Miles: 590
Route: Los Angeles, CA - Las Vegas, NV - Scottsdale, AZ
After flying back to LA on Monday afternoon, Alex and I got back in the Avalon and drove to Las Vegas for the night. While we didn’t really have any desire to party in Vegas, we wanted to make some eastbound progress on our way to the Grand Canyon. Traffic was pretty bad getting out of LA so by the time we made it to our hotel ($20 a night gets you a pretty nice room in Vegas on weekdays during off-season apparently!) we went straight to bed.
In the morning we were dismayed to learn that it was raining heavily throughout Arizona (a rarity according to literally every local person we spoke to once we got there!). Luckily we had not yet booked accommodations for the night so we called an audible and decided to have a leisurely morning in Vegas, check out the Hoover Dam and spend a day or two in Phoenix to wait out the weather.
Walking around "old" Vegas near Fremont Street. We "bypassed" The Heart Attack Grill in favor of Eat. for a delicious brunch.
View of the Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge at the Hoover Dam.
The Hoover Dam.
Checking out the water behind the dam.
View of Lake Meade.
We made it to Phoenix in time for a nice dinner in downtown Scottsdale and were amazed at how huge the spaces were - our hotel, the restaurant and the numerous strip malls we passed along the way were all enormous. The suburban atmosphere felt very different from most of the other cities and small towns we have stopped in so far.
We spent a rainy Wednesday in Scottsdale catching up on errands, working out and going to see Gone Girl - the one book we have both read during this trip. Keeping with the theme of “bigger is better” in Arizona, our movie theater experience was incredible! We had huge, comfy reclining seats in addition to a waitress who served a full food and drink menu prior to the start of the film.
Alex was pretty happy with the movie situation - plus tickets were only $10 (vs. $15 in NYC).
After the movie - which is definitely worth seeing but perhaps a little confusing for those who didn’t read the book - we headed north to Sedona. It’s already dark here, but we are hoping that the weather clears up tomorrow so we can spend some time exploring the outdoor scenery!