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Mandalay Bay Sunset
With reflection captured in the pyramid of the Luxor hotel casino. Hey Paul, how's tricks? Work going well?
It's the day after Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer here in the States and the official start of some seriously hot weather in Vegas. Temperatures are just today climbing into the 90's farenheit, though a run of luck at the roulette table and way too many margaritas last night means I'm a tad under the weather as I write. The U.S. truly is the land of the free. So far we've found free cookies, free coffee, free internet and free loos. No more desparate holding on as we search vainly for the peso it costs to perform one of life's more basic though necessary functions. We even get free booze here in Vegas, a sly ploy by the casinos to both keep you at the gaming tables and wipe out any sense of just how many chips you're putting down on 27 red. Fortunately for us 27 red came in a few times and we won enough to break even after a good many hours at the table.
We chose to start our U.S. leg of the trip in San Francisco, based on an obscure ambition I have to travel
Golden Gate
From the bay cruise. the States coast to coast. Not being city people San Francisco itself was not something we were particularly interested in, but a day touring the city by bus and the bay by boat actually revealed the place to be quite charming. The Golden Gate bridge looks quite majestic, especially when low cloud moved in briefly to obscure the towers. The Sealions at Pier 39 drew quite a crowd with their noisy barking and the Alcatraz cruises looked busy, though having been there and done that we didn't bother with a visit to the rock.
After the rigours of South America and especially Mexico everything here is so easy. The hotel we had pre-booked in San Francisco was fully booked when we arrived a day early, so they called around, found us a room elsewhere and then drove us there. On the whole the natives are polite, friendly and generally English speaking, though some of the more cosmopolitan accents are a little thick. Navigating the roads in our impressively cheap impressively large car is a doddle and, although less forgiving than back home, other road users are positive samaritans compared to the stock car racing that marks Mexican roads. Having
New York Las Vegas
This one's only good enough to name once. said that every trip to the States for me these days is potentially very brief and begins with an anxious moment of extended questioning by the immigration officer. This is a result of a two month visit I made some 10 years ago which somehow became transformed into a visa waiver busting 90+ day visit when the details were keyed into their computer systems. So far I've been able to convince them that my intentions towards their country are purely hedonistic and honourable, but I suspect that its only a matter of time before some future holiday in this country ends up severely truncated and limited in scope to the arrivals lounge.
It was always our intention to scoot fairly rapidly out of California. As unrepentant smokers the state's laws against smoking in public places make other less non-smoker friendly states more attractive to us. Whilst we can handle smoke free accommodation in a pinch, not being able to indulge one's addictions over a pint seems a little harsh. We were amazed therefore to find as we wandered through the gold rush town of Sonora near Yosemite a smoking bar. It turns out there is a loophole in the
Downtown San Francisco
From the Twin Peaks hills on the edge of the city. law that allows bars run by partnerships with no employees to permit smoking. There is a saying in Vegas; "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Well, we're quite happy to report that in Vegas we drank too much, gambled loads, stayed up way too late, slept in most of the day, didn't see much outside of the casino, and on occasion should not have been allowed out of the room. But what happened in Sonora really is best left there, and despite camping out on the doorstep somehow we never quite made it into Yosemite.
The journey out of California and into southern Nevada, with an overnight stop at the inaccurately named Quality Inn in Barstow, was under beautiful blue skies and through some impressive desert rock landscapes. To the north was the searing Death Valley whilst the road we took skirts the northern edge of the Mojave desert. We've been to the former before, and whilst it doesn't feature on this itinerary is well recommended, especially if the cold dull climates of more temperate regions leaves you with perverse affection for baking one's brains under a fierce sun. We got the usual Vegas Rush as we approach
Alcatraz
Another view of the ex-prison buildings. the city and see the casino hotels lining the strip in the distance, not to be confused with the Vegas Doldrums one experiences when the tack, glitz and excitement overloads the senses. This is nature's way of telling you its time to leave town. As this moment approaches we're down on our luck but not so out that we have to beg our fare home just yet.
One last note. The bright lights of Vegas along the strip, where all the casinos try and turn night into day vying to out do each other for your attention, are probably some of the best images of Vegas. Unfortunately by the time the sun sets we're pretty much on the third round of drinks and eyeing up the slots/tables that look as though they might cough up some serious money, so you're gonna have to make do with altogether less impressive daytime shots.
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