Santa Cruz & Las Vegas

We have been somewhat out-of-touch with the blog since Monday. There seems to be no such thing as 'free' in Las Vegas and that includes wireless in our hotel. It is $12 a day so we found North Las Vegas Public Library this morning and now I'm on line for 15 minutes.

We watched the Tour of California Bike Race on Monday and got to see Lance Armstrong speeding by. The whole experience was fun and I learned lots about bicycle racing. We have great pictures which I will be able to post later. Kathy & Phil took us out to a good-bye lunch after the race. We went to a Thai restaurant. We have never eaten at one before and I was glad Kathy & Phil knew the 'ropes' and told me that yellow curry isn't hot. The yellow curry chicken was delicious.

We set out for Las Vegas and kept checking on weather conditions because the mountain passes were experiencing a snow storm. Jen called later and told us that I-15 had been closed at the Nevada state line but we got through with no problem. We decided to keep going until we reached our motel in Las Vegas-Circus Circus. I guess I never realized that LV is a 24 hour town. We got to Circus Circus and had to wait in line for 40 minutes to check in. There were so many people checking in. We hadn't eaten since the Thai place so Tom went and found a place in the hotel but I just stayed in the room-too tired.

Yesterday we spent exploring the LV Strip. What a place! We learned early on not to make eye contact with people on the sidewalk who try to talk to you-they are trying to sell you something. We got way-layed by an opportunity for a free dinner but quickly found out it involved a 2 hour sales presentation about a condo. From then on we became 'street smart' and just enjoyed the sights.

This morning we went north of town to the Las Vegas Speedway where NASCAR is racing next week. The track was open and we drove right out into the infield but saw no teams or anyone to interview.

We passed Nellis Air Force Base and stopped and watched fighter jets taking off and landing. That was very exciting.

We are returing to Phoenix tomorrow after a stop at Hoover Dam. That will probably be the next chance I have to get on line.

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