Vegas, baby, Vegas

Amazing how much more sleep you can get when you camp in an area that doesn’t drop to 30 degrees at night. However, waking up in the morning to find approximately 4 billion dead gnats in the sink in the local bathroom made me realize how happy I was that this would probably be my last camping trip for awhile. Erin and Adina went off to hike some extremely hard trail this morning, while I went off to ride horses.

Unfortunately, there were some small kids with us, so we didn’t ride as fast as I’d like. For those who don’t know, I rode horses for several years as a child, and I love being able to still do that from time to time. Despite the fact that they smell, bite, and often try to throw you off, horses have personality, and I respect that.

Erin and Adina were waiting for me by the car when I got back, anxious to get out of town and to Las Vegas. I made them turn around briefly to find the town of Grafton, which is an actual ghost town outside of Zion. I guess I was expecting more of a Western mining town, and this was really a small Mormon farming community that all moved out over several years. It was about 3 empty buildings. If anyone ever saw the episode of The Brady Bunch that featured them going on vacation and ending up at a ghost town, you know what I was picturing when I saw that listed on the map. It was interesting, but I’m not sure how much it was worth the good 10 miles in each direction we put into it.

Erin made new speed records getting us to Las Vegas. Me being the seasoned Vegas expert, having been there for a weekend once, got to tell lots of stories about the lay of the land and what’s the interesting stuff to do. Bally’s, our hotel, reminded me of how every resort on the strip is about 2 miles long and how wherever you want to go is on the other end of the hotel from where your room is. I think we passed through two time zones on our way to the pool from our room, but it was all worth it for the fruity drink that was at the end of that long tunnel.

I managed to lose about $20 gambling. Seeing that I started off with $40 and played for close to an house, I feel this is justified. The several rounds of penny slots, however, was probably not. Eh, flashing lights, what can I say? I took Erin and Adina down the strip to see the pirate show at Treasure Island. However, apparently a 2mph wind is enough for them to cancel it, or at least that was their story. We went into a club briefly to watch burlesque dancers, and wandered slowly back to our hotel. Erin was tired, as I'm pretty sure she's still stubbornly refusing to adjust to West Coast time, despite the fact that this is what time she'll be living on for the next 6 years. Should make her more of a morning person, I suppose. Sorry, no marriages, no arrests, and no Elvis impersonators for us in Vegas, just three girls very happy to no longer be camping and to be almost at the end of this voyage.