HOT WOMEN AND A COLD POOL

Gosh what a day of contrasts. We left Kingman this a.m. but first drove around the streets – Kingman is famous for being part of Route 66. Lots of antique shops, and an old Santa Fe steam train. Neil had taken an early morning walk and got to go into the Mohave museum wit h the cleaners!
We drove towards the Hover dam and realised we didn’t have much gas left, but still had time to stop and look at a car wreckers – read old cars – for sale! Petroled up, we arrived at the Damn. Oh my, what a huge example of the superb engineering we’ve seen in our travels. The temperature was in the mid 90s – read hot hot hot. We parked up and took a stack of photos. Cops had one car area roped off, a body in the dam! Apparently the temp here last July 4th was 130deg F.
They are building a new road/bridge which will basically go between mountains right beside the dam. Americans sure can do roads and bridges. I am in constant awe of this.
We arrived in Vegas, driving the freeway to the north and then had to back track along Las Vegas Boulevard to the hotel which is the south end of the strip. Although it was a bit of extra driving it was cool seeing all the casinos and the wedding chapels! Circus Circus, the Trump casino which is gold coated no less. The MGM Grand, the Eiffel Tower . I mean we’re just a couple of doors from there. We’re actually staying at the Travel lodge. Ok, but i think the Motel 6’s we’ve stayed at have been better quality, but this is nice and close.
We unpacked and started to roam the streets – along with the THOUSANDS of others. The strip is noisy, over crowded and it was mega hot! What shocked me was that part of it was the dirtiest street we have seen on our travels. Lots of litter – but i can also understand why. Along this part of the strip, hawkers were handing out cards – in fact these guys were basically pimping their women via these cards! It was quite shocking and was rather intimidating. We then went into the Planet Hollywood casino, but just to show the kids, it is next door to the Mile Mall – which it was. Lots of shops, some British stores which was a surprise too. Very touristy, some very expensive, but also some quite reasonable – they want you to keep your money for gambling.
We’d reached McDonalds and the sweat poured down my face. I’ve never drunk so much so fast! The pool at the hotel was a tad cold, but was oh so welcome. Neil went back to a casino which also housed a stack of old cars for sale – not our price range – they were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions.
Once dinner has settled, we’re heading off to the New York New York casino which also has roller coaster going around it. Not for me, you understand, but the kids. I gave up on roller coasters after my close and intimate experience with Space Mountain at Disneyland.
And so that is it. We’ve experienced one of America’s wonders at the Hoover Dam and spent the rest of the day in another fantasyland.

Happy days
Jane and gang