What happens in Vegas: the neon boneyard

OK people, keep up now. I went to Vegas. I still don't entirely understand Vegas. I did some work. I marvelled at the magical powers of David Copperfield. I did some more work. I marvelled at people's capacity to consume enormous frozen beverages.

And then I found myself with a little window between finishing work and heading to the airport. So I decided to pay a little visit to pretty much the only Vegas tourist attraction I've ever been interested in: the Neon Museum.

What happens in Vegas

I just got back from a short work trip to Las Vegas.

I'm not going to lie - I remain unconvinced. This is my second visit and I just can't seem to get over my impression that the city is overrun by people in bad t-shirts drinking giant slushees.

I stayed at the Paris.

It's like you're in France! Except not.

Things that surprised me about the hotel:

:: The half-hour queue for check-in. I mean, I get it, it's a big hotel. But half an hour? In a 4-star hotel? 

:: The French staff. I can only imagine they were chosen because their general rudeness seemed very stereotypically Parisian...

:: The room. I was in a Premier room - not the cheapest, apparently. The TV didn't turn on (not that I wanted to watch it, but I wanted to check out that way and couldn't), it had a fine view of a parking lot, and well, it was kind of old and tatty.

Not that I'm really in a position to complain about any of this. I wasn't actually paying, the bed was comfortable and I spent approximately zero time in my room or in the casino, so none of it mattered that much.

What would improve the Arc de Triomphe? I know. Gordon Ramsay's head. 

The main reason I spent no time in my room (apart from the whole work thing) was that a big group of us spent our Friday night at the MGM Grand.

First, a big group of Aussies and I grabbed dinner at the hotel's Nobhill Tavern, which was all fine and dandy. 

Then we went, en masse, to see David Copperfield's show. 

I have no pictures of this, sadly. You're not allowed to take them.*

The best thing about the performance? When Steve Carrell came out on stage half-way through. The majority of the audience totally failed to realise it was really him, politely but unenthusiastically applauded, and he ambled off again looking dejected.

Actually, the whole show was pretty interesting. For a few of the tricks I could see that logically, there was only one way to do them. But others? I was baffled. He disappeared a few audience members, magicked a few vehicles on stage and predicted the future. Oh, and he popped some balloons with the power of his mind. As you do.

Then, because I have no idea how to gamble, I had hours of work ahead of me and I was stupidly tired, I left the Aussies at the blackjack tables to gamble the night away, and retreated to my comfortable bed.

So maybe that's the secret to Vegas? The shows are pretty cool (Elton! Seriously. I'm not joking. I would pay good money to see Elton...), there are some great restaurants, and if you've never seen the Eiffel Tower, well. This is a mock-up of it on the Vegas strip. Enjoy.

*I do actually have one picture of me posing with David Copperfield post-show, but I look utterly insane in it, so I feel you can live without that.

Road trippin'

As part of my campaign for November awesomeness, I've been on a little journey. Well, not so little - in the space of 40 hours, I managed to drive from LA to Vegas, to the Hoover Dam, to an extremely random In n' Out in Kingman, AZ - and then back to LA. It did mean one almost sleepless night, but it was completely, 100% worth it to see my amazing friends S and A, and get to hang out with them for as long as possible.

Plus who doesn't love a bit of loud, tuneless singing while driving along a desert highway?

I found Vegas a strange city - I think maybe I was just more in a frame of mind to have a huge catch-up session with people I hadn't seen for 7 months than to gamble/drink/fritter the night away in debauched fashion. It was definitely less glamorous than I'd expected - more filled with large people eating large amounts of fast food than with fast-living, poker playing, risk-takers. But we still had a great time, and I would have happily sat in the middle of a field for a day to spend time with S and A.

I had planned to head straight back to SoCal after my little Vegas stint, but the lure of a few more hours with friends, plus the promise of a board game (have I mentioned that a) I am hideously competitive and b) I freakin' LOVE board games?) sent me in completely the other direction, and off on a little jaunt to the Hoover Dam.

Which turned out to be surprisingly (to ignorant me) beautiful.

So that's how I've been spending my week - talking to my car like it's a human being, praising it for driving 600 miles without any glitches (it's almost 20 years old, folks, you don't know how proud I am of it), almost doubling the amount of states I've visited, and feeling UNBELIEVABLY lucky that in the time I've been out here, so many of my friends have made it out in this direction and found some free time to meet up with me.