Sin City (Fall 2024 Western Adventure)

(I'm documenting our latest trip through several blog posts for my future reference. Feel free to read along, or if you're not interested come back in a few days.)

When Hubby Tony and I left Barstow California after breakfast we only had a two hour drive northeast to our last stop in Las Vegas. However, our room would not be ready until late afternoon, so we decided to add in one last nature experience and detoured to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

The canyon offers a 13-mile scenic drive in addition to hiking and rock climbing opportunities. It is so popular during the non-summer seasons that you have reserve a timed entry slot. I was pretty sure that we wouldn't have a problem on a Tuesday, and I was right.

At the visitors center the ranger cheerfully answered our questions. She told us they no longer offered printed park maps, but we could download one to our phone as long as we did it inside the building (the park had no cell service). She also recommended a picnic area where we could eat lunch.

The Scenic Drive was well named. At each parking lot Tony and I got out of the car to take advantage of the vistas. Many of the lots were filled with cars of people who were hiking and climbing. 

After eating lunch we decided we would do some hiking ourselves. The trails were categorized by difficulty into easy, moderate, and difficult. We chose an easy trail right next to the picnic area that was a little over a mile long. I thought it was a little strange that the map said the average completion time was 1.25 hours, but when I had to scramble up some boulders I realized why.

It was easier than it looks :-)

The trail ended up recrossing the main road at the the halfway point. Tony and I bailed out and walked on the road back to our car.

It was an easy drive back to Las Vegas. Tony had booked a condo at a time share resort two blocks off the Strip close to its northern end. After we got situated in the room we went to the Strip and walked around. Eventually we got dinner at a Pan Asian restaurant then came back to the room and crashed.

Wednesday (the last day of our vacation) we started at Flyover, which is an immersive flying experience that uses special effects to make riders feel like they're actually flying. It was like nothing I have ever done before. The experience started in a circular room with a screen in the middle that projected images on the walls and screen. After the preshow we moved into a room with chairlift-style seats and buckled in. The lights dimmed, the floor dropped, and the screen in front of the room came to life. I felt like I was in a helicopter with a camera as it zoomed up, down, and around. The chairs moved back and forth, and sprayers offered a gust of wind or a hint of mist when appropriate.

We bought passes for The Deuce, a bus that ran between the Strip and Downtown. Our first ride was to the Arts District, which is roughly halfway between the two areas. We got off and walked around. I saw the pawn shop that is featured on the TV show Pawn Stars. I was not tempted to stop in.

Back at the resort, we headed down to the bar for a free glass of wine during happy hour, then headed off for a simple dinner. Before going to be, I set my alarm to allow enough time for us to check out, return the rental, and get to the airport in time for our trip back home.

Finis!