B² Productions | Climbing Blog

We awoke in the our vast room in the tower of the Luxor. It was Sunday morning, but the thick black out curtains killed any cut out any light attempting to enter the room. We got dressed and ventured downstairs. Getting to the casino floor was a stark reminder of where we were. We wandered across the gaming floor taking guesses at the whether the people engrossed in their games of Roulette, Black Jack or at the Slots had actually been to bed at all or whether they’d just been caught up in the weird, timeless vortex that is a Las Vegas casino. We wanted some breakfast so headed to the buffet at the end of the Casino floor. We were greeted by a long queue which did nothing for the my mood (I’m not the best company when I’m hungry). The queue was bad enough, but when we saw the extortionate price of the buffet it soured my mood even further. $18 for a Champagne brunch – The only option available on a Sunday. I don’t like Champagne, and neither does Benny especially. I certainly wasn’t willing to pay over the odds for a grossly over rated glass of fizzy white! Sadly, the other Casinos only offered a similar “choice” so we had to settle for Coffee and a muffin in Starbucks. It wasn’t ideal, but at least it was cheap.

We’d been in Vegas for a few hours and it was already starting to grate. The novelty wore off during my first visit there, and the years absence hadn’t really added anything to it’s charm. It is a strangely fascinating place. For a while. The size, noise and extravagance of the strip is incredible, even by American standards. However, unless you’re a gambler, a big drinker or are really pretty well off (none of which apply to me) it does start to get to you pretty quickly. We’d been in some of the most naturally beautiful places in the world and now this horribly tacky sea of lights and excess seemed to undermine it all some how. It was ok though. We were here to pick up Snoo who was flying in to join us again, and I was excited enough by this to live with Vegas for a couple of days.

A shot of The Strip at night.

If you get off the strip, Vegas is actually quite nice. It’s amazing how driving just a couple of blocks can make you feel like you’re in a totally different place. This is what we did. We mooched around the shops, had some food and some drinks and generally tried to chill as much as possible in the sweltering Nevada heat. Some how, we made it through the day. Not only that, we had quite a laugh as well. We both felt so out of place and edgy that the best thing to do was make a joke of the whole situation. Pretty soon it was time to head out to the airport to pick up Snoo. We sadly parted ways with the beloved Focus and picked up a bigger ride for the next week or so. The car which would be known as ‘The Hearse’ due to it’s size and rather ugly shape. It was actually more comfortable than the Pathfinder we had at the start so that was something.

We arrived at the terminal and waited for Snoo, amusing ourselves with a right wing, religious pamphlet we found on one of the seats. Again, our slightly dark, sarcastic senses of humour were helping us make the best of things. As the plane arrived, we moved the gates and played on the slot machines which were liberally sprinkled around the place. I even managed to keep up my Vegas winning streak – over my time I’ve been there, I am in credit! Ha! Take that ‘The House’! Snoo soon arrived, we collected bags and headed out to the car to wrestle our way back through the Vegas traffic back to the hotel. We dropped Snoo’s stuff off and decided to head out and get some food (off strip naturally). It was decided that we’d head to a Pizza Hut we’d been to before. We thought it would be an easy and relaxing experience. We should have known that such a thing in Vegas does not exist. We made slow progress down the strip (Ok, now seems like a good time to set the record straight with a confession. The reason we made slow progress was totally my fault. It was our last night here, and I really wanted to get some footage driving down the strip – I had know idea how long it would take and thus how tight we’d end up cutting things at this point. To Benny and especially Snoo: I am truly sorry!) We finally got away from the bright lights on tailbacks and arrived at our destination. Only to find it closed. In our haze of Vegas rage this did not go down well. Our bad vibes and aborted plans were starting to take their toll on poor, jetlagged Snoo. We decided it was time to admit defeat and head back to the hotel. We grabbed what little food we could find on the casino floor of the Luxor before hitting the sack. We had planned in another day in Vegas as we thought she’d be too tired to want to drive anywhere. I think the thought of having to spend another day with these two miserable bastards was a more tiring thought than a few hours on the road. She had the casting vote and pleased the whole group by deciding to push on early for Joshua Tree.

After a good nights sleep (for all it’s wrongs, Vegas do know how to do comfort) we hit the road, foregoing breakfast in favour of grabbing something en route. As we made our way along the I-15 it felt like a weight was being lifted from our shouders, and our moods lifted with it. We were back on track!