las vegas

Day 9

Between the Redwood forests and the drive through Nevada to get to Vegas, nothing interesting really happened. We drove through the desert which was very interesting. We found it ironic when we approached some rain clouds sporadically throughout our drive in the desert more than we did when we were in Seattle and Portland. We saw a gorgeous full rainbow though; it almost looked like a double rainbow. Of all places, we see this in the middle of no where in Nevada lol. After our very long 10 hour drive, we were super stoked to see the glow of the Vegas lights in the horizon. At this point, we were so pumped to have fun in Vegas, stay out late, and sleep in the following morning. But let me tell you about OUR Vegas adventure!

So we finally get to Vegas around 10 PM after about 12 hours of driving. We were so thrilled and had some plans to see some of the shows and walk around. As we were driving down to the strip we saw a campground right before the strip! We went through the campground that looked like a parking lot turned into an RV park, and of course they didn’t allow tent camping. Of course it was too good to be true. So we just continued down to the strip to have fun and deal with it later. Well as we turned on to Las Vegas Blvd South, it was nothing but a construction zone. The right lane had to merge over and with the constant flow of people turning on to the blvd it was impossible to get through. Then throw in the traffic lights, pedestrians, limos, taxis, which add up to being stuck for over an hour. We barely moved. We did get a good view of the attractions and some shows that were on the sidewalk but I desperately wanted to get out and explore the strip. Eventually the frustration built up and we just said EFF this and lets get outta here. As we drove away from the city in search for a campground or RV park, we got pulled over by the popos. They clocked us for going 62 in a 45 zone. We talked to one of the officers about our road trip and stuff. After we complied with the police, they let us off with a warning. WHEW! Couldn’t imagine how much that ticket would have been since we were still in Las Vegas. By the way, we saw more police patrolling throughout Nevada in the desert than we did this entire trip.

After a few deep breaths, we continued to just drive as far as we could out of the city. By this point it was approx 1 am. We were both really tired and getting cranky. We got to see the Hoover Dam at night though lol. Luckily we avoided that traffic jam of a mess because that whole area is under construction as well. Our GPS (her name is Lucy) set us to go another 60 miles until we hit a city with a campground and hotels as a back up. We finally made it to this city and found the campground that accommodated tents. We go to the office to register and pay, but we didn’t have a PEN TO WRITE WITH! Ugh. Lets just say the car is a hot mess so finding a pen was impossible. Matt suggested we buy a pen from somewhere and the idea was stupid at the time. We found some little cheap ass motel for 20 bucks. So we were like whatever, lets try it. I went inside and this little Mexican guy comes out in his pajamas, half asleep, gives me the paperwork and an actual key. The smell of this place was just disgusting…the outside smelled like a gorillas peepee (matt’s words, not mine). When we went into the room, it was this decrepit, with a rancid smell, old, musty, bottom feeding, trash, brutal, vile, abomination of a room. There was NO WAY I was going to get into that bed. Who knows what drugs or sex or STDs was in that room. So, I went back to the office, woke up the little Mexican guy, and got my money back. I just told him I was going to drive back to MI that night. So we went to the gas station down the street and got a pen from the clerk. About 3 am we went back to the campground, filled out the registration form with our money (it was only 15 bucks) and set up camp for the night. We finally got set up and went to bed by 3:30 am. We were looking forward to sleeping in a bit, but as I anticipated, the heat would come early. And it did. By 8:30, we were up because the heat was already becoming unbearable. In the daylight, we noticed what a dump this place really was. We were on a gravel pit surrounded by large black ants. Eww. We packed up quickly and took off. What a crap night. But, we knew we were going to hit some road blocks along the way.

Now we are off to the Grand Canyon and Arches in Utah. Our trip is starting to wrap up which is depressing. This has been so amazing so far. I’m sad to come back home.