Travel Home - Day 3

Now this day is they reason that Kathleen met me out here. Today's drive is from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. We decided to leave kinda early and then we would also gain another hour when we got there because of the time zone change. Toni and Mia skyped me early when Mia woke up and then we got ready and hit the road.

The drive through the rest of Utah was a pretty boring one. There was one exception. We drove through 2 different "speed limit test zones". There were each about 15-20 miles long and here is the test....


That made me pretty excited! Hopefully the test run works and they start raising speed limits across the country.

We drove until right before lunch time and stopped in St. George, UT for lunch.


Jimmy John's has an awesome sandwich if you have never had one. Kathleen discovered it on her last trip to SLC and likes it because you can get your sandwich wrapped in lettuce instead of bread. She needs gluten free so that works great for her.

At the end of Utah, before you hit Nevada, you drive through a small portion of Arizona.


In that small piece of Arizona, you drive through a place called the Virgin River Gorge. I don't know the story behind it, but it pretty neat. Here are a few pictures of it.





Arizona was about 20-30 minutes or so and then we saw this one.


I guess that's an old prospector on the sign. Who knows?

Well, not too long later we finally could see the city. Beautiful Las Vegas.





We had a room for the night at the Tuscany. Nice hotel, real cheap, and right off the strip behind where Bally's is. We checked in and checked out the casino there for a bit. We signed up for a players card and used up some free slot play. I ended up cashing out $15 for nothing. Nice. We then decided to go to downtown Vegas for the afternoon and early evening and then we would be able to do the strip later at night. I taught Kathleen paigow on the way, so we were anxious to try out her skills on the tables. We found a $5 table at Binion's and played there for a bit until we met the part of the Las Vegas 51s staff that runs the show. Kathleen had about 5 pina coladas by then so was feeling pretty good. We ended up going to the Golden Nugget, the 51s visiting team hotel, for some drinks at Vic and Anthony's Steakhouse. A few drinks later we decided since we were there, we might as well eat.


Delicious steak and the biggest asparagus I have ever had! Thanks Denise! After dinner, we walked around the hotel a bit and looked at the pool. They have a water slide there that goes through a shark tank right next to the pool! I gotta stay there one time to try that pool. There are some tables right next to the pool too.


Denise took off and Kathleen and I hit up downtown again. We ended up playing paigow at Binion's more and took a break every hour to watch the Freemont Street Experience show above us. I'll post those another time. I also talked to a guy who was filling the time interviewing people and showing it above the people as well. Here are a few pics of downtown Vegas.





We found this thing that puts you in the crowd at Woodstock.



And finally, can't leave Vegas without a pic with a showgirl!


The camera ended up dead with all the video I took of the shows above us. After we left downtown, we walked over to the strip and walked around there a little bit. We finished up the night playing mini paigow at the Flamingo. Kathleen got lucky, but I couldn't hit anything! We finally headed back to our hotel about 1:00. I went to bed, but Kathleen hit up the Tuscany casino for a few more hours. She decided to take advantage of the short time in Vegas. I decided to take advantage of the Tuscany beds.

Next stop....Phoenix

Travel Home - Day 2

So I woke up bright and early on Tuesday to hit the road. The plan for the day was that my cousin, Kathleen, was going to fly into Salt Lake City and meet me for the rest of the drive home. We have another cousin, Tiffany, who lives there and goes to the University of Utah (boo Utes!!!) so we were planning on hanging out with her for the evening. She is in the dance program and does nothing but dance all day. Hopefully seeing a little family and getting away from the studio will be good for her.

I think I took off driving at about 8:00 or so. If you have never driven through Montana, it is a pretty boring drive. It looks the same through most of it.

The mountains are nice. I'm used to them at home.

After a little bit, I had deja vu and saw this sign.


So I've been driving for a couple of short days and have already been to Idaho twice! The "major" cities that I drove through for the day were Idaho Falls and Pocatello, ID. Not exactly the largest metropolis areas. After a few more hours I got out of Idaho again and saw this nice sign to welcome me to Utah. It's not such a good pic, but take my word for it when I tell you it was cool. Better than all the other states that just say "Welcome to 'insert state here'". It had a guy ski jumping and a nice rock.


The drive the rest of the way into Utah to Salt Lake City was pretty easy. Utah has some beautiful scenery.

Even if you are not a mountain person you have to admit that this picture is pretty cool.

Well, I booked a room at the downtown Marriott Courtyard in SLC and got there about 3:00 or so. This was a pretty huge upgrade from the Motel 6, Butte, and it wasn't a whole lot more expensive. I didn't take pics of the whole room, but it was pretty spacious. However, I did take pictures of the bathroom and sink areas. You know when you stay at decent hotels and they make little things with the towels? Like folding the hand towel and tucking the washcloth in, making one into a triangle and standing it up, or making a little fan out of one. Well, these guys took it to the next level.



Not only was the washcloth tucked into the handtowel a fan, but the toilet paper roll had one tucked in, the extra toilet paper roll had one tucked in, the washcloth on the bathtub had one, and even the kleenex box had one sticking out! Dang! I bet those housekeepers hate folding things into fan shapes.

Kathleen's flight got in at 4:30 and so after I got on the computer for a bit I went and picked her up. We met Tiffany later that night and had a delicious dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I crushed way too much food (salad, bread, lasagna, chicken marsala, spaghetti, and ice cream). The food was good and the company was better. Tiffany took us back to her place and we ended up hanging out there for the rest of the night. Next time I see her, she will be 21 and we will get to see a whole other side of Salt Lake City. I am not sure what side that is, though. We'll have to wait and see.

We finally headed back to the hotel about 10:30 with a quick stop at Walgreen's for a few things Kathleen couldn't pack in her carry-on. Bed time because tomorrow's stop....Las Vegas!