Nevada, the Hoover Dam and Sin Cty

By the time Haley and I had made it to the California/Nevada border, it was starting to get dark and we were really anticipating our arrival at Las Vegas.  My friend Matt was coming out from California to meet us and show us around since he had been there before.

When we actually arrived at the border, there was a check point.  This was because we were about to go across the Hoover Dam!  This thing was huge!  You climb up these little roads, almost all the way to top, and it takes about 30 minutes or so to go through the whole thing.  The Dam is massive and there are so many lights and loud sounds coming from it.  It was kind of surreal to actually see it face to face.

Once we got past the dam, we were headed for Las Vegas!  People are not lying when they say that the city is really in the middle of the desert.  There is nothing for miles and miles and then you can see a glow from afar.  You pass large hotels that have flashy signs and promise the best entertainment ever to try and distract you from the real Vegas.  

Just as we entered the main highway to get to Las Vegas, we saw all of these lights in the valley that was part of Las Vegas.  Literally, its a huge bright city that never sleeps and the only way to see Las Vegas is at night time to see all of the amazing lights compete against each other. 

We started to make our way into the city and the big hotels had magnificent displays in front of their hotels.  The themes were crazy!  The giant pyramid with lights going up the side, Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and so many others.  Once we were able to find a hotel after being told that our reservation wasn't good because they were over-booked we met up with Matt and decided to go out into the city.  You can go out and have fun not being 21 in Las Vegas but just be careful.  The streets were littered with drunks, groups of friends, tourists, police, homeless, dancers everything and anything you could think of, it was there.  Clubs outside had the best looking girls dancing on tables and in cages.  It was so surreal.  You won't believe it until you see it.

It was so hot at night though!  It was 85 degrees and people thought it was cool outside.  I don't like the heat much and I was so hot the entire time.  It was so much worse in the day time.  It was about 110 degrees, no wind, no clouds, just sun smashing down onto the sinful city.  The day time, things look so different.  It's still busy, nearly impossible to drive and move on the strip, but it's not as grand as it is at night.  There are not pretty lights and it just seems as if people hide inside until it is ready to play again.  

It was awesome to see but I wouldn't want to be living near there or in Las Vegas.  I don't know how people do that. It's a whole different world out there.  After Matt said good bye and drove off Haley and I started the long haul to San Francisco, where we would be staying for about a week with my good friend Joe.

When we left, it was about 110.  As we made our way through the desert to California, it was about 120.