Since I got to bed at 4 am, I'm tempted to just sleep all day... but I can't! It's the last 2 days, I'm in Las Vegas, and I have to get up and do something! It was at least 11 am before I really got moving, and this is one time when I'm glad that the hotel cafe serves breakfast all day long. Even though it's almost lunch time, what I really want is bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee. So that's what I had before I set out for the day.
When I'm in the enclosed hotel/casino atmosphere for awhile, I start to crave some fresh air and sunshine. And since I had rented a car, I decided to go for a drive and explore some areas beyond the strip. I drove first up the strip, to the north end, the somewhat older, downtown area. Then I turned west on Charleston, and headed out to Red Rocks, which my friend Kathy had told me about the previous day.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is about 15 miles west of the Strip. It's nice to know that a protected area of natural beauty is not so far away. I paid the $7 admission fee, and walked
through the exhibits in and outside of the Visitors Center. There is lots of information there, and I may have to come back someday to really read it all, but, as I've done before on this trip, I took in what I could in limited time, and decided to drive the 13-mile scenic drive. There are many hiking trails too... but I drove, and stopped to take some pictures along the way.
It was late afternoon when I drove back from Red Rocks, through another area of Las Vegas, and returned to the hotel. I was tired
from the driving, my eyes were dry (I am in the desert, aren't I?) and I went to the coffee shop in the hotel, where they have free WiFi.
After working on my laptop for awhile, I pause to realize just how much noise a casino creates. There is a constant din, a large variety of electronic sounds from the machines. I rather miss the old clink clink clink of coins from old fashioned slot machines. The electronic/computer versions of those sounds just aren't the same... but they are noisy!
The noise is getting to me, and I'm a little tired, hungry, and cranky. So I picked up some food
to go from the food court in the hotel, and took it to the relative quiet of my room. I watched the sunset, and took a little nap, to catch a second wind for the final AYCJ night.
Thanks to JetBlue's AYCJ Facebook page, I learned that a group of fellow AYCJ'ers were meeting at New York New York Hotel at 9 pm. I drove over there to meet them. It was nice to trade stories with other travelers on this crazy 30-day adventure, here in our 29th day. I have been out on the road the entire 30 days, and was surprised to know that most people had stopped back home at least once during the 30 days. I don't know how many passes JetBlue sold, but I'm curious how many others were out traveling the whole 30 days?
Unfortunately, I had gotten a couple calls I had to return, and was still feeling rather tired, so I left the group a bit early and returned to my hotel. Finding the poker machines that my friend Kathy had showed me how to play, I put in one whole dollar, gave the cocktail waitress a dollar tip for my Manhattan cocktail, and played at that machine for about 45 minutes. I didn't win any money, and had dropped to about 15 cents, but when I got it back up to 50 cents, I finished my drink, cashed out, and called it a night. So for $1.50, I had a cocktail and almost an hour of game time. As I've said before, I guess I'm not what you'd call a high roller!
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