Hit the road from Vegas in the morning and headed to Yosemite, CA (OK so maybe we hit a couple slots first, but I’m technically not admitting it).

Drive was relatively uneventful other than some education. As I drive through each state I’m discovering certain tendencies from the local drivers. For example:

– Idaho drivers are reasonably fast
– Utah drivers are scary fast
– Arizona drivers are laid back
– California drivers tailgate, pass on the right, cut you off frequently, speed often and are probably packing

Something like that, but it’s a learning process. I’m sure I’ll really get critical as I go.

So there are a lot of Wind Generators in California:

No really, there are a LOT of Wind Generators in California:

Guess they got tired of stealing our power.

Long drive to Yosemite, well actually Bootjack. Yes, that’s really the name. The B&B that we are staying at (Highland House B&B) lists its address as Mariposa but I think that’s just to stop the cowboys from staying there ;). Not only that, but it is over an hour from Yosemite park and is located at the end of a 2 mile long dirt road. Dirt, heat, lack of rain and Mini do not mix well. Let’s just say it was caked by the time we got to the B&B. Nice place, though, overall. Lizzie was our hostess (not the owner but definitely the one that ran the place) and she was very accommodating.

Hitting the sack early to get up for sunrise to snap El Capitan and whatever else we can with the early light. Course, being an hour out we will be up at 4:30 for the privilege. I feel so lucky…

When in Vegas, no wait, that’s not it… what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Lame expression, let’s post some pics instead:

And how about a 7 storey, 1 block long parking lot dedicated just to staff parking:

We walked around for most of the day, riding the monorail when we could and stopping to gamble in glorious air conditioning when we couldn’t stand the heat anymore. Eventually it got dark out and we were able to check out the fountains at the Bellagio and the Eiffel Tower at night:

We also went up the Eiffel Tower at Paris and got some shots of the strip at night (well, half of it):

Went back to the MGM after all of that and tried not to lose some more money, boy we tried ;). Off to Yosemite tomorrow, looking forward to seeing it, but not looking forward to the 8 hours or so of driving.

OK, so we did manage to stop at Grand Canyon again in the morning before heading out to Vegas. Nice morning light, thought we’d head out to Yaki Point, which is one of the more popular spots. Funny thing, though, you can only get there by shuttle bus. So rather than be pinned down by a shuttle bus we figured hey, let’s just park at the entrance and walk in, I mean how far could it be?

So approximately 1.5 miles later we were there. Did I mention it gets real hot in the morning? Did I mention we didn’t bother to bring water? Fun, not hallucinating fun but getting there ;). Anyhow well worth it, great view from up there:

Decided to check out a couple of the other popular points on the way out as well:

But eventually we did head to Vegas. Not a bad drive, considering. Other than some crazy traffic at the Hoover Dam, including a Police/Homeland Security checkpoint. I kid you not – they let us through though, must’ve been the Mini – I mean what kind of terrorist would drive a Mini anyway?

Oh, it was hot, as said Mini will attest:

Hoover Dam was interesting, other than the traffic:

Huge, and interesting to see:

But eventually we had to get to where we were going, which of course was Vegas. We were set up to stay at the MGM Grand, in a basic but nice room. Huge hotel/casino – it took about 5 minutes to walk from the elevator to our room. Had a relatively quiet night, basically stayed in the MGM and tried not to lose too much money. The real sightseeing is tomorrow.