Along with New Mexico, Arizona was one of the last few states I had never been to, and I was sad to have done most of the trip in the dark. I really wanted to see some cartoon looking cacti, but no luck.
The nice thing about driving all night and then only getting four hours of sleep on the floor of a hot van in the desert is that it makes the next day feel extra long. I woke up looking great.
Someone please tell me I'm not going bald. Please? Just lie to me. You can also see my dolphin tattoo going strong.
I caught the tail end of the Arizona scenery.
The beauty was somehow diminished by the scene in the van.
An unexpected surprise came when I started seeing signs for the Hoover dam*. I had no idea it was on our route, but this was one American sight seeing experience I was always kind of interested in. I heard one time on some documentary that the Hoover dam* has so much concrete, that the stuff in the middle is still curing. Wikipedia just told me that construction began in 1931.
2007 - 1931 = 76
That concrete has been curing for 76 years. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammn!
And now that I looked at this picture after writing the previous paragraph, I feel a bit silly at having to look up that date.
The actual road we were traveling on winds directly over the dam. A few miles before we hit the dam, we were stopped at a police checkpoint and they had us open the back of the van, presumably checking for large amounts of manure. They didn't even ask about drugs!
But pretty soon this whole bomb checking process will be a thing of the past:
I can't begin to describe how huge this fucker is, since from our vantage point we couldn't actually see the bottom of the ravine. This bridge is going to be INSANE. And I am completely terrified for future Hoover dam travelers. The dam is to the left of this image, and looking again at this picture it does no justice at all in capturing how high and thin this bridge is going to be. Sometimes humans have crazy ideas.
Las Vegas was a town I had only seen from the airport, so I was pretty excited to check it out on foot. We got in and found the AM! bus and used their satellite internet to find a hotel.
The venue was right on the "old strip" and had arcade games inside and a bowling alley upstairs. Both of which I didn't utilize. I had enough time to eat some food and set up the merch before the show started.
Obligatory side stage shot.
After the show we walked up to a casino and I watched people lose money.
I didn't even use the penny slots. AM! dudes were playing blackjack and when I left Warren was up $40.
The Old Strip has a huge curved ceiling covering the 'sidewalk'. I put sidewalk in quotes because the walking area is actually an old street, converted into a pedestrian walkway. As hard as it is to believe, this whole thing is actually air conditioned. I don't want to think about how much this costs, and how many natural resources are destroyed, but considering we were in the desert, I wasn't complaining.
I was completely surprised when the ceiling lit up with a crazy light show synched to music.
I managed to forget my camera. So sorry for the crappy quality phone images. This was another experience that really can't be reproduced with a picture anyway. Keep in mind the ceiling is two stories up and spans the width of an entire street. It's HUGE.
I wish I had a great story about how I bet all of Matt and Kim's money on a shady bet and woke up hung over on the floor of the Bunny Ranch, but I would be lie-lie-lieing. I was so tired from driving and drinking nothing but water all day that after seeing the light show, I went directly back to the hotel and went to bed.
Didn't touch a single slot or drink a single drink. Didn't go bowling or play any arcade games. Didn't see the big pyramid or the water fountain show. I mean, I didn't have a bad time, but sometimes I think I really waste some great opportunities.
*both times I typed damn.
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