The day started sunny and 70 degrees. After a quick breakfast we were on the road by 8.45. It was a long 6.5 hour drive that was totally uneventful today! As we drove south the temperature started to rise and our ears started to pop. The temperature when we reached Vegas was 103 degrees and we were down from 7000 to 2000 feet above sea level.

So, the events of the day so far! This is going to be a very long read and as I can’t promise what I’ll have to post about tomorrow as it will probably be just a day of breakfast, sitting round the pool, eating again and gambling, you may want to read this post in two halves, today and tomorrow! 😂

Britney (sat nav), I always knew she was trouble from the moment she started speaking! Today of all days she decides she’s going to have a strop. At least three times during our trip she decided to have a sulk and stopped working. 😠 We actually knew the way anyway, straight down I15 South but that’s not the point! The good thing is that when we reached the Hertz Returns facility and were asked if everything had been okay, Si told them about Britney and they very kindly deducted the cost of the sat nav, $170 (£136) off the bill. Thank you very much Hertz. 😀

We arrived at the Bellagio rather earlier than planned. They’ve now introduced an on-line check-in system, so instead of standing in the queue of thousands (we can remember a time when one didn’t have to queue at all here to check-in but how things have changed!). This means that you tell them when you expect to arrive and they email you your room number and you just go to the Mobile Check-in Lounge, pick up your key and off you go to your room.

We told them we expected to arrive around 4.00 p.m. but instead arrived at 2.00 so our room wasn’t quite ready. So, what are two weary travellers meant to do? Um, let me think! 🤔Well, we could go to the Petrossian Bar and maybe have my favourite cheese plate and a cocktail or two ………… so that’s exactly what we did. We hadn’t been there twenty minutes when the email came through telling us our room number.

So, here we are in our delightful room overlooking the famous Strip and Bellagio fountains. As I’ve already packed the cases ready for our flight home there will be no unpacking to do. Just take out what we need for the next couple of days.

We had a very interesting conversation with the Bellman who has worked here since it opened 21 years ago. It was privately owned then by Steve Wynn but is now part of the MGM Group. We discussed how things have changed since the early days. It’s still a lovely hotel but there are one or two things that regular guests would notice. Hey ho, nothing ever stays the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, as today’s been a day rather short of adventure I’ve decided to fill the post with photos and musings, in no particular order!

1. When we had dinner last night at The Texas Roadhouse in Salt Lake City (SLC) we chatted to the waiter and he asked us what we were doing there and we explained we were on our way to Las Vegas before returning home to the UK. It so happens that he and his girlfriend’s family are all flying to Las Vegas on Thursday and staying over the weekend. “After all” he said, “who goes to Vegas on a Wednesday?” We replied, “well we do actually!” to which he replied “yes, but I’m young!” What the ….! Cheeky blighter. All the same, he was rather charming. 😀
2. The last 100 miles on the road to Vegas is very boring! 😴
3. We are, once again, eight hours behind the UK (what happened today with regards to the voting of the next PM?) 😱
4. Why doesn’t the UK have Express driving lanes? Here, if you have two or more people in the vehicle you can drive in a special fast lane.
   

   Just a train we saw along the way

5. As we left SLC this morning I remembered the last time we were there (not on this visit but in 2013 …. our retirement trip) when we visited the Great Salt Lake and even though I was wearing a cap I was bitten very badly on the head by something that was never identified. The resulting bumps on my head were so bad that when we arrived at Yellowstone National Park I had to see a doctor who told me I couldn’t wash my hair for a week! What!? I have to say that at the end of the seven days my hair looked rather gorgeous and not at all as bad as I imagined it would. I will not mention here what happened next when
   

   Double Coca-Cola truck – double the fun!

   we arrived in the Tetons and was attributed to those bites on my head, but my nearest and dearest will know what I’m talking about and what Si lovingly refers to as “Sand’s meltdown!” 😂 We laugh about it now but it wasn’t funny at the time.

6. Si noticed on our drive today the various advertisements for different hospitals and how they said there was only a six-minute waiting time for Accident and Emergency. Wow, makes you kind of envious!
   

   Saw this on the back of a lorry!

7. Yesterday, I lost an item of ‘ladies apparel’, couldn’t find the particular item anywhere and was convinced I’d either left it behind somewhere or someone had taken a fancy to it. Well, pleased to say I found it this morning tucked away in the small spare suitcase I brought with us specifically for all those goodies I didn’t intend to buy…… but did!!!
8. We saw a lighthouse on the side of the highway today and it was my intention to post a pic but the photographer was flying along so fast that the photographer’s assistant only managed to photograph half of it. So, you won’t be seeing that little treat this evening!
9. We passed by a town called Panguitch today and reminisced how we stayed their during our 2013 trip. We had booked a lovely little B&B where check-in was 3 p.m. We arrived at 2.50 p.m. and the hostess asked us to “wait in the parlour as you are ten minutes early.” Um, you can imagine what we thought about that. I have to say that it turned out to be a rather lovely place to spend a few days and the hostess was a very pleasant lady.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last thing I thought we should share with you all, just in case anyone’s planning a long road trip in the future, are our ‘Rules of the Road’ (or our ‘must haves’ in the car) that have served us well for many a year! In no particular order:

1. Snacks (must always includes Cheetos)
2. Drinks (water and soft)
3. Hand wipes
4. Trash bag
5. Lead for iPhone so you can play music
   

   Now that’s what you call an oil tanker – two together!

6. Note pad and pen (because there’s always a time when you will say “remind me” and then you get to your destination and can’t remember what the “remind me” was for!
7. Headache pills (the long trips can be stressful!)
8. Lip balm for the lady and gent, if he’s inclined
9. Nail file because all the lifting of the cases in and out of the car always results in broken nails for someone
10. Always do hourly exercises to keep the blood flowing. This can include butt clenching, foot wiggling and shoulder lifts – 20 reps of each
11. Always acknowledge the Cracker Barrel and Chick-fil-A signs with arms raised to the
    

    Cracker Barrel

    heavens and saying their names out loud. Cracker Barrel as it’s one of my ‘on the road’ places to pop in and have a meal. Good ol’ American fare, and very popular and Chick-fil-A (we’ve never eaten there) but, the founder, Truett Cathy (1921-2014), seems as though he was a great employer. He made the decision to close on Sundays in 1946 when he opened his first restaurant in Hapeville, Georgia. Having worked seven days a week in restaurants open 24 hours, Truett saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees

    

    Chick-fil-A

    could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose – a practice they uphold today.

Having had the cheese plate earlier I don’t think we’ll be eating again tonight so instead, perhaps a visit to Mr. Monopoly is in order. I received a message this morning from the Postcode Lottery to say we had won £20 so perhaps luck is with us today! Fingers crossed.🤞😉

As always, thanks for reading! 😀