Weekly Recap: Las Vegas (NV)

We finished our drive from southern Utah to Las Vegas (cutting through the corner of Arizona) Friday morning. We went to a Planet Fitness, getting in a quick workout and a much needed shower after two days of hiking. By then it was check in time at our new campsite, so we set up the camper quickly. Our friend Kevan was flying in for the weekend, continuing a longstanding tradition with Shawn of attending one Patriots away game in a new city each year. 

Our KOA sign was quintessential Vegas

We picked him up from the airport and then went to the Mob Museum. Unsurprisingly, a lot of it was dedicated to Prohibition and Vegas gambling. There's also a speakeasy in the museum basement. After the museum, we headed to the Rio and got all you can eat Korean style BBQ for dinner, and then watched the early show at the Comedy Cellar. It was a good collection of acts, and Bryn was very excited when Michael Yeoh came on as a surprise 5th slot. Because we had the race the next morning, we called it a night at this point.

Kevan was the first guest to visit us and use the pullout in our couch. It actually worked pretty well, though we had to pen Percy off so he wouldn't jump on him during the night. The half marathon had a fairly small field, with only about 25 people doing this longer distance (there were also 5 and 10k options). It was a 3 loop course, and stayed within Sunset Park the entire time. The race went well for both Kevan and Shawn, who hadn't been as diligent with their training regiment as for previous races. They finished 20 seconds apart. Bryn continued her streak of never seeing anyone as a race spectator, particularly notable on this course which passed within a short walk of the start area 6 times.

Actual finish time 2:30

After showers and some short recovery time, we headed over to the Wynn to refuel. We had a reservation for their all-you-can-eat buffet, adding on an all-you-can-drink package as well. The walk-in line was incredibly long, so we strongly suggest making a reservation ahead of time. The buffet was excellent, with a huge variety of food across many cuisines. Unsurprisingly, we overate even with Kevan and Shawn having burned more than 2000 calories during the race. The roasted meats (brisket and prime rib) were some of the standouts, as was the cheesecake.

Once we finally finished eating, we began slowly working our way down the strip towards the New York, New York (where we had an evening Cirque show scheduled). We took our time walking down the length of the strip a little at a time while recovering from our massive lunch, and popped into various casinos along the way for drinks or short gambling breaks. We did manage to catch one of the Bellagio fountain displays on our way through.

We arrived at the New York, New York in time for our evening show, this time a Cirque du Soleil performance. It was quite the show with some very impressive acrobatics, though there was a strangely long comedy interlude in the middle. After the show we had finally digested enough to want dinner and got some "authentic" NY pizza from the casino's themed food court (which was actually quite good).

Very early in the morning Percy did escape from his pen and jumped over the gate onto the couch, but fortunately Kevan was still on east coast time so at least it didn't wake him up. For this day, we split up for most of the day. Kevan and Shawn went to the Raiders-Patriots game and Bryn went hiking.

For his final night in Vegas, Kevan had gotten a room at the Luxor, so the boys headed there first thing in the morning and dropped off Kevan's bag. It is also a short walk to the stadium from this casino, so they "tailgated" there. After a quick breakfast, they went to the sportsbook to watch the early NFL games. They arrived just in time to catch the last 15 minutes of the World Cup, which had packed the sports section of the casino. Once the shootout was over, the area thinned out and the boys managed to grab some chairs to watch the early slate of NFL games. They played some small bets on most of the early games and got a bucket of beers to pregame with. If you end up attending a game at Allegiant Stadium, the Luxor is a very convenient option to stay.

It was a short walk over to the stadium, which also had  the fastest security/ticket entrees at any of the stadiums in this decade long tradition. The view of the strip through the stadium's end zone window is a really cool touch, and the stadium felt really modern (which unfortunately also means seats that are too narrow for two men to sit shoulder to shoulder). The game ended in a series of disasters for the Patriots, starting with a defensive breakdown on a fourth and ten that would have ended the game, an inexplicable TD review despite every angle clearing showing the second foot out of bounds, and then one of the dumbest plays in NFL history: a multi-lateral attempt on the final play of a tied game, which resulted in a defensive touchdown to lose the game.

The strip from Allegiant Stadium

Meanwhile, Bryn spent the day driving out to a hiking spot in nearby Arizona, called Arizona Hot Spring. The trailhead was just 35 minutes from our campground and led to a natural hot spring in a canyon. A short detour to see a natural arch put the total hike to 10 miles. The hot spring comes through a crack in a canyon wall. This section of the canyon is only 6-8 ft. wide, so locals have put sandbags down across the canyon to form 4 pools that cascade into each other, forming a line of very hot to warm-ish water. At the end of the canyon there is a large drop and a tall metal ladder has been installed. It was a great hike, but it's closed in the summer months due to the intense heat. 

On Monday we began a slow move to Reno. First we drove to a Harvest Host winery in Pahrump, about 90 minutes northwest of our previous campsite. Once we detached the camper, we took the truck into Death Valley National Park. Zabriskie Point on our way in had terrain that reminded us of the Badlands. Then we drove Badwater Road, stopping at Devil's Golf Course, Badwater Basin, and Artist's Palette. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level. There is a sign on the nearby cliffs which show you how far above you sea level is.

The next day we got up early and moved to another nearby Harvest Host winery, Artesian Cellars. This even has first come first serve power, which is why we wanted to get there so early. We got the power connection and spent the day working from the camper. For dinner we did a wine tasting, and ended up picking up a pair of wine bottles for our upcoming Christmas meal. This was a great place to boondock.

We planned to work the next day at another Harvest Host restaurant who advertised wifi, and then drive halfway to Reno after work. However, when we got there at lunchtime the inside had a very strong cigarette odor and the waiter told us no one besides the owner knew the password for the guest wifi. Without the option to work for the afternoon, we pivoted to instead doing the full drive to Reno immediately. Bryn had some work she could do offline, so she did that on the drive. We eventually made it to a Walmart just outside of Reno a bit after 9 PM and boondocked for the night, leaving about a 45 minute drive to our next campsite for the morning. Even though we try our best to prepare, sometimes we're forced to be flexible!