Las Vegas - part 1

Tuesday 7th & Wednesday 8th June 2011

So this is Las Vegas. All things big and glitzy.

Weather during the day is hot. We have been using the sunscreen every day so far. Evenings are beautiful, warm with a slight breeze. The strip is crowded but we were assured that the crowds double on weekends. This place is always on the go, day and night. We can’t believe that people have to gamble 24/7. Every place we visit is packed with pokies and they are all busy. Most of the gambling tables are full, especially in the evening.

They still allow smoking in the casinos. And people wander around inside and outside with bottles of beer. Amongst the high rollers the homeless were begging on the street. Quite a contrast.

More photos to come.....

Las Vegas - here we come

Monday 6th June 2011

Overnight we had a bit of rain, just enough to  dampen the ground and wet me and my sleeping bag before I woke up and closed the tent up!

This morning we packed up early and took the bus to Claremont to catch the Greyhound.  Unfortunately the 9.30 bus was full so we had to wait for the 10.50. No problem…you meet some interesting people in bus stations.

The bus ride to Las Vegas was very enjoyable. The trip took around 4 hours. The scenery is similar to the lower Flinders Ranges,  large areas of flat surrounded by hills…or rather mountains in some cases. The highway was huge, 3 or 4 lanes both ways all the way. And busy too. As you approach Vegas, from around 40 miles out, casinos keep appearing out of nowhere. You expect to see a town but there is just a big hotel building with lots of neon signs. And then else nothing for miles.

On arrival in Las Vegas we decided to head for Circus Circus as we had heard it is a good place to stay (thanks Deane). Having sat on the bus for hours a walk was in order so we hiked the 2.9 miles (4 ½ km) in the blazing sun. Thirsty work but a good way of seeing the Strip in daylight.

We booked 2 nights at Circus Circus at $60 per night. Great view of the surrounding hills and city from 23^rd floor.  Room is nice but unfortunately doesn’t have fridge…..no problem, we found an ice machine down the hallway and the rubbish bin makes a great ice bucket.

Bigger problem.....room doesn’t have coffee making facilities. OMG....me without my morning coffee.....NO WAY.

But Mike (my trusty boy scout) came up with a “cunning plan” as you will see in the picture below. Beware: Don’t try this at home. Our OHS advisor suggests this is not a safe practice!!

But it does boil water to make coffee......so I am happy:)
Chris

Our luxury accomodation

Sunday 5 June 2011

From Mike:

Still camped at Pomona KOA camping ground. An easy day – walk to Pomona (lower socio-economic area).  Should have brushed up on my Spanish – big Hispanic population here and most seem multi-lingual.

Next door to Pomona is La Verne – sort of like travelling from Elizabeth to Norwood in the space of a kilometer.

We dined out tonight at an Italian restaurant in La Verne. A lovely meal and great service.

From Chris:

To say it was an easy day is not entirely true. The walk to Pamona and surrounds ended up being around 8 or so kilometers and the trip to the restaurant another 3. So I think we can say our exercise for the day was well and truly complete.

We checked out a house that was open for inspection. Timber frame (as most are here) four bedrooms, two bathrooms, quite old with lots of character. It was selling for $299,000, average for the area. Land agent tried to talk us into buying it until he found out we were from OZ.

As Mike mentioned restaurant service was great……especially the waitress who came chasing after us with our credit card……Exceptional service.

When we returned from dinner we met up with a lovely couple from Germany who we spent quite some time chatting to about their travels and ours. They have our blog details and are planning on following us on our travels.

Which reminds me -  to all of you who are following this blog please sign up as a follower. Or if you want to know when we put up a new post submit your email address. And feel free to post comments (don’t forget to include your name – or at least your initials so we know who it’s from). Seems there is some “Silly Bugga” known as "SB" who has been doing this already!!

Mike's view on RV's

RVs – let’s talk Recreational Vehicles. At least in California the ones we’ve seen here are mammoth. In the KOA park here at Pomona there are probably a 100 RVs. All are either towed by F250s or greater (with articulated hook ups mounted to the trays) or huge camper vans (self drives). You see these in Oz but they are the exception, here they are the rule. They are like houses on wheels. We only saw 3 regular Oz type rigs, 2 caravans and one pop-top camper.

The bloke with the pop-top says that in other states (north eastern I think) they have smaller rigs because of the terrain and smaller parks (the KOA here has all drive through sites to allow for the big rigs – no one wants to backup these monsters).

We have to make sure our 2 x 4 pup-tent was well away from the traffic lanes because if one of these big-arsed things backs over us they’d never know until they got around to washing out Chris and Mike from between the threads.

Mike

Mike's view

Its sacrilege! Here I am on the wagon and I’ve just discovered cheap booze! A man could live off bottle ‘Os here. Eighteen ‘Buds’ for 12 dollars, a slab of Coronas for 24 dollars  – look at the money I could be saving!

Chris reckons I’m salivating because I’m an alcoholic – but I’ve just received some medical advice from Joe the taxi driver (who speaks with authority on such matters as he delivers the little old ladies to the local medical centre); and he assures me that I’m not an alcoholic. He’s says I’m just a drunk because if I was an alcoholic I’d be going to meetings.

Anyway, there seems to be a few people over here that have worse vices.

We visited the ‘Finish Line Sports Grill’ across the road from the camp ground expecting to find a place to have dinner in the evening. As soon as we opened the door we quickly closed it again. Inside was a tiered arena area with semi-circles of computer screens on each level and large screens at up the front. At each terminal was a person gambling on horse or dog races. They all looked around as we entered like we shouldn’t have been there – so we quickly weren’t. The whole place was the same – every area crammed with punters and the grill turned out to be a counter for burgers etc.

Mike


Chris invading the betting ring



KOA campground Pamona

Saturday 4 June 2011

Starting to like this sleeping in business. Eight thirty this morning, sun pouring into the tent and the birds singing in the tree above us.  Unfortunately there was no smell of freshly brewed coffee…..seems room service is a bit slack today.

Took a walk (about 2 miles) into La Verne for some supplies. The local supermarket is called Stater Bros. We are really surprised at the prices here….most things are just so cheap. For example the alcohol….it is booze paradise. Kahlua 750ml only $13.99 and Vodka for $5.99. And beer ……………..well Mike is beside himself…….it is about half the price we pay in OZ. Even the Aussie and NZ wine is cheap.  It’s a long time since I saw a bottle of Oyster Bay Sav Blanc for under $10.00.

Expect to hear more from Mike about the booze later.....and some photos too which I couldn't resist taking in the shop!!

Great shopping area at La Verne. Worth the walk. We poked our noses in the front door of a shop called Khols thinking it may be a supermarket but it was a clothes shop. Mike dragged me out real quick before I could do any damage. I suppose he did me a favour….whatever I buy I have to carry.

Haven’t quite worked out the local currency yet.   We are still slow counting out the change when we are buying stuff. And they still have one cent pieces!!  And another thing that catches you out is the tax. They advertise one price but charge you extra when you pay. You have to remember to add on 10%. Seems the local kids learn this early. We saw a group of school kids, probably around 7 or 8 year olds at the Santa Monica Pier. Their teacher was reminding them to add on the tax and quizzed them on how much they should expect to pay on each dollar before she let them lose it the shop.

They are holding a SWAP MEET over the road from here tomorrow and there are huge numbers of car enthusiasts flooding into the area. We thought we may go for a look but after taking a peek over the fence today I may give it a miss. A ton of rusty old car parts doesn’t look like much fun to me.

We were planning on eating out at the Sports Bar over the road.......but that didn't quite work out the way we planned......more from Mike on that later.

Chris