had just experienced.

We soon left the sparking lights of Las Vegas behind. Genevieve is quite smitten with Las Vegas. She said that she loves “all of the bright colors, lights, and unusual buildings”; and she added, “It’s one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.” I’m sure that her opinion is shared by quite a few people, as Las Vegas receives more than 300 million visitors every year.

Almost an hour later, we stopped to have a quick dinner in the parking lot of Whiskey Pete’s, in the Nevada/California border town of Primm.

(Ben and I had BBQ-ed some chicken and cooked some vegetables earlier this morning in anticipation of having dinner on the road.  A quick warm-up in the microwave, and voilá--a healthy and delicious dinner.)

We drove for a few more hours.  We got stuck behind a smelly cattle truck on the two lane highway near Mojave--what a relief when we were finally able to pass!

We planned to sleep in a highway rest stop tonight. The one near Mojave was closed, so we continued on to the town of Tahachapi, where we parked in the midst of a long line of semi-trucks by the side of the road.

The whistle of a night train woke us twice during the night.

We were back on the road before 7 a.m. As we exited our line of semis, we noticed that the cattle truck was a few vehicles back.  We were relieved that the odors hadn't drifted our way during the night.

We took the freeway all of the way home today, a 5-hour drive.

We were back in California, in familiar territory. We have driven these roads many times when traveling to and from the desert to dirt bike. Traveling, however, has trained our eyes to see details that always appear fresh and exciting—the curve of a hill, rocks scattered on a mound, snow on a mountaintop, the changing color of grass, cows dotting the hills, a small dirt road winding into the distance, and the movement of trains. We looked around this morning and enjoyed the sights.

Then we dropped down into the fog of the Central Valley, and we couldn’t see much of anything.

Entering the fog:

To the side:

Straight ahead:

Along Highway 5, the fruit/nut trees were planted in neat rows:

At Harris Ranch, the thousands and thousands of cows were partially obscured by fog, but the pungent odor was just as strong as ever.

Birds rested in the upper branches of bare trees:

Boxes of bee hives were laid across some open fields:

Our visibility through the fog was often dismal. My eyes strained to see the big-rig truck in front of us—can you make out the darker rectangular shape?

The thick fog in the valley is known as “tule” fog, and it is common during the winter months. It causes many accidents, including large chain reaction pile-ups, on the roadways each year.

Finally, we turned west toward the Monterey Bay. As we crested the mountain range surrounding the San Luis reservoir, we burst into the sunshine and blue sky:

The California oak trees still fascinate me—I didn’t have trees like this around me when I was growing up in the eastern United States. With their squiggly, claw-like branches, they look like a caricature of a tree from a scary Scooby Doo episode.

The California "golden hills" that I have come to love were covered in a sheen of green.

Agricultural fields stretched out on both sides of the road.

Before arriving at home, Ben wanted to dump our RV tanks and refill the propane. We stopped by a campground near our home, and the kids had fun at the playground.

I joined in for a little “moto” ride:

During this journey, we had only covered about 1/3 of Route 66. The Mother Road had provided a lot of wonderful places for us to explore. We knew that we would be back along her wandering path in the future—“getting our kicks” from Gallup, New Mexico, all the way to Chicago.

<< Day 13: Just Take the Dam Tour |

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