It was the final and longest stretch for our Mustang yesterday - from Palm Springs to Vegas. Clocking over 300 miles, we were travelling for about 5 hours through enormous desert. If it weren't for the quirky Joshua trees, and the 2-3-4 lane freeways you could have thought at times, you were travelling through parts of the Mackenzie country, or the desert road....
Before Vegas, four tributes:
1. Palm Springs - truly a special place. The concentration of modernist buildings is extradorindary. We could have spent days more travelling round the suburbs looking at the houses alone. The Orbit In was the perfect place to stay. Their nightly "Orbitini Hour" meant you met the people who were also staying there.
2. Mustang - our red mustang has been fantanstic. We went for a hard top one in the end, and it was a good decision. It was safer,and meant our car could be a giant suitcase to throw things into if need be. It's a grunty car. The V8 is a delight.
3.NavMan - is our friend. Dial in the address and it will guide you there the fastest way possible. Negotiating these spaghetti highways with paper maps would have been truly frightening.
4. Husband - My darling has driven this whole trip. I realised pretty early on that I was a fradey cat an the prospect of driving these highways really scared me. Hudsie has driven with calm, poise and grace...apart from in the early days in Mendocino when he pulled over onto a gravel turn-out to "drop a patch". Calm and grace except for that.
Now to Vegas...
We have three days here and are staying at the Strosphere which is reknowned for its sky tower. Really Auckland's could try a bit harder. Sure you can bungy jump off, but the Stratosphere has the choice of three rides on top of the tower. We're heading up the tower shortly for lunch.
It is nuts here. Our guide book sums it up - the city demands a suspension of disbelief - the moment you start taking it seriously you totally miss the point. With this guiding principal in mind, we'll try and pack in some of the following over the next few days:
> Mirage's tiger habitat and faux volcano
> Bellagio choreographed Lake Como fountain show
> check out the gondola rides at the Venetian
> MGM Grand's largest bronze statue - a 100,000 pound lion (45 feet tall)
> Paris - Paris on a min scale including Eiffel Tower, Arc de triomphe
> New York New York - Disneyland version of the big apple
> 30 story pyramid at the Luxor
Not to mention a few slots and a tournie of poker (or two). All in the middle of the desert
It's going to be a busy few days
Megan xx
Hudsie just briefly here, we can't get a cheap room here on Friday night, and have to be at the Airport at 6am Saturday anyway, so we are going to stay up Vegas-ing all night. So we will be packing as much in as we can. Catch you in NYC.
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3 comments:
Ssounds wonderful, you lucky things!
I 'specially love the sound of the mustang, and laying a patch, hudsie, you hoon! must try it at home....
I did an all-nighter in Atlantic City - seedy version of Vegas, I reckon. Very easy to do, there's so much to keep you going. Hope you survived ok. Guess you'll be ready for a nap Saturday afternoon.
lots of love from Aya.
Hi Megan and Michael,
I think this blog is so marvelous and now a daily treat for those of us still languishing in the antipodes. Thanks for the great pictures added to Mendacino, chez panisse and sanfantastic.
Have a great time in NYC.
Love
John
Thanks for your comments!
It's lovely to know you are following our exploits and we are surprised by how much we're enjoying doing the blog too. It's a good way for us to reflect on the places we've visited - not a chore at all!
M&M
xoxox
P.s. Aya -the all nighter didn't really happen in the end. We caved and got a cheap motel so we could get some shuteye before the redeye
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