California Adventure 2018 - Part 2

Day 3 - Las Vegas

Waking up in Utah was a bit chilly in the car but we soon would be missing the cool as we continued the two hour drive on to Las Vegas, where it was pretty toasty. Driving down I-15 was beautiful and scenic before we arrived in Nevada. No pictures were taken of the drive because it was pretty early and weren't quite ready to be snapping any photos.

Even though we were pretty much just passing through, we had about a half day to spend in Vegas. Samantha had said early on that the one place she wanted to see was Las Vegas, see the sights and drive the strip.
The night before she even had CSI playing on her laptop as we drove through the very dark desert on our way to our camping spot in St. George, Utah.
The first place she decided she wanted to go was the stratosphere, the tallest freestanding tower overlooking the downtown area. On top of the tower there were also rides that dangled you over the building. Since we had gotten there just as it opened, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which is always nice.

In the parking garage there were millions of footprints on the ceiling beams, pillars, and walls!

Our view from the top of the Stratosphere

Our next stop was the Neon Museum, a place I was pretty excited about. It definitely lived up to the expectations and we got a unique glimpse into old Las Vegas and it's history in neon. It may have been my favorite stop in Las Vegas. But let me tell ya, it was hot! The museum kindly loaned out umbrellas to keep us from baking too much. 

After the museum we were pretty hungry and had noticed a Dell Taco. So we grabbed a quick bite to eat before driving down the strip.

We went into the Cosmopolitan in search of a thing called an Art-O-Mat. Art-O-Mats are old converted cigarette machines that are refilled with little boxes of art. At $5, it was a pretty neat souvenir that is unique and it was a fun experience to see new life in the defunct machines.

After that we walked down the strip a ways, the Bellagio fountain our main destination. Along the way we were approached by a couple of costumed individuals, Black Panther came up to put his arm around Samantha and she quickly ran away, leaving me to sheepishly explain to the poor guy that she doesn't enjoy people in costume. We were also mistaken as a couple a few times.

On our way out of town we stopped to take a picture of the Vegas sign. Sammi didn't want to wait in line so we just snapped a quick picture of me and decided to get back on the road. As you can tell, ours wasn't a picture perfect shot but it's a pretty true representation of what it's like pretty much everywhere there's an attraction.

Not too far down the road on the outskirts of town are the Seven Magic Mountains. An art installation featuring boulder totems reaching 35 feet high. 

An unplanned stop was Alien Fresh Jerky. But we're suckers for both roadside attractions and dehydrated meat so we had to stop. Not to mention we saw signs for this place the entire hour it took to get there.

We didn't end up buying any jerky but it was definitely a fun place for a quick stop. And just down the street was the World's Tallest Thermometer!

Accidental alien reflection selfie!

From there we continued onto California!  Samantha also made the observation along this drive that they "named their ditches", which amused us to no end. Our destination that night was the Wigwam Motel in San Bernadino, our first night out of the car and we were thankful!

Look how awesome this little motel is!! I was super excited about staying here. All the wigwams were arranged in a circle. I was even able to purchase a motel key tag with our wigwam's number on it. I highly recommend staying here if you have just two people as the place was a little cramped (though not as cramped as being in an SUV!). It was perfect for our needs and I always enjoy the kitschy stuff.

Part 3 of the California trip is about the Cabazon Dinosaurs, Museum of Death, and Beetlehouse!