June 25: Route 66 and Las Vegas

Well, I planned to write this yesterday, but after an initial investigation of The Strip I was too exhausted and it was just about midnight, so I decided to call it a day and hope for a more coherent report to develop this morning.  Reporting to you, of course, from Las Vegas.  

Let me set the stage:  we left Sedona and drove north to Flagstaff after a breakfast of scones and coffee in a Sedona coffeehouse.  Once we got to Flagstaff, we followed historic Route 66 by leaving I-40 and taking US 180 and 89 through town.  Beyond Ash Fork, at Exit 139, we left the interstate for the longest remaining stretch of the original Route 66.  From the Ponderosa pines we dropped in elevation into a drier landscape.  

The old railway town of Seligman was the first of many small towns we traveled through, many of which preserve 50s style motels, drive-ins and shops.  We stopped for lunch in Seligman at Delgadillo’s Snow Cap, a 1953 drive-in specializing in burgers, fries and sundaes.  We had burgers, sweet potato fries, and Route 66 root beer.  The ambiance, with all kinds of signs and 50s memorabilia strewn about the yard, in the restaurant and on the dining patio and the side of the road, was unmistakable Route 66 kitsch.  The Delgadillo family has owned the restaurant since 1953.  The father who founded it has died, but daughter and son-in-law still run the place and put out some good burgers and fries.  The only detriment to this visit was the intense heat that began to make itself undeniably felt.  Temperatures would work their way up to about 112 degrees Fahrenheit by the time we hit Las Vegas, and it was like being in a baking oven, and just as claustrophobic as I imagined such a place to be!

The terrain became increasingly desertlike as we reached Kingman on Route 66.  This town features local tourist information at the Powerhouse Visitor Center.  Additionally, there us an Arizona Route 66 Museum inside the premises, which we visited.  Exhibits here recall travel along the route from Native American paths through stage coach days, the Dust Bowl era, and the “Main Street America” period of automobile travel.  That whole scene, of course, is re-created brilliantly, in Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.”  

Historic Route 66 continues as County Road 10 out of Kingman, twisting through tight switchbacks, but it is in Kingman that we left the route and instead took 93 North to Las Vegas.  Our destination before Las Vegas was Hoover Dam, 30 miles SE of Las Vegas.  We were too late for a Dam tour, but we did at least get to see this awesome feat of engineering.  Dedicated in 1953, this NW Arizona landmark was considered the greatest engineering marvel of its day, soaring to a still unmatched height of 726 feet, with a 660-foot thick base.  That would be enough concrete to build a highway from coast to coast!  Hoover Dam stretches across Black Canyon from Nevada to Arizona.  The turbines of the dam rise seven stories high and create enough energy to serve about 500,000 homes.  The huge concrete wall is strong enough to hold back the force of 500-foot deep Lake Mead.  We stopped at a turnout to view Lake Mead and then the concrete wall, both equally monumental, but we lingered only a few minutes at each venue, as the temperatures had risen to a claustrophobic 112 degrees!

Thirty miles further down the road and we were in Las Vegas.  I had been convinced in my mind that that venue would hold no temptation for me to see, but I am not sorry I came.  I have had a whole evening to see and walk the famous strip, and I do have some observations which have emanated from that initial walk.  From afar, the skyscrapers and shapes of its buildings rise from a scorched earth like Oz in the middle of a desert.  The famous strip is 4.5 miles long.  There has been a strip for decades, with hotels, casinos, and golf courses along Las Vegas Boulevard, but the boom in mega-resorts with exotic themes—ancient Egypt and Greece, European cities, pirate ships, and volcanoes—has occurred mostly since the 1980s.  The official All-American Road begins at the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign, featured in movies and photos.  Over the next 4.5 miles, the Strip runs past some of the most famous hotel-casinos in the world, including the Bellagio (my favorite at the end of the day), Caesar’s Palace, the Luxor, the MGM Grand, Paris (the Tour Eiffel right at hand!), the Venetian, Excalibur, the Aria, etc.. etc.—and this is only a partial list!!!  

Before going to our hotel, Alexandra and I stopped at the Luxor to get the feel of a mega hotel-gambling casino.  Everything on a monumental scale here; no subtlety intended.  Simply a venue to knock your socks off, perpetrate a theme, and lure the visitor to the gaming tables of infinite variety.  A “Titanic” exhibit was advertised, and there were at least three shows running simultaneously there.  People all over the place, it was almost like being in a train station, with all the “travelers” intent on getting to their own concept of bliss.  We took some pictures of the black pyramid and enormous swimming pool of the establishment, all of which was over-the-top, and, seen at 112 degrees, a lesson in overkill!  

The hotel where we are staying is the Linq, right in the heart of the Strip and 650 feet from the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace, and close to the Cosmopolitan, where we had dinner and a celebratory glass of champagne later in the evening.  After having our room changed due to some undefined noise that became pesky, we occupied our new room, changed clothes, and braved the immense crowds walking the Strip.  As we passed the Bellagio, the lake in front of that hotel erupted in a stunning water ballet display, accompanied by Khatchaturian’s “Gayane” Suite—a treat of major proportions and tastefully executed.  The fountain/light show was all in white light, and the “fountain ballet” was stunning.  From there we walked to the Cosmopolitan, another mega hotel/resort, for two purposes—to have dinner and then a celebratory drink inside a chandelier!!!!

Dinner was at a 2 Michelin-Star restaurant called Momofuku, whose chef celebrates the best of Korean and Japanese cuisine.  We shared steamed buns with pork belly, hoisin sauce, scallions, and cucumbers; spicy cucumbers with togarashi (chili peppers) and toasted almonds; shishito peppers, in smoked salt and lime, and a kind of rice gnocchi dish—all of them amazingly wonderful and memorable.  In true Oriental cooking style, you felt satisfied but not stuffed at the end of the meal.  From there we went to the Chandelier and each had a glass of champagne to celebrate our amazing time together.

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped in at the Bellagio, which was having an astounding flower show (have a look at the photos I took commemorating its beauty).  Walking through this over-the-top hotel/casino, featuring tastefully laid out gaming rooms, incredible displays everywhere, shops such as Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, and then looking at that lake with the fountain displays, all tastefully executed, I felt as if you were looking at the best this strange, hedonistic city has to offer.  Since Europe, I have not seen downtown cities as crowded with people as here—all in frantic pursuit of pleasure and distraction.  The ground floor of our hotel, the Linq, has signs everywhere directing the pleasure-seeker to these gaming tables, those restaurants, that bar, etc., and it’s like a Grand Central Station for the pursuit of the distracting pleasure of the unreal.  Amazing place with an astounding agenda.  No judgment call, here—only an observation.  I am glad to be here, but being a resident in this bizarre pressure-cooker of entertainment must be a strange scenarios—rather like living in Venice—stage-sets of pleasure.  

Off today to see the Old Strip and a museum of neon signs from Rat Pack times and beyond.  Then a visit to the Venetian and a performance of Cirque du Soleil’s “Love” tribute to the Beatles this evening, in the MGM Grand, if I am not mistaken.  More reports later, as we approach the last day of this amazing trip.