Thursday - Back to Vegas

Got up early, drove my friends daughter to school as Noreen had to get to work early, and then headed on to Phoenix and then Vegas.

The drive to Phoenix was uneventful and I got there a little early and checked out a Borders before meeting up with Danielle for lunch. Mmm, Thai. Had a good time chatting with Danielle - she was excited about her new position at work.

Headed off to Vegas and wished I had looked at the map better in order to find a cleaner way to get out of the city - hit a bunch of traffic and lights. Finally got on the highway (2-3 lanes) and its nice 75mph limit. Made good time and though I'd get there in 5 hours instead of the expected 6, but then went to bumper to bumper traffic as I neared the Hoover Dam. The dam is quite cool, but for some reason I expected the approach to be fairly flat rather than deep in a canyon. Went from 75mph limit down to 15. They are building a new bypass which will include what looks to be a really cool span over the canyon about a quarter downsteam and a quarter mile higher - is supposed to be finished in '08.

Got to Vegas and decided to walk the strip. It was interesting to see how some casino's were quite smoky but some of the newer ones smelled fresh - the benefits of modern air circulation systems I bet!