Day 122: Las Vegas! Guns! Buffet! Street Performers!

Tuesday 5th April 

Gun Range

Pool: The Tank of Sharks and Slide

All you can shovel in buffet

Downtown Vegas, ceiling videos, street performers

Distance:

Total Distance:

Las Vegas- where you can do anything! It's the only place where one can drink on the street. They pay big money so that people can smoke indoors. They also pay big money so that no one will notice- ensuring air circulates quickly, drawing smoke away to keep non-smokers happy. There's also the concept of pumping extra oxygen onto the gaming floor to keep people awake longer for more gaming, as well as giving them free drinks and not having any clocks up so no one can see what time it it. Oh, and the casinos being laid out so that you get lost and can't escape. You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

Our "do anything" for this morning was Guns!!! Discount Firearms offers a wide range of cheap packages of weapons which one can fire on their range. Most with very American, military, or movie names. It was an interesting mix of weapons, most highly illegal in Europe. I've fired shotguns, rifles, semi-automatics, and muskets before, so I wanted something new. The Special Ops package was for me. A handgun, small automatic, M4 automatic rifle, and a belt fed machine gun. Mwahaha!!!

The handgun was a wee 9mm, so not too much kick. Something new, and fun. It's only a little toy gun, why can't everyone have one?

The military automatics were new and cool- I've only fired semi-auto before so it was interesting getting to let rip. 

The belt fed monster was just that. Rip up the field with a hail of flying metal. Ridiculous, but when else am I going to get to fire something like this?

It's great but personally I'm with the Australian government who remade most of these weapons illegal. Having these sort of guns is insane. They're military spec. They're designed to kill with impunity. Equally handguns are easily concealed. The automatics are supposed to mow down enemy troops, or give you a better chance of hitting and killing them. Who the hell needs all of that in their house? It's fun and interesting as a wee day trip to a well controlled firing range but the idea people should have what ever they want freely in their house is stupid. And as a defense? Defense from what? The other idiots who've been allowed them and turned against you, or those who've managed to steal them from "good" citizens who were allowed them. Granted it's not impossible for illegal weapons to make it across the Mexican border, as well as there being many illegal weapons already in the states. But do you really need an automatic weapon to defend against any of them. Even a semi-automatic is terrifyingly dangerous. Even more stupid is the idea that all teachers should have them to stop school shootings- not because there will be more guns around schools but because teachers are by nature humanitarians. They would have to be in a state of insane panic before they would shoot a person- it doesn't, or at least shouldn't, come naturally to a teacher to shoot a person, especially not one of their pupils. What's more people in panic mode are the worst at hitting targets. Between that an the bullets bouncing around the room innocent pupils are more likely to get hurt than the shooter.

But then that's just a Yorkshireman's opinion. 

After being a Republican for a morning it was time for a dip in the pool. The Golden Nugget has a central pool called The Tank. This is not merely due to the whale watching but also because of the large tank that sprouts from the centre of the pool, filled with fish and a number of ugly looking sharks. It's a great sight, especially with the water slide that runs through the middle of the tank. We did this once- the queue isn't huge but one is going so fast as to never be able to notice the Sharks around you.

Eventually enough people cleared off the pool side recliners that we managed to get a seat. We had a few beers, I caught some sun that had been filtered through an ozone layer for a change, and read until I fell asleep. 

For dinner that evening we went to the casino's buffet. For $14 it all you can eat anything you can imagine. With free Coke. Sushi, meats, fried stuff, Italian pasta and pizza, various breads, salads, overly sweet puddings. Three courses later I felt like Monty Python's Mr Creosote. Lovely.

We spent the evening wandering about the Fremont Experience. We watched the ceiling displays from The Doors and Imagine Dragons. The street performers all have to stand within specific black circles on the street, ensuring the place doesn't get too crowded with them. I think the circles used to look like poker chips, but they've been scuffed into darkness. A few costumed crusaders such as those we'd seen on the Hollywood Boulevard were present, alongside an ancient Elvis, and showgirls/strippers young and old. A number of acts played the drums. We saw one excellent duo playing the electric cello- even bought their album which we'll play on the bus at some point. 

Further down we exploded the lands of darkness. After the Fermont Experience area of eternal light comes an area which still has some life to it. Small clubs, casinos and motels. The thing to see though is the Container Park. It's an American versions of what I saw in Christchurch- a small shopping centre made out of shipping containers, of the frames of them, unlike Chrischurch this one had two storeys, with a balcony made of and supported by the steel frames of containers. There's even a playground based around shipping containers with climbing frames, a "tree" house and towers made of upended containers. 

