Road Trip: Southwest

Day 7: Monday, April 28, 2025 - Las Vegas, NV

Day's statistics:
Weather: mid 70s
Steps: Steve 9,778; Linda 7,984
Travel: 300 miles

Breakfast was the same as yesterday - and the day before - because... the hotel was the same as yesterday - and the day before. And it was equally busy by the time we left, though there were still a fair amount of people there when we arrived, but the woman and her Chihuaua were gone (or not there yet).

After three nights in Flagstaff, it was time to head to our next city: Las Vegas, NV.
We aren't gamblers, but we also couldn't drive past LV without stopping in. But we still had to get there and it was a bit of a hike (no pun intend) from Flagstaff at ~260 miles - so over four hours of driving.
On the way, we saw some interesting sights.

We decided to randomly stop in a town called Seligman as it was titled the "Birthplace of Historic Route 66".
We exited the interstate and headed toward Saligman. Then we saw the train... I stopped counting at about 80 because I couldn't see the end of it (the beginning was a but to the right, only about 20 cars away).

Fortunately, the roadway went under the railway so we were not adversely impacted by this mammoth train.
Seligman is a small town, and is still decorated in the nostalic theme of the 40s-50s. There were quite a few stores about.












After returning to the highway, we continued on.





Eventually we stopped for coffee (or maybe it was gas), in Kingman - for no reason other than it was convenient.
While on the entrance ramp back onto the highway, we saw this truck with a rather humeroous motto on it.

While motoring down the highway we saw a couple historical markers.

One time when we saw a "Historical Marker Ahead" sign, we decided to pull over. As our luck would have it, the marker wasn't roadside, but rather down the road a piece into a tiny town called Chloride with a bustling population of 352.
We never did see the marker, but we did see a post office.
The roads were dirt, and there was no traffic light. We neither saw nor didn't see a horse either...
But there was a statue of an alien...


And we returned to the highway.




This one windfarm, in or near Willow Beach, has more than five dozen visible turbines.

Getting closer to the next destination.




At this point we were crossing over Colorado River - the same river that carved the Grand Canyon.
While the state line is down the center of the river, the marker was on the other side of the bridge - that must be because that's how wide the state line actually is (you know, the line on the map...).



The exit for the Hoover Dam was about a mile down the road, then we had to drive all the way back via an access road. Then we passed through a security checkpoint, having waited on line for less than ten minutes as about twenty to thirty cars passed through ahead of us. Not every car going through the checkpoint was going to be stopping at the parking lot as some were going to go to the visitor's center, and others were just going to drive on through.

We arrived at the rather small parking lot and parked at the end.
After just stepping away, I went back to the car for my hat. That's when a bus driver told us, and another car, that we were parked in the bus parking spot. And the police like to ticket. I hadn't realize where we parked so I moved the car. We did two or three laps around the lot before finally getting a spot.
There was a flight of stairs up the left side, and a meandering ramp to the right. We chose to walk the ramp.

Looking back on the lot, while it looks like space is restricted due to the topography, there still appears to be a couple areas where a few more parking spots could be added without too much trouble.

After reaching the top, we walked a little on the pedestrian walkway a little, and took a selfie.
>
Like the Grand Canyon, the enormity - and height - of the dam is lost a little on the pictures.


It is evident in the images above where the waterline used to be. The area has been impacted by a years-long drought / lack of rainfall.
As we exited the walkway, we got a good, close-up view of the state line marker.

The areas we walked through before the walkway were a memorial and a seating area .


Between the ramp going up the hill, and the "path" through the seating area, someone with a walker or in a wheelchair could visit the site.
On the way back down the ramp, we noticed that the parking lot seemed to have thinned out some.

On the drive out, we stopped by the Lake Meade overlook which was a few hundred yards from the Hoover Dam Security checkpoint.
Once again, like the waterline visible in Dam images, it is evident how low the water level is as the islands used to be fully covered, and the only the tips of them should be visible.
When at capacity, this lake must be a beautiful sight.




