Tuesday, August 14th
After seeing the view from the tower last night, we wanted to return one more time during the day so that we could see more than just the lights from the Strip. The red mountains surrounding the city and limiting the growth of its sprawl were beautiful juxtaposed against the blue sky, and they are very different from the white mountains Chase is used to seeing in Alaska.
Once we finally left our hotel, Charla created a fun challenge for us to attempt. Near the hotel was Bonanza Gifts, the tackiest-looking gift shop on the Strip. We were each going to spend 15 minutes shopping, with a $5 maximum, to buy the other the tackiest item we could find, and we’d have to wear the other’s “gift” at some point during the road trip. Much to our dismay, though the shop was incredibly tacky, it was also shockingly expensive, and we realized that a $5 maximum would not provide for more than a glittery keychain flask. Sadly enough, we decided to scrap the challenge and must rely on our own already tacky wardrobe for the rest of the trip.
Unfortunately, while parked in a lot on the strip, we were approached by our parking lot attendant who notified us that someone had stolen the tire and wheel off of Chase’s bicycle, which was mounted on a bike rack on the Pilot. The parking lot attendant had attempted to stop the man and had called the police, who arrived shortly thereafter. Even more unfortunate, we had seen a man riding a bicycle carrying an extra bicycle wheel a few minutes earlier, but didn’t think much of it. Las Vegas Metro Police have a shockingly quick response time, dispatching two police cars and two police motorcycles to the parking lot, but a brief search failed to turn up the suspect or the wheel. Oddly enough, one of the responding officers notified us that they had recently raised the minimum for petty larceny to $650, which means that in effect it is not a crime to steal tires off of bicycles; if they ever caught the suspect, they’d give him a ticket on par with a ticket for jaywalking. Even so, we filed a police report and the police took pictures, noting the brand and size of the wheel and tire. We can only hope that the wheel happens to find its way into police custody in the next few days, or Chase will be buying a new one in Florida. (In reality, we think that if the motorcycle cops didn’t spot the guy in the first few minutes, the odds of it ever turning up are remarkably slim.)
Finally making our way out of town, we stopped at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, something we probably would have done a couple days before if it were not on the opposite end of the Strip from where we were staying. We said a quick hello and goodbye to the city of sin (and to an Elvis impersonator taking tourist photos there) and got out. Before we were too far away, we spotted a Jack in the Box, which was offering free chicken nuggets for the people of Las Vegas. We counted ourselves among that crowd for a hot second and took the chicken nuggets to go.
As we made our way to Hoover Dam, a small brewery in Boulder City caught our eyes, so we stopped at the Boulder Dam Brewing Company to try their sample flight, conveniently arranged in the shape of the dam.
Leaving Boulder City, we soon arrived at the Hoover Dam, and the trusty Pilot once again had the pleasure of driving over a massive dam. We stopped for photos on the far side of the dam, as we crossed the Arizona state line, and then we parked the Pilot to walk back into Nevada over the dam.
From Hoover Dam, we traveled Highway 93 to I-40 and into the quaint town of Williams, whose main street is the famous Route 66 (we got our kicks!). We had planned to go all the way to the Grand Canyon that night, but Williams captured us, and we decided to stay.
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