We have now been in Las Vegas for 3 days after traveling north from Phoenix. V. did most of the drive. We are 4260.9 miles into our trip. That’s close to 7000 km. Our car is working perfectly and is very comfortable to drive. I am glad that I did not get a convertible like I was thinking at some point. It would have been uncomfortable and tiring. But cool, for sure. Our NY license plate is turning heads and people approach us to ask us about it. Everyone of them thinks it’s a nice trip we are doing, and I couldn’t agree more. The day-by-day freedom we are enjoying is exhilarating, and very relaxing. After working my *ss off for close to 10 years, I’m finding myself more collected than I’ve been in a long time. Wondering how I will feel when it’s time to get back onto the job market.
About the knee situation – I feel slightly better every day. I am being extra cautious, not doing anything crazy. Each step is calculated. At this point I am in pain in the morning but don’t feel a thing in the evening (I do feel that my knee is weak which to some extend is a good thing and keeps me from doing anything stupid after a couple of wine glasses). I bought a $12.99 cane at Walmart. I like the attention and special treatment that this gives me :). Anyway – The only impact for us really was that we had to skip some hiking trails. Ah, such is life.
While in Phoenix, the first thing we did when I finally was able to get out of the hotel room was the Apache Trail. It’s not a trail as in hiking trail, but it’s a very scenic road. I took a lot of pictures – Below is some iPhone material. The sky was beautiful that day.
BTW, we got a bite a Culver’s, a burger chain. It was very good. I don’t think we have those in the tri-state area
We left Phoenix on our way to Flagstaff and stopped by Sedona. The drive between the village of Oak Creek and Flagstaff is beautiful. We passed by the actual town of Sedona which has a very strong hippie vibe. Lots of people in their 50s and 60s selling ceramics and clothing made of colorful printed fabric. Unfortunately we could not do any hiking, which I’m sure would’ve been great.
Flagstaff is a very high town (2300m high). Nothing to write home about, beside the fact that hotels are very expensive (Proximity to Grand Canyon) and that they have a walmart.
The Grand Canyon is grand, no doubt about it. It took us only one day to drive from vista point to vista point, taking pictures along the way. It is so grand in fact, that we could have seen it in pictures for the same effect. Standing on the edge of it, along with other tourists, had barely anything over a wide picture. It is not being able to go down the canyon (hiking, 4-wheeling, canoeing or rafting) or fly over (helicopter or plane) which was frustrating, and we will probably be back for a full experience of the canyon in the next few years.
We made our way to our motel on route 66 and we got to witness a very nice sunset – The pictures below don’t do it justice, but here they are anyway:
All the cool license plates we have seen so far:
As I said above, we are now in Las Vegas. We managed to stay at the Royal Resort, a nice hotel at the very north of the strip, for less than $50 for two nights. We moved to the Harrah’s and are staying here three nights for 15,000 miles and no additional dollar amount, which I think is another good deal. This time we are right in the middle of the strip. Vegas is nothing new for us so we are enjoying what the city has to offer – Food, drinks, shows. We visited a 12,000 sqft antique store which was full of crap it was fun to browse through … and not buy anything.
Yesterday was V.’s birthday, so it was showtime. We had diner at Michael Mina in the Bellagio before making our way to the Caesars Palace for Absinthe, an interesting show mixing comedy (not for the faint of heart) and circus acts. I didn’t care much for guys in spandex standing on each other head, or a girl hanging from the ceiling, but the comedy was fun. Below one of the comedy act.
Of course I played some poker