Stopped in Las Vegas on the way home, but stayed off the Strip, which was good. We had a hotel that was within walking distance, which was fine for us as we only went down to the Strip in the evening and walked through some of the big casinos and people watched. I doubt if we spent $10 gambling if you can actually call that gambling.
I had tentatively planned to golf at least once while in Vegas, and thought I could play the municipal course, the Las Vegas Golf Club. The last time we were in Vegas, probably 10 years ago, I had played it for around $19. It was an OK course but with heavy usage. I remember someone in the pro shop telling me it was the busiest course in North America with 110,000 rounds a year. I checked it out when we arrived in Vegas this time and for a non-resident the fees are now $79. I don’t think so. I should have gone to one of the commercial shooting ranges and shot something in full-auto mode.
We did go to a restaurant that we had seen mentioned on the Food Channel, the 4 Keggs. Not on the Strip and probably not a place you would stop at if you were just driving by. But great Italian food. Their regular stromboli was marvelous as was the Philly Cheese steak. Everyone really friendly and the staff member who waited on us had been there for 20 years. Even met the owner/manager. Highly recommended.
We took a pass through Death Valley after leaving Las Vegas and thus came up through Nevada on the west side. Nevada is lonesome country and it makes you respect how tough and self-reliant those early settlers were, who prospected and built towns and tried to wrest a living out of the desert. You look at some of the small towns and deserted buildings along the way and you figure that things haven’t changed much.
We are now in the gentler terrain of Oregon which is fine, but it makes you wonder when you are driving along Highway 95 in Nevada at a legal 70 mph and cross the Oregon border and have to grind down to 55 mph. What decade are these people living in?
Totalrecoil 