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Today was a relatively short driving day to Las Vegas from Mammoth Lakes, CA through Death Valley.

In Mammoth Lakes it was pretty chilly, however, Death Valley (as anyone should expect) lived up to its name and it was very hot. I got to the marker showing the lowest point in the US 282 feet below sea level. At that point there was a small pool of extremely salty water (according to the sign), but it was filled with all sorts of creepy crawly critters.

I made it into Las Vegas just after sunset, and after checking into my room I followed the signs for a “3 course steak dinner” for $25 at the Excalibur’s Steakhouse Restaurant. The 3 course meal was a salad, and 8oz steak and a small desert, so instead I opted for a $29 14oz steak and a drink. It was pretty good, but for a grand total of $52.04, Bynum’s Steak House in Indianapolis and Wyoming’s Rib and Chop House in Sheridan, WY were better.

I then tried to see what shows would be available and I found that my hotel had Louie Anderson, but I had seen a sign earlier for Penn & Teller, so I decided to walk down the Vegas Strip to see if I could find what hotel that was in and just see what I could because my time was limited.

The Vegas Strip was an odd place where it seems in order to one up each other the casino’s have the most grandiose attractions imaginable, which was fantastic From a roller coaster surrounding the New York, NY Hotel to an Eiffel Tower, a Space Needle, Pirate Ships, and the Bellagio’s Fountains everything was in a desperate bid to attract people into the casinos. I couldn’t goto Vegas without doing a little gambling so I went into the Bellagio.

I did reasonably well at Blackjack, but I was down $25 so I left for the Roulette Wheel to try out advice from the movie Passenger 57, always bet on black. I put $20 on black confident that I was going to double my money and then the unthinkable, Red 23. Shocked that Wesley Snipes had led me astray I left the Bellagio $45 down and found that Penn & Teller was at the Rio and I ordered my tickets for tomorrow.

Tags: Big Road Trip