Day 1 Austin to Amarillo Day 2 Amarillo to Raton Day 3 Raton to Castle Rock Day 4 Castle Rock to RMNP Day 5 RMNP to Fort Collins Day 6 Fort Collins to Moab Day 7 Moab to Flagstaff Day 8 Flagstaff to VEGAS Day 9 VEGAS to Las Cruces Day 10 Home Again

Day 8 (7/7/02) - Flagstaff, AZ to Las Vegas, NV

We drove across Arizona, crossed into Nevada at Hoover Dam (after being delayed slightly by a police checkpoint), and stopped at a tourist info center in Boulder City for a bit before heading into Sin City.  It was a balmy 112 degrees when we arrived.  We parked on the strip and walked around for a bit looking for hotel rooms and stopping for lunch at a restaurant inside the Barbary Coast.  We were able to get a room at the Paris Hotel (the one with the mock-up of the Eiffel Tower sticking out of it) for only $79, since it was a Sunday night.  I made the comment at some point during the day that the temperature could drop 20 degrees and it would still be hot.  And at night, it did and it was.  But at 95 degrees, it was at least bearable to walk around.  Owing to our limited budget, we decided to see a couple of free shows.  The first was the water show in front of the Bellagio, which was spectacular.  We then wanted to go down to the Fremont Street Experience, but it was something like 5 miles away.  We started hiking down the strip, hoping to catch a bus at some point along the way, but none ever stopped.  But we did go into Gilley's for a bit and also listened to a very good funk band at Caesar's Palace while we were losing our money.  Overall, the gambling was a wash-- I lost $20, Karin lost $30, and Nyssa won $50 (grumble, grumble, murmur, murmur.)  We mostly just played video poker and roulette.