RTW Day 7 - Las Vegas

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From the insane natural beauty of Death Valley, today we visit the man made craziness of Las Vegas.

It’s a chilly minus 6 degrees when we set off on the 120 mile journey with 90 miles of fuel, assuming there will be somewhere to fill up en route. 30 miles in and nothing but desert in sight, we are considering turning round, when we spot an Alien Center which also sells fuel (we are on the edge of Area 51).

We reach Las Vegas by 11 am and go for brunch at Planet Hollywood. The old man moans that it costs $20, then polishes off 5 platefuls.

We walk south along the strip, past the various themed hotels; Paris Las Vegas with its Eiffel Tower, New York-New York with its Statue of Liberty and roller coaster, castle- like Excalibur and Egyptian styled Luxor. Along the way we are serenaded by a drunk Elvis on a mobility scooter and bump into Superman on an escalator. We aim for the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. It’s a lot further than we’d expected and old man tries to convince me to make do with a sign pointing the way to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.

Sign located and photographed, we return up the strip to check in to the Ellis Island Casino and Brewery and go to the bar to claim our free litre of beer. It comes in a glass flagon with the hotel logo on. There is a difference of opinion on whether this is a cool souvenir of our trip to Vegas or a heavy item to carry with us for the next 30,000 miles.

Then back out to see Vegas lit up after dark and to watch the exploding volcano at Mirage. I hadn’t realised the sheer scale of the strip. In one afternoon we’ve walked 13 miles and only covered the bottom half.

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