Mom and I are getting tired of La Quinta's complimentary breakfast. Shouldn't they mix it up a bit, at least add new flavors of yogurt to the buffet line? I guess they don't count on guests sleeping their way west in their stiff bedded, animal-friendly hotels. But then again, free is free and who is to complain about that. We are!!
Tinga has caught on to the routine. As soon as suitcases and pillows march out the door towards the car, she hides. In all honesty, I don't think she minds the car, but rather gets a kick out of having mom and I on our hands and knees and cooing at her to come out from hiding. She is pretending to be the Pink Panther (according to Ben) and we're Jacques Clouseau. Except, we're not calling for her in a French accent. In any case, tomorrow mom and I are going to pull a fast one on her---she's going to the car first.
We zipped our way through Arizona, not a bump along the path. The landscape felt like infinity and quite a few times mom and I would stop what we were doing just to stare, our mouths agape. Bowser had to go through inspection before he was deemed "safe" (aka, no explosives) to pass through Hoover Dam. The guy digging underneath the tarp was shocked that I only had one tub dedicated to shoes. Even more so that I chose to leave pretty shoes behind for, in my opinion, even prettier books. We stopped and took a few pictures of the Dam. I kept wishing pops was with us; he would have been doing jumping jacks in excitement. He kept telling mom, "You have to go to the Hoover Dam. You have to go." I guess to engineers the Hoover Dam is a marvel. To those like me, not much of an engineer, it was concrete and a few pictures to say that, yes I have been there.
And now, now we are in "Bat Country." Except, Johnny Depp and the trunk of the car looking like a "mobile police narcotics lab" was missing from the scene (to all that have no idea what I am talking about, I am referencing Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). We aren't staying on the strip, so we took a shuttle to downtown. I know this will seem unreasonable, but I was a little disappointed in Vegas. The people were so normal. I guess reading Geek Love skewed my assumptions of Las Vegas. I was imagining sequins and tacky, red cocktail dresses, abnormal characters like conjoined twins and hunchbacks, flagrant drunks whistling and being raucous, the poker tables cluttered with men in expensive suits and smoking cigars with their arm candy standing behind them for good luck. Mostly though, it was just people in jeans wandering the streets with their cameras. It wasn't as dazzling and the carnival I had pictured; less flashy and gaudy. Perhaps that was Vegas circa 1970. Don' interpret the above statements as me being a party pooper and walking down the strip with a frown. That's not the case, it was just different than I was expecting...and having my mother on my arm might have had something to do with it as well. The drunken charm of Las Vegas can't really be experienced with your life giver standing next to you.
We saw the fancy casinos and even pressed our luck on the penny slots. Unfortunately, mom and I don't have the gambling bone and lost seven dollars. Actually, we might have won and just didn't realize. We had no idea what the rules were, but we did enjoy pulling back that handle! The casinos were so grossly atavistic that I kept imagining that the people were monkeys, all clinging to their slot machines and screeching with each spin. Mom's favorite casino was The Paris. She agreed with the slogan, "Everything is better in Paris." I enjoyed the Bellagio, it was dignified and the conservatory was beautiful and planted Oriental style, I think for the Chinese New Year.
Since we were in Vegas, of course we had to see a show. We got tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. The show was jaw-dropping and the pure athletic talent made me feel like quite a potato bum. I have a new goal for the year: learn how to do the splits. Perhaps join a yoga class? Readers, if you ever get the opportunity to see that show, GO! The acrobatic tricks and male muscles made it worth every penny. THE MALE MUSCLES.
Dad asked if we found Doug while we were in Vegas. Haha, sadly we did not.
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