Las Vegas Nevada

 September 2021 Road trip with Minal

Day 9:

Saturday September 11th

All sights were on home now. Woke up before 5 am. Made myself tea and half a sandwich.

Loaded all bags and cooler into the car.

Said bye to Atul, dropped off Minal into Breckenridge town for her hike and carried onward for home. It was 7:30 am. 18885 on odometer. We had already covered 1700 miles since leaving home.

Highway 9 through Frisco was interrupted with detours due to road construction. The journey really commenced once we got on I-70 West heading for Grand Junction. Stopped about 10 miles before Grand Junction for gas and a restroom break. Switched drivers there. 

The drive on I-70 until then was gorgeous with mountains, canyons, the Colorado river and the railroad flanking the freeway. As if this wasn’t enough, there were rows of sunflowers and other wildflowers on either side of the road.

The drive after Grand Junction had a different beauty though the wildflowers remained constant companions. The terrain changed and kept us engaged throughout. This part of the drive was also accompanied by a cover of dark clouds and intermittent rains. Enroute we were tempted to stop at several viewing areas and finally took an exit at Saltwash overlook. What a view of the valley there was from that place ! 

Next stopped came in Salina for Subway lunch and gas. The girl didn't appear to be very happy at her job and made a mess of my sandwich. We started back at 2:00 pm. The scenic drive continued and made it easy to forget about the sandwich disaster. We passed by exits for Canyonland , Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion National Parks. 

I-70 West culminated into I-15. Headed South on I-15 passing Beaver, Utah which brought fond memories of previous trips through this area. Passed St George Utah, with a brief entry-exit from Arizona into Mesquite,Nevada. Took one break for tea after Mesquite and I got behind the wheel again.

Reached Las Vegas at 5:00 pm into 106 degrees temperature! I was very much tempted to drive another 250 miles(4 hours) to home rather than stop. But Minal as well as the kids had advised the break to avoid extreme driver fatigue.

Checked into Treasure Island Hotel on the strip. These days my only interest in Vegas is food, to be precise, the elaborate buffets! And to be even more precise, their desserts, particularly the bread pudding! In my early years these buffets were so much more affordable. The philosophy was to lure people with cheap food and tempt them to put their money into casinos. With passing years the cost of the buffets went on escalating. Then Covid happened! From cheap buffets, through expensive buffets now we were up to no buffets ! Sad was the journey! Only 3-4 places now offer buffets in Las Vegas. That too only for brunch ! No more dinner buffets 😢

Hopefully the old glory will return and bread pudding and its fellow desserts will call me back! 

We walked from Treasure Island next door to Mirage. Had a cozy dinner at their Diablo restaurant. Fish tacos, shrimp enchiladas and Margarita were just ok. The place only served Tres Leches cake for dinner. The waitress suggested another shop just outside Diablo for desserts. Got a cheesecake with strawberries there. That too was a let down.Missed the Breckenridge food. Missed Minal and Atul. 

Before returning to the room tried a hand at a slot machine and (not surprisingly) lost! 

Called it a day by 10:30 pm !

The orange georgette Garden Vareli made its final appearance of the trip on the famous strip.