Off to the left was an old train tunnel.

And I spied another chipmonk, this one seemingly checking me out for some reason...

Even though we didn't have too active of a morning, it was afternoon and time for lunch.
As we headed out, we found another bridge that was artfully adorned (though the reflection on the windsheild is in more focus than the bridge itself).

We passed a massive solar array that was probably a half-mile long (it kept going to the right) or longer (the rightmost mountain in the first photo is the leftmost mountain in the second photo).


After exiting the interstate, we drove a mile, turned right, drove a mile, turned right, drove a mile and then finally entered the town.

Our lunch destination was at Pit Stop in Boulder City - though the Dam was also in Boulder City - about a half-hour away from the Lake. It was "in town".
We sat, and reviewed the menu.

Linda had the grilled chicken breast salad, and I had the double pit burger (the Pit Stop sauce was added separately).


The meal was pretty good.

On the way out of town, we saw a couple more sights.


It was only about 45 minutes until we reached Vegas.
Seeing the city from afar allowed us to see most of the landmarks, though they were completely visible.



A purple and gold painted dumpster. With wheels.

Essentially we drove around the city some, then we approached and went down the strip.








After checking in at the hotel, I spoke to the clerk about the city, and specifically the Bellagio as the Bellagio has a botanical garden, and a fountain show. He suggested going. So we went.
We parked the car in the garage and paid $20 for up to twenty four hours of parking, and then went inside.
The lobby had some interesting glasswork on the ceiling above the registration counter.




Then we headed to the one room botanical garden - and even though it was only ONE room, there was a LOT on display.
We didn't see anything that indicated what the theme was, but it seems that it was hummingbird related. The birds were NOT made / decorated with flowers, but the bees and most of the larger flowers were.


















The display was pretty impressive.
After passing the slot machine floor, we headed outside to the fountain.




We started at a higher vantage point, but it was actually further away. So we walked down the driveway and stood on the side of the fountain area and waited about ten minutes for the next show to start (the show runs every half hour during the day, and every fifteen at night). We saw the 4:30 show, and after hanging around a while do a little "local" sightseeing, we saw the 5:00 show too. Both are combined in the one video.


We saw the 4:30 show, and after hanging around a while do a little "local" sightseeing, we saw the 5:00 show too. Both are combined in the one video.

After the show, as we continued down the ramp along the side of the fountain, Linda and I were joking around and I said we should pretend she's a celebrity or influencer and I was filming her for a spot. So I held up the camera and walked in front of her a little pretending I was filming her. But I actually didn't.
In between the two fountain shows, we saw a few more sights - all visible from the sidewalk around the fountain.
We started with taking a selfie, then eventually made our way to the far end of the fountain pond.








The entrance to the pedestrian walkway was at this end of the fountain. But it was also the entrance to a high-end mall that lead back to the lobby / lower level of the Bellagio.
This end of the casino floor had some table games, as well as slot machines. I was advised to not take too much time with my picture, so I clicked it and we moved on and I didn't review it for clarity (and it was a little bit blurry).



It was after 4:00 already, so we missed out on the $54.99 Brunch...

We were back in the lobby, and after a couple hours, we headed back to the hotel.

We missed the sign the first time we drove past it. And the second. On the third, we did a u-turn, and got it.

The sign was in the median between the north and south lanes. There was a parking lot only accessible from the southbound lanes. We missed that on the first pass too. But after pulling into the lot, Linda confirmed she got a good picture, so without even getting out of the car, we left and continued on to the hotel.


Across the street right after the sign is the Pinball Hall of Fame.

We researched this as potentially something to do when visiting, but after spending so much time playing dozens of machines all day at the Pinball Museum in Roanoke, VA - which was also Pay One Price versus the Pay Per Plan - we decided to not bother. I guess we could have gone in and at least looked around. But we didn't.

The hotel was only another couple miles down the road.
SInce we already checked in, we just went straight to the room.

Lunch was late, so we just had some cookies and wine for dinner / snack.
We relaxed a bit, washed up, and went to bed.

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