Brought the truck into Ford for service, nice people, big dealership. We rented a little Nissan Versa at the rental place right inside the dealership. Called Best Buy’s corporate office and after about an hour with a service rep who “totally understood my frustration” finally got kind of what I wanted (for them to pay for a 3-yr. service contract on the new camera). We then took off for Hoover Dam about 30 miles south.
Stopped in Boulder City for lunch at a nice little place called Southwest Diner, great chili. Then on to Hoover Dam, really impressive. Crossed back over into Arizona as we drove over the dam. Stopped for a while there, then drove back to Lake Mead Nat’l. Recreation area. Found a little marina on Lake Mead where the big fish are like pets. They follow you as you walk on the pier looking for handouts. I guess people feed them popcorn from the concessions. There’s a sign that says “Don’t harass the fish”, it’s more like they harass the people. Drove down to the beach for a while and then checked out the campground inside the park, which was really away from it all, a place to come if you’re a boater or just to relax.
Went back into historic Boulder City, “The City That Built The Hoover Dam”, quaint little place, lots of history about the dam, and stopped at Boulder City Brewery, a microbrewery where they brew their own beers. Harry had “Grandma Daisy’s Cough Medicine”, a chocolate stout and I had “Hell’s Hole Hefenweizen”, a really refreshing wheat beer, got the dust right out of my throat.
During all this Ford called to say that they have to rebuild the reverse gear in the truck and they might be done by Monday. Harry told them we need to be in Sedona by Sat. and they said they’d do their best. The only time constraint we had during this trip was to be in Sedona by June 11th and now we might not make it. Oh, boy! Also stopped by Best Buy again because the video on the camera was too low and they showed us how to fix it (I think). Still not happy with the new camera. Again, they “totally understood my frustration”. Uh, Huh!
Came back to camp for a while, then went back to Circus Circus and ate at the buffet. Great food but way too much of it. Las Vegas is quite a large city, very spread out, lots of burbs with malls and the usual stores. Lots of places to shop, eat, etc. but all the action is on “The Strip”, Las Vegas Blvd. You can park in the back of all the casinos for free but by the time you walk all the way to and through the casinos, your feet are screaming, they’re all so big! They also have a Deuce Bus that goes the length of the strip for $7 for 24 hours, we might try that at a later time. We went to Caesar’s Palace, quite an experience. Celine Dion was performing there so there was quite a crowd and quite an array of people. Walked around there for a while, asked an employee how to get outside and she asked where we were going because they had about 100 exits. We decided then and there if we ever wanted to see the car again (which we parked on the 4th floor of the 2nd garage, but that really didn’t narrow it down, and we now have a generic black Nissan sedan that’s undistinguishable from every other rental car in Vegas) we should go back and get it now. Oh, first we plunked down some more money in the slots.
Got back in the car and drove up and down the strip again, still amazed at the sights, sounds and number of people. I thought maybe Mon. was busy because people were there for a long week-end but Tues. is just as busy. Back to camp late but had a great day.
Tomorrow’s Harry’s birthday, he never thought he’d be spending a birthday in Las Vegas.