Arriving Las Vegas

My one previous visit to Las Vegas (airport only) was by air, so that I was magically dropped into the centre of the experience. The road approaching from the west was not at all how I imagined it. Somehow in my mind the famous Strip existed by itself, rising in splendid isolation from the desert. Of course, it could not be so.

Any city, particularly a tourist focused city, needs an army of people to keep it running. Those people, like the casino dealers, bar staff, neon repairers and prostitutes have to live somewhere, along with all the butchers, furniture retailers, hairdressers and dentists who serve them. That place is the suburbs, which look like suburbs anywhere and sprawl westwards towards the mountains.

I had caught glimpses of tall buildings in the distance for a while, but the first sight that my brain registered as being The Strip came from a bridge over a major freeway. We were trying to force the Cream Puff across four lanes of traffic to get onto the entrance ramp, which Thelma had neglected to mention until the last millisecond, and suddenly it was there. Even in the glare from the setting sun, it glowed. The Strip. Vegas!

We actually crossed The Strip to get to the hotel, right next to the Tropicana. The Tropicana! The one from Diamonds are Forever! Wow, can it really be that old? It's a wonder it's still standing.

The hotel was right across the street from the MGM Grand. One of the three that George Clooney robbed in Oceans Eleven! So cool. I'm in pop reference heaven. Blogger paradise.

Of course, we were far too pressed for time to appreciate any of the splendour around us. We had tickets for a show that was supposed to start in about twenty minutes and we hadn't eaten ... and we probably weren't going to.

We quickly checked into our hotel room, which boasts such strange features as an ashtray for non-smokers.

Then we immediately set out on foot to walk the couple of blocks to see the show. We didn't realise at the time that a block in Las Vegas is a very, very big thing. A venue a few blocks away when time is short is a distance best approached by taxi, or possibly by helicopter. We also had to pause for some kind of food. After doing Death Valley on an empty stomach I was feeling distinctly in need of nourishment.

Incredibly, just one block off The Strip is a dark wasteland of empty, fenced off lots. Just around the corner was a neon wonderland that is visible from space, yet we were in a ghost town; a ghost town that was abandoned before they'd even started building it. The only food that presented itself along the way was another Snickers at a convenience store. It's a good thing they really satisfy.