The Imperfect Tourist

Not much to report since last time really, Claire took one of me in my hotel robe whilst putting the blog on, we showered and headed off for a walk around the Downtown area. We spotted the Lady Luck Hotel and Casino that is not on the main road and had a walk over to investigate but she had run out of luck and had closed down. There doesn’t seem like very much happening off Fremont Street other than normal shops and loads of Pawn shops with long cues outside; what do they do in there. I’ve seen them on American films and people seem to take in watches and other valuables and exchange them for not much money. I think that they get so long to pay the money back with interest otherwise the shop keeps their goods. I wonder if you can buy the goods in the same shop; maybe all the people queuing up are buying rather than selling. But why would they be queuing up? There are also shops advertising that they cash cheques with other peoples name on. How the hell does that work that must be illegal, surely? The normal shops are even cheaper than the ones on Fremont Street, like 50% cheaper or more; it’s amazing the price differences around Las Vegas, ranging from extortionate to almost free.

We had an early buffet lunch at our hotel, The Golden Nugget on Fremont Street but didn’t over eat so we would have room for dinner that night to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I wanted to go back to Todd English’s place in Caesar's Palace but it was too much hassle to get there and back so we decided upon the Asian restaurant in our hotel as we hadn’t tried it yet. It looked nice with illuminated table surrounds but it was only open in the evenings and we tend to eat earlier these days. As soon as we had ordered I discovered that the illuminated tables were for parties having a Japanese Steak Bar experience. Sod it. I love those and the chef prepares and juggles his cleaver whiles chopping the food. Its good entertainment while you have fresh food prepared in front of you. Our food came and looked good but it tasted quite bland, which surprised me for such a posh and expensive restaurant. Usually American places seem to go overboard with flavour. Without the soy sauce on you could hardly taste anything which was a shame but we still ate most of it anyway. We took the rest of the wine away with us and drank it at the outside pool by the fire thing that I published photos of before. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera out that night, which doesn’t happen very often as I am the perfect tourist and carry it everywhere. Never mind I have put some boring ones on from our journey through the desert.

We set off and the satnav did well and got us out of Las Vegas quite easily but once we were on our road, it said, “Drive for 209 miles”. You only really need them to find your way to and from your hotel in the cities; it’s pretty straight forward otherwise. We were trying to find the place that we stopped in on the way here and I got the cheap shirts that actually fit me. After a struggle we finally found them and I bought another 4 so that I can throw away the old ones that I brought with me. There haven’t been many pictures of me on this trip as Claire broke her camera early on and has to pinch or borrow mine when she can. When we are out it’s usually around my neck so she can’t pinch it.

We had not rushed around today so decided to stay over here at Barstow where the outlet shops are and checked in at the local Days Inn. They are cheap and cheerful and as usual Claire had found a discount voucher that saved us around $10 and we get continental breakfast thrown in. That is another time when a satnav comes in handy, you type in the address for a motel from the discount book and it takes you there. If you don’t like it you put another one into the satnav and go there; it’s so much more efficient than stumbling across something and you get discount thrown in. This one advertised that is was in close walking distance to local restaurants. Well unless we ran across the main highway there are only two in sight, a Mc Donald’s and an Alien Fresh Jerky; what the hell is that? I fancied trying it but the name put Claire off. Why would you call a place by that name, even if it’s going to put one person off; surely the name should sound attractive so you want to try it.

Not sure exactly where we will be tomorrow but we should be somewhere near Universal Studios and Claire already has a Motel programmed into the satnav ready for a quick getaway. It’s a Saturday today which is always the most expensive night to stay in a Hotel so that’s one reason for staying here tonight and we do get free wifi, HBO and breakfast; we also have a fridge and a King bed so it’s not bad for under $60. I hope we have more to report tomorrow and I must remember to take my camera with me.