Saturday 22 October Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

We didn't get a lot of pictures of Grand Canyon on Friday afternoon, so we got up early in the hopes of some good sunrise images. The canyon was still filled with haze and the morning light was weak and lacking in colour. We got a few reasonable shots, had breakfast and checked out.

From Grand Canyon we headed south to link up with Interstate 40. The Interstates are freeway-standard roads which criss-cross the US, and are an excellent means of travelling fast over long distances. The speed limit is 75 miles/hr (about 120 km/h). The country was largely empty, treeless and undulating. We followed I40 to a town called Kingman then headed north to Hoover Dam, one of the engineering wonders of the world. The road goes over the crest of the dam, and all vehicles had to stop for a (very perfunctory) police check before proceeding. A new bypass is currently under construction so that through traffic doesn't have to go through the narrow, congested section near the dam.

From the dam to Las Vegas is a short distance by freeway. We were staying at the Luxor, near the south end of town. But to see as much as possible, we followed the freeway to the north end of town and exited at Las Vegas Boulevard - "the Strip".

Then drove the full length of the Strip - it was a revelation. The north (downtown) section is pretty low class. There are lots of pawn shops and porn shops, strip clubs and massage parlours, cheap motels and ultra-tacky wedding chapels. As we went further south, we saw the "new Las Vegas" - the enormous hotel / casino complexes. Each has its own theme - the Paris with its Eiffel Tower, the Venetian complete with canals and a copy of the Rialto bridge (which looks better than the original), New York New York with its skyscrapers and Statue of Liberty, and many more.

The Luxor is Egyptian themed. You enter under a giant sphinx and make your way into a huge black pyramid. Inside it's all noise, music, hustle and bustle and flashing lights. There are Egyptian columns complete with hieroglyphics, statues and paintings everywhere. There are also more poker machines than you could possibly imagine. The place is layed out in such a way that you can't get from one point to another without passing a large number of slot machines.

We had a look at the King Tut museum (which is quite well done), had a walk up the strip for a look-see, then back to the Luxor for dinner and bed.