Wednesday, August 15, 2007

LA to Chicago: Roadtrip Diaries #1 - Las Vegas, NV

After the month we spent in Calgary, we headed back to LA to attend my friend Sharon's wedding and then to pick up my car (which was parked at my cousins' house) for the drive to Chicago. What was originally a less-than-a-weeklong stay turned into about a week and a half, as we decided really last minute that we would first try to sell Brian's car. It was also at my cousins' - we were going to deal with it after we figured out what the dealio was in Chicago. After a dismal visit to Carmax (they frown upon Canadian cars, apparently), we decided to sell it on our own - not an easy feat in normal circumstances, but we were also on a deadline, wanting to get to Chicago asap so that we could find an apartment.

As luck would have it, we crossed paths with a friendly Aussie who was in need of a car like, yesterday, and so he took it off our hands with nary a visit to the mechanic. So, after saying goodbye to LA friends AGAIN, sniff sniff, we hit the road in my little blue Civic (whose name, FYI, is Josie).

Our first night was spent in Vegas. It's only about a 4-hour drive from LA, so we easily could have driven through. Instead, we thought we should celebrate the fact that we sold a used, Canadian car in 2 days (in yo' face, Carmax!) by kicking off the roadtrip in style. We stayed at Excalibur (not that exciting, but yay for internet deals) and ate lunch at Lotus of Siam - supposedly the best Thai restaurant in North America. It was ok, we had some interesting Northern Thai dishes that we hadn't encountered before.

For dinner, we had made reservations at Bouchon, a bistro from Thomas Keller, of the famed French Laundry in Napa (no, we haven't been... but plan to...someday, when dropping $500 on a meal sounds like a rational idea). After walking about 2 miles down the strip to the Venetian in the hot hot heat, we had a lovely meal - sorry to say, but some escargot, lamb, and trout were indeed harmed in the process of that dinner. Mmmmmm.

Anyway, the other stuff wasn't too interesting - we gambled a little bit, me sticking to the anonymous video poker machines (woohoo for 4 of a kind!) and Brian putting some money down on the roulette table. As usual, Vegas left me kind of sad, a little bit poorer, and really really hot.

Next: Beautiful Utah (pictures next time, I promise!)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

mmmmmmmmmmm vegas!!! less eating... more gambling!! And that's a lot coming from me... as you know.

And thx again for helping us get the JT tickets. We went last night... and was pretty good.

Anyhow.... hope you guys are doing well.... ttyl. Echo