After a couple of hours delay getting away from Santa Barbara (waiting for someone to turn up and open the shop so I could buy the Aloha shirts mentioned in part 1) we finally hit the road and headed for Las Vegas. It doesn’t look far on the map but it’s a six-hour drive so we broke it up with a stop at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner on the I-15.
Peggy Sue’s was built in 1954 and then zhuzhed up in the 80’s by new owners. We were going to be eating when we arrived in Vegas so I think we just shared some pie and a drink before getting back on the road. Fun place, seemed quite authentic but what do I know.
The I-15 was easy enough but seemed to go on forever, even though the part we were driving was a small fraction of the over 1,400 miles (2,250 km) this Interstate runs, all the way from the Mexican border near San Diego up to the Canadian border where it connects with the Alberta Highway 4. We arrived in Vegas at around 8pm and after surviving the security theatre at the entrance to the gated estate, we were welcomed into the home of Roddy and Shirley. I worked (and golfed) with Roddy for many years in the UK back in the 90’s and we’ve kept in touch ever since. They moved to the USA a long time ago and ended up in Vegas, and were kind enough to offer to put us up for a couple of nights. The house was huge, with a lovely outdoor pool/lounge/dining area where we enjoyed a barbecue, some beers and watching the hummingbirds feed.
Having arrived late the first day and the following night being reserved for dinner at a wonderful restaurant local to Roddy’s place, we didn’t have a chance to do ‘the strip’ at night but we did find time to do Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace on the one free day we had in Vegas. Trying to limit our exposure to the extreme heat – over 40C – these two looked a good choice because you can take an air-conditioned tunnel under the street between the two hotels, and we’d been warned not to consider taking a stroll down the strip in any weather – it’s huge.
Let’s get the hot news out of the way first – we gambled, and won, in both places! We started with a few one-armed-bandits, which are really not as enjoyable when you just press a button, even less so when you lose all your money. We moved on to me playing blackjack and Marta playing roulette. In Bellagio we bet a total (including the wasted $50 on slots) of $150 and walked away with $450, it would have been a lot more if the croupier hadn’t suggested (trying to be helpful I guess) that Marta didn’t put everything on the number 11 that she was convinced was a winner (and it was!) and if I hadn’t simply got bored of winning at the blackjack table. In Caesar’s we bet $100 and left with $200. On our short visit, the Bellagio was by far the better experience but Caesar’s seemed to have the more serious gamblers, especially at the craps tables.
Wishing to continue our desert heat experience, our next stop was Palm Springs where temperatures were topping 45C. On the way we stopped to take a look at the Hoover Dam – without crossing into Arizona because our rental car , strangely enough, was only allowed in California and Nevada. We parked just short of the dam (here) and then climbed the stairs to get to a footbridge with views down to the dam. The view was amazing but the wind was so strong that Marta very nearly got blown away!
We had to adjust the route from there to Palm Springs because of a wildfire so we took the 95, 62, 177 and I-10 with a short detour into Joshua Tree National Park. We were in the wrong place and didn’t have time for the full Joshua Tree experience but it was enough. The drive across the desert was everything you’d expect; the road stretching endlessly in a straight line to the horizon with a few peaks as a backdrop in the far distance. It was surprising how the road got significantly worse when crossing into California from Nevada and also how few places there were to stop along the way for fuel, a drink, whatever.
We arrived in Palm Springs and checked in at the Ingleside Estate, something that Elizabeth Taylor, Salvador Dali, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and many other stars had done in years past. Needless to say, our welcome was warm but perhaps not as gushing as theirs. It was actually a lovely place to stay. A great room and service, good food in Melvyn’s restaurant and a really nice pool area. Laid back vibe, more like serviced apartments than a hotel.
We weren’t particularly impressed by Palm Springs though. I could imagine it would be a good place to visit for a golfing holiday in the winter, or attending the Coachella music festival, but apart from that it’s not somewhere we will be returning to. I guess the two most notable things about our stay were the haboob (desert storm) and the gayness. We woke on the first and only full day we had in Palm Springs to find that the hills immediately behind the hotel, that had been so visible when we arrived, had vanished into a cloud of dust. The air quality index was 648; hazardous level starts at 300! By comparison, at the same time, the AQI in San Diego, our next destination, was 47. I’ve never encountered anything like it and it really did feel like you were breathing more dust than air. Despite the warnings, we explored the town including the Marilyn statue and the 1946 icon of modern architecture, Kaufmann House by Richard Neutra. Returning to the hotel, we spent some time by, and in, the pool, which was fine once you’d scraped the layer of dust off the top! As for gayness, well, it was like we’d stumbled into a film set where every actor was a 45-60 year-old gay man. This was most apparent in both of the restaurants we ate at as well as the hotel itself. Staff and customers alike. In the second restaurant, Spencer’s, Marta was almost the only woman there and the place was jammed. Excellent food by the way, I’d certainly recommend the place. Of course there’s nothing wrong with encountering an overabundance of gay men, but nobody had mentioned it and it was so far beyond anything we’d seen before that it was a bit of a shock. Maybe it was just the time of year, or the specific area we stayed in?
I’m going to end part 2 right here, which means there’ll be a part 3 covering the last stops before flying home – Julian, San Diego and Disneyland.
Twenty Degrees East 
a bit confused, never got a part 1 and according to post date you are in the states now during Easter holiday. Is the post date current or is it from another date but you posted it now. Last time I was in Vegas I could walk the strip but its exploded with new hotels. If current did you get to see the sphere. Today is Easter Sunday so wishing you Marta and Zosia and Wesolych Swiat.
Hi Chris! But you can see part 1 now, you just didn’t get a notification when I posted it, right? We are not in the states now, these posts relate to last years summer holiday (Jul 20- Aug 7) which is mentioned in the first para of part 1. Didn’t see the sphere – it was built but not open and we didn’t bother going to look at it. Wesolych Swiat to you too!