Day 16: Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Arizona & New Mexico

Before we left Sin City, we had to stop at Gold and Silver Pawn Shop (the pawn shop on the hit TV show "Pawn Stars"). Klay absolutely loves that show and I like it too. We walked in to the amazingly crowded pawn shop, which looks just like it does on the shop. Klay watched something about the filming of the show a while back and because the show has become so popular, they only allow the people in the shop that they're talking to while they film (so they completely clear out all the other customers). The guys on the show only come out for the filming because they get swarmed with fans. After visiting it in person, we see why. There were so many people at the shop (they even have their own gift shop with t-shirts, mugs, blankets, etc. with Rick, Corey, Chum Lee and the Old Man's faces on it. The gift shop nearly took up half of the store.

The guys were in New York or so we were told. But it was definitely cool to walk around and see actual items that were purchased on the show. Klay would say "I remember that episode." That was a cool little pit stop on our way out of the city.

We headed south to the Hoover Dam, which was only 30 miles from Vegas. The dam is huge and tourists and travelers crowded the walkways taking pictures of the massive structure. It was designed from 1931-1935, and many people died during the construction of it. We kept joking that "The Cube" was below (as seen on "Transformers"). It was a pretty neat place to stop. We parked and had to walk down to be actually on the dam. I had to go to the bathroom, and the long walked like to kill me. Note: When visiting the Hoover Dam, go to the restroom before you actually get to the dam!



After viewing the site, we headed to the south rim of the Grand Canyon (about a 4-hour drive from Hoover Dam). The Grand Canyon is what it promises--grand. It's crazy how large and immense it is! It was definitely worth the drive. We walked a bit on a trail enjoying the spectacular view when Klay's nose started to bleed. We had to walk all the way back to the car to get some napkins for him.

It was around 5 p.m. when we finally reached the Grand Canyon so after walking around the time flew by. We wanted to get to New Mexico tonight. After 15 days of travel, we're now officially tired of being in the car. We're just ready punch the rest of this trip out and stay in a house!

After stopping off a few more times and enjoying the site of the Grand Canyon, we headed and went through Flagstaff. I started driving (Klay was tired) to try to see how far we could get. After 5 more hours of driving, we landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico around 1 a.m., where we stopped and are staying in a hotel.

Ready to relax until we leave in the morning!

This trip has been crazy!

See how it all ends "From the Road..." as we round up the end of the trip!

Day 15: Viva Las Vegas

We woke up around 11 a.m. It was so nice to sleep in and not have to get up and get in the car! We got ready and took the dogs outside for a walk. Walking the dogs to their 'potty area' outside of the hotel, we had to walk through the casino. I can't tell you how many people "awed" at our pups. Everyone seemed to be amazed by them--like they've never seen dogs before.

Billie would turn his head at the machines when they'd make noise, and overtime we'd walk by this cafe, he'd try to pull me in there. He really wanted some food!

We had lunch at the Tequila Bar in Bally's hotel and casino (which is connected to Paris Hotel), where we ordered the biggest plate of nachos. It was $16, but we split it. We didn't even scratch the surface of the plate. These were some TEXAS size nachos (I know all my Alaska buddies will roll their eyes at that comment). We gambled at Bally's  where we had no luck and then walked to Planet Hollywood, and gambled a bit there (again, no luck!). We just walked around seeing what all Vegas had to offer.

We went back to the hotel to check on the pups, and Klay took a nap (it was already 6 p.m.). Since he fell asleep, so did I. We woke up around 8:30 p.m. and headed out again. We walked over to the Bellagio to watch the famous fountain. That was pretty cool. Of course, we saw it shoot up the night before, but we didn't actually watch the entire thing.

We walked all the way down to MGM (gambled a bit; again, won nothing) and New York, New York, which was pretty cool. We ate and by the time we left, it was already past midnight, so we headed back toward the hotel.

One thing that was sort of annoying are the people on the corners of the street trying to hand men cards with the number for escorts on there. These people are everywhere handing out these cards and there are at least five of them on each corner. That sort of gets old.


But overall Vegas at night is a sight to see. It's seriously a town that never sleeps. I'm amazed at how many people are there and work at all hours of the night. I don't know how they do it.

Klay and I enjoyed our last night walking around and taking in Vegas. We actually got to spend some quality time together, laughing and enjoying each other.

For some reason, Klay thinks it's funny to talk in different accents to people. So, he definitely kept me amused!

We got back to the room past 1 a.m., took showers (have to get that smoke-smell off!)  and then went to bed. Off to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and stay up-to-date "From the Road…" for more details from our trip! It's not over yet! =)

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Day 14: Leaving SD and onto Las Vegas, NV

Before leaving San Diego, we, OF COURSE, had to hit up the Chargers fan shop at Qualcomm Stadium. We both bought shirts and then we went to the ticket office. After talking to the man about how we drove all the way from Alaska to see the stadium, a man was nice enough to show us the field where all of the action happens. The field wasn't painted or anything, but it was definitely cool to see where the Chargers play! Klay was exceptionally excited. We hope to one day come back and go to a game!

After that we headed to Vegas, and on the way I fell asleep. My eye hadn't gotten much better and was irritating me so I took a nap. I woke up and we were right outside of Nevada state line. As soon as we crossed the state line there were casinos, hotels and shops. But we moved forward toward our destination.

We stayed at Paris Hotel on the Vegas strip. They accepted dogs for a decent price and allowed guests to leave their pets in the room (which most hotels don't allow), so it was a perfect fit for us! Seeing Vegas in person is pretty awesome. Neither of us have ever been, so we were ready to get out there and experience it.

After we got settled in our room, we went to eat--we were starving--and then we walked around the strip--and there are lots of weird people out there. It was cool though to see all the people who stand out there and showcase their talents. And as some of you may know, you can walk around and carry your beer/drinks on the strip wherever you go, so there were tons of drunks too.

We went to gamble at Harrah's first and didn't really win much there. We were about to head to Caesar's Palace when we saw this guy who was spray painting pictures of the Vegas skyline with just the spray can and paper (it's hard to describe, but he's crazy talented). Klay and I ended up watching him for 30 minutes and bought two paintings.

We arrived at Caesar's Palace, and I sat down and put a $20 bill in a quarter slot machine. The first pull, I got nothing; but the second, I won $175 bucks. Klay didn't believe me until he walked over to the machine. After I didn't hit on that machine anymore, so I walked around to another one and hit $40 right off the bat. Then I'd work my way down to about $150 and hit $60. I probably hit $60 bucks on this machine four times and hit $120 once. I ended up playing that machine for two hours because every time I'd get to stopping point it'd bump me back up. I ended up walking away winning $130.

I know for Vegas it might not be that much, but at least I was winning and not losing! I can't say the same for Klay; he had no luck. Poor thing, his money went quick!

On the way back to our hotel, we decided to stay another night. We were dying to sleep in, actually relax and take a day to do whatever we wanted. We got back to the room around 1:30 a.m., took a shower and crashed!

Having fun living the Vegas lifestyle...tune in tomorrow for more "From the Road…"