Advertisement
Published: January 23rd 2013
Edit Blog Post
January 20-22, 2013
Jennifer Comes to Visit
After some travel complications, my little sister arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday morning. We went to breakfast at a busy local spot and then took off for Oatman, Arizona. Our path was not entirely direct, but the two and a half hour drive was filled with interesting desert scenery and endless chatter. To get to the little town, we drove on a segment of old Historic Route 66. I’ve always wanted to drive on part of this road, though not for any particular reason. It was unkept and windy and we pondered at the idea that this was THE road that carried countless travelers before the smooth interstate freeways were constructed.
At last we arrived at our destination. What can I really say about Oatman? It is advertised as a ghost town, though the only ghosts that live there are the locals. Established in the early 20th century as a gold mining town, it is little more than a main street on Route 66, with a population of something like 130 people. We parked at one end of town and walked to the end and back, ducking into nick-knack
shops and taking photos of the wild donkeys which roamed the street. By the time we were ready to go, some of the local residents started to emerge. We took a different way home, passing into California and then back into Nevada. I just thought it would be fun to say we went through three different states on our day trip.
Las Vegas. A town where not all pan handlers are homeless, a stumbling drunk might be a local, and tourists are indistinguishable from hookers. Jennifer and I were in the midst of it all on Fremont Street. The main attractions for us were the vintage neon signs of “Vegas Vic” and the Glitter Gulch Cowgirl, both of which were featured in the 1992 film “Honey I Blew Up the Kid.” We watched that film as kids ourselves and were eager to see these live props for ourselves.
Our other Fremont experience was the ziplines. Jen had never gone on any zipline before, but I’ve been on a few. I enjoyed myself, but the operation rushed patrons through the entire process and before you knew it, it was over. Jennifer found this a little overwhelming and
admitted that it was no fun at all for her. We left Fremont before the electric light show and headed home to make our own eggrolls and shrimp rangoon wontons for dinner.
Our last day together was very low-key. We enjoyed lunch at Pho Kim Long, a great restaurant in Chinatown. Service is so-so every time I go, but it’s the best pho I’ve had in town. And don’t dismiss the tofu nuggets; they’re delicious. Afterward I surprised Jennifer by taking her to the Zombie Apocalypse Store (do you have what it takes to survive?). To me, the props outside of the store were actually more interesting than the contents within. It has a mix of novelty and real survival gear. The clerk shared with us his amusement when real doomsdayers come into the store for supplies.
I had to abandon Jennifer for a few hours while I went to work for a half day, and returned home to find her napping. We enjoyed a feast of left over homemade egg rolls for dinner and watched a chapter from our attempted “Lord of the Rings” movie marathon. Before either of us were willing, it was time
to depart for the airport and return Jennifer to Washington.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.05s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.019s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb