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Who would have thought road trips involved so much driving?

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I guess I should have realized that since I did use Streets And Trips 2005 to actually plan the trip, but I'm here to tell you..  Reading about a 2-day 19 hour one way drive is a lot different than actually *doing* said drive.  That being said though, once you ignore all of the driving that was done, once we were actually in Vegas, then we had a great time.  It wasn't our first trip onto the strip, but it was the first time I actually realized you could go up to the top of the Eifel tower they have there.  You get a great view, but boy was it windy..

Of course, while you're there you've got to gamble.  Well, I suppose you don't *have* to, but it's something that I enjoy.  Naturally, I enjoy black jack since that's one of the few games in the casino you could actually do well at, providing you know what you're doing.  For me, it never fails..  I'll get to some point where I'm actually winning, and 'up' a decent amount of money before I forget how I got to that point, and start changing my betting habits, dramatically increasing the amount of bets i'm placing.  Every trip down there, I spend a portion of time way up, just to give most (or all) of it back before I leave, and this trip was no different.  I suppose that's better than losing money (which I've yet to do), but just once I'd like to see my winnings pay for the trip. :)

We weren't there long enough to see many of the shows this year, but we've seen most of them already anyway.. A couple years ago, we saw Blue Man group @ Luxor, and IMHO, that is probably one of the best shows in Vegas..  Surprisingly enough, it wasn't dramatically hot there this time either.  Sure, it was much hotter than it was here in the Seattle area, but it only broke 100 once, and was only 'warm' in the evenings..  A dramatic change from late August 2002, when it was regularly >115..

Even with my complaints on the driving, there were still some interesting things to look at.. Like a golf course in the desert.  The mountains you see in Arizona and Utah are much different that what we see here in our area as well.  I even saw a small tumbleweed blow by once..  It was straight out of a cartoon..  Oh, and one more minor thought about speed limits..  The speed limit around here in 60 around the 'cities', and 70 everywhere else.. Oregon was similar, except it seemed to be 60/65 instead of 60/70..  All of the other states we drove through were 65/75, and that extra 5mph makes a world of difference..  I remember back in the day, the speed limit was national (granted it was only 55mph)..  All of the changing speed limits were really annoying, particularly on the way back when i had to slow down as I got closer..  And don't even get me started on road construction..

Anyway..  My next trip will definitely involve a plane..  Even with the added security headaches, it's still easier than all that driving..

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