We slept in until 11 a.m. and then packed up the car and got ready to head to Las Vegas. Right before we left, Aaron returned home, so we said our goodbyes and headed east (it’s been a while since we’ve headed that way)… thanks again for having us!!
We found a Wachovia bank (on our second attempt) in Los Angeles to deposit the checks that Dermot has been holding on to every since Pennsylvania (no Wachovia banks between PA and CA) It was right next to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, so at least we got to see that street that Zach De La Rocha sings about in “Bullet in the Head”. With the checks cashed we decided to stop for lunch at Google in Santa Monica. We ate lunch of the rooftop deck. The food and sun were great. A quick stop at CVS for some aloe and sunscreen for Dermot’s sun burnt back and then back on the road eastward bound to Las Vegas.
We got off the highway to travel on Historic Route 66 and got our kicks by stopping at a Foster’s Freeze (the west coast’s version of Dairy Queen). Our shiver was not as good as a blizzard, but a good treat in the 100+ degree heat.
At around 5 p.m., the barren desert highway slowly transformed into the artificial oasis…. Las Vegas. We took the highway past Las Vegas up to the North end and then headed back down the strip to our first stop: Circus, Circus Hotel and Casino. Unfortunately it was not nearly as cool as it looked in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, but then again I don’t think we were in the same mental state as Hunter S. Thompson when he visited.
Another fact we learned after checking into the Circus, Circus was that it is the only casino on the strip that has an RV park and camping site available. After unloading our car in the 100 degree heat, we were glad that we splurged for the $40 hotel room as opposed to the $20 camping spot.
We dropped our stuff off in our room and went to the first restaurant we found in the Casino. The food was okay and the $10 pitcher of Margarita made it taste better.
After our dinner, we went down to the floor to sign up for the players and use our free comps. We got $5 free slot play. On our first pull we won $10, cashed out and pocketed our free $15. From there we paid $10 for $15 worth of gaming chips (another promotion). We went straight to roulette and played “our” number 18 and it hit on the first roll . . . . $85 more. We both looked at each other and were kind of freaked out that 18 hit on our first roll again (we went up to Mohegan Sun a few months ago for our 1 year anniversary and played 18, our anniversary date, and hit on our first roll) I only wish I put all $15 on 18 instead of a couple of dollars. . . .$100 in 5 minutes, not a bad start in Vegas.
With put our money in our pocket and then went to watch some of the circus acts that were being performed in the Casino. We saw a trapeze and a ring acrobat, both impressive.
We headed back up to our room around 9:30 and looked for some show tickets for the next day. Katie scored two front row seats to the Cirque d’ Soliel “O” show at the Bellagio. We were both beat from traveling and the heat, so we called it an early night.