Day 17 – What happens in Vegas… well, I guess we’ll tell you.

We woke up to another beautiful day in Arizona, and after checking out of our hotel, we made our way into Grand Canyon national park yet again – except this time, we weren’t going to go hike and see the beautiful vistas. We were going to visit the mechanic.

Before we got to India’s house in Taos, we accidentally made a wrong turn down a dirt road that was essentially potholes and rocks. Since this fateful wrong turn, Ashley’s brakes have been making this low growling crunching noise every time we hit the brakes. Even with our brain powers combined, sometimes Ashley and I don’t make the best decisions, so we basically pretended this noise wasn’t actually happening until we got to the Grand Canyon and decided we better do something about it. The closest garage to our hotel was actually in the National Park, so we made our way through the tour buses and visitor’s centers to the park mechanic building.

After waiting nervously for about 45 minutes, we were told by the main mechanic that the car was fine, that he couldn’t find any rocks under the car, and that the only problem was that the rotator needed to be turned sometime in the near future. He told us good luck on the rest of our trip, and they didn’t charge us anything. We were so thankful that the car was safe to drive, and were thankful to learn a valuable lesson: when your car makes an excruciating low scraping roar when you hit the brakes, DON’T PRETEND IT’S NOT HAPPENING! FIX IT! So we did. And we were lucky enough to have a mechanic with our best interests at heart who was more genuinely interested in our well being than in making a buck.

And onto Las Vegas we ventured! The drive was pretty dull – a lot of red rocky mountains, not much vegetation, and hot dry air. We did pass over the Hoover Dam, which apparently is a big deal. At one point a guard also asked us if we had any ammunition or explosives in our car (which is also apparently a big deal). It’s a really good thing Ashley had her mom ship out all her ammunition and explosives. Otherwise we would’ve been SOL, and we would have missed out on Vegas…

Speaking of Vegas, Ashley might have a gambling problem. The first thing we did upon arriving in Sin City was go to a casino. Upon DOUBLING our money (from $1 to $2… completely legitimate winnings), Meredyth conservatively wanted to cash out, whereas Ashley insisted on using our winnings to gamble some more. Meredyth was slightly alarmed, and vowed to keep an eye on Ashley for the rest of the evening.

We arrived at Angela’s (Angela and her family are longtime friends of Ashley’s since she was little) apartment and made a plan for the evening. Angela and her boyfriend Scott took us out to the Vegas strip to see the sights. We wandered through the Bellagio, saw the famous fountain show, strolled through Caesar’s Palace and its mall (the most visited mall in the US), and went to dinner at Max Brenner’s new restaurant, which features all things chocolate (needless to say, Meredyth was in heaven). Then, of course, we satiated Ashley’s new-found gambling addition by returning to the Bellagio Casino. We stuck to the low-cost (and thus, low return) slot machines, but we had a blast spinning the reels and changing machines every 30 seconds. Ashley drained $20 at the slots, and Meredyth restrained herself to an $8 loss. Deciding to forgo the club scene, we ended up heading home around 1am… and though it certainly wasn’t an evening straight out of The Hangover, we still had a blast. Angela and Scott were wonderful hosts, and we were thrilled to see the sights and sounds.

The Strip.

Apparently there is a magical forest inside the Bellagio Hotel.

Dinner at Max Brenner's.