Touring Vegas

Today was designed as a rest day.  We enjoyed a good breakfast while we watched CNN, television for the first time, well, second, in a month.  Then we were off to get a prescription renewed at a CVS, and we needed some groceries.  There was an Albertsons right next to the CVS so it worked out great.  The help in the store was terrific,as it’s always difficult to shop in a store you’ve never been in.  After shopping, we packed everything into the RV, sliced the chicken breasts we purchased into sizes that we like and butchered up the pork roast into pork chops.  It was just like being at home but not.

You can buy alcohol in the pharmacy and it’s cheaper than back in Jersey, so we bought some. All our shopping was over, so we had lunch with some of the new groceries and then were off to tour the casino section of Las Vegas.  We had driven through Vegas several years ago in a Chevy Astro Van.  An Astro van is much smaller than a Winnebago View, so driving was less of a treat this time, than I anticipated.  Las Vegas has changed.  The buildings are taller, newer, things I remembered are gone, it’s like Las Vegas is in a constant state of flux and you have to visit regularly to stay current with what’s happening now.

After being a traffic problem for all the gamblers rushing to a casino, we were off to the Hoover Dam.  On the way we saw the block sized five(?) story building that Steve Wynn has for his employees to park.  Holy Crow!  The Hoover Dam has changed too.  First of all, no water. Second of all, with the new bridge, named after Pat Tillman and his partner, slightly downstream of the dam, it’s no longer a throughway, it’s been converted into a tourist attraction.  There is a security check where they check your vehicle – look into compartments and take a peek into the interior of the RV.  What they are looking for, and what they would do if there was a half a ton of ampho inside the vehicle, I have no idea, but it employs a bunch of people and it’s very impressive.

After finding a place to park, we walked across the dam, looked at the power plant, and acted like tourists. Gosh! I guess that we are.  Louise took a picture of me with one foot in Nevada and the other in Arizona.  I tried to remember what things look like when we were there last.  The little gift shop has been moved to an upper parking lot and looks like it’s closed permanently.  The swarming striped bass at the elbow of the spillway are gone, along with the water they were swimming in.  It’s a case of having to check the old photos to see what it was like and then look at what it does like.  The change is astounding, and someone is going to be in trouble some day when they turn a faucet.

In a surprise, we found that the dam was really close to the campground so it took no time to get back to the RV Park.  A quick dinner, some relaxation and then to bed in the cool comfort of air conditioning.