Vegas heat

So sleeping in the desert was not as easy as we had hoped.  As you might assume, it was quite hot all night.  I myself sweated all night, and could never find the cool side of the pillow, because there wasn’t one.  We did our best, though, to rejuvenate our energy stores with a  hardy scrambled egg breakfast, followed by a swim in Lake Meade, which was very refreshing.  We also had a close encounter with a Coyote, who looked hungry and extremely thin.  Still feeling a bit disgusting, we drove into Las Vegas, stopping for an our just before noon at the Henderson Bird Viewing preserve, where I was able to do some birding in this little oasis of ponds in the middle of the city and desert.  Lots of good birds, including White-faced Ibis and Long-billed Dowitcher- new birds for me!  Justine enjoyed the Avocets and Stilts, both of which have very long legs and are kind of comical shorebirds.  Ok enough is enough, we needed to do Las Vegas.  We parked at the MGM Grand, and strolled down The Strip, hopping in and out of casinos, shopping malls, restaurants, all in hopes of trying to stay out of the heat of the day.  Still, we had trouble staying cool.  It was over 100 in the city on this particular day, and we both just really wanted a shower.  Oh wouldn’t it have been nice to stroll into one of those luxurious hotel rooms and take a shower in a bathroom the size of a new York city apartment.  Hmm, well that’s just what we did!  Thankfully, one of Justine’s roommates from last year just happened to be in the city for a surprise birthday party celebration.  We were very gracious when she offered to let us shower in her hotel room in the Encore.    

(Gotta love those vegas street vendors, though.  Everyone asking you for spare change.  We must have passed a hundred Hispanic people trying to hand us “baseball cards” of your favorite porn star, with a number to call at the bottom.  They get right in your face and flick the cards at you, but they never touch you.  I guess they could get in trouble for that.  The urge to punch one of them was high, but we figured it wasn’t in our best interest to do that.)

Back on the street, we tried to stay out of the heat again, trying not to break a sweat again.  Justine treated me to a dinner at the PBR bar and grille, because, oh yea! It was my birthday!  I’m now 23.  Im old.  Just another year in the books, but a great place to spend a birthday.  Around 7, we drove out of Vegas, camping at a KOA campground outside Kingman, AZ for a night of much more enjoyable sleep in the “less hot” desert of northern Arizona.