Outside was the show piece for the park, though it wasn't made of shipping containers. A welded sculpture of car parts and gas lines formed a 20 foot long, 10 foot high preying mantis- this fires burning from the tips of its antenna! Fires that were brought into life in time with a song, bursting forth as giant scorching flamethrowers! We felt the heat of them from the other side of the street. It was ridiculous, amazing, mesmerising. So very Vegas.

Day 123: Las Vegas Buffet Breakfast, Zion National Park, Emerald Pools

Wednesday 6th April 

Finally got a Buffet Breakfast in Las Vegas- like Christmas Day! Loved it.

Travelled through Nevada, Arizona, and into Utah (via state check point)

Into Zion National Park- a massively huge sandstone valley. Bigger than you'd believe.

National Park visitor centre

Shuttle Bus

Paved path up to Emerald Pools

Camping with American style tents

American gas cooker/lamp

Distance:

Total Distance:

"All you can eat" "Breakfast" "Buffet" "$7" "They have smoked salmon"

I ate about half a fish. No brown bread, no cream cheese, just a little lemon juice and a fork.

The coffe was awful but orange juice was also free. 

And there was everything else too- croissants, bacon, 3 types of melon, something like a spring roll but filled with cream and covered in a strawberry sauce.

Problem with all you can eat is, when you've had the buffet last night too, you're not as hungry as one could be. So only one American sized plate for me, and I didn't even quite finish that.

But fear not! We're going hiking!

We passed through Nevada, a little of Arizona, and into the state of Utah. We were heading for the stunning Zion National Park- a valley formed as the Virgin River rubbed away at the raised sandstone Colorado Plateau. The cliffs, columns, and mesas left behind are unbelievably big. The rock is a sandstone laced with impurities, primarily iron, giving it the red colour, as well as its yellows and whites. The colour reminded me of Uluru (although the red there is from a covering of desert sand, the rock itself is grey). This felt more impressive though.

We parked up the bus just outside the park at our campground. Here we set up the tents we would be using. They are a modern version of those toblerone shaped tents all American movies and cartoons have. The sort I've never seen anywhere else. Being tents that will be carried in a trailer, not on my back, they were far larger and more robust than my usual accommodation. About 8feet long, 4 feet wide at the base, and nearly 5 feet in the centre. I could nearly stand up in it! Plus, with only four in our group, we have 14 sleeping/yoga mats to go around. Even sleeping on these rocks we should be fairly comfy.

We went into the park. It was fairly busy, but later in the afternoon at this point so becoming quiet. American National Parks are strange places after having been to the equivalent in the UK, NZ, and Australia. In all of these places efforts are made to bring people in and make the most of the space in an active manner. People hike, mountain bike, ride horses, go canyoning, swimming, rock climbing, camping, bird watching- it's a natural theme park for peoe wanting to go outside and make the most of both nature and their lives. People can go nearly anywhere in these places and are often invited to do so, within their own personal limits.

The Nationql Parks of the USA by comparison feel more like giant Botanic Gardens. To much an extent they seem to be a federal business enterprise. They advertise widely via being in to documentaries, movies, and drama series. 4th graders are given free access to the parks and at this young age taught how to respect the space whilst enjoying it. The majority of parks have good access roads (compared to NZ or Aus) making it easy for people to come in what ever transportation they have, including giant RV/mobile homes. With all of these people wanting to come visit the parks can charge significant entree fees- Zion was $50 for a day, $80 for a year pass. These fees pay for the Rangers- who are federal cops- advertising, signage, facilities, a free shuttle bus that prevents hordes of cars blocking up the roads, and maintenance of the park. With so many people, and to make access easier, the park only has a relatively small number of hiking routes. It is drilled into visitors to never leaver these paths so as to maintain these places, which is fair given what could happen if thousands of boots tore up the land every day. This seems very effective as the pristine wilderness creeps right up to the edge of the walk ways. Visitors are also made well aware that feeds animals is bad for everyone, as is any interaction with them. This doesn't stop the chipmunks and squirrels knowing that flaky granola bars and trail mix are liable to drop the odd treat around picnickers. Yet it also means that most animals don't view humans as any form of threat. Thus the big eared Mule Deer will happily stand grazing as the hikers walk by.

It's fair and reasonable that the National Parks are maintained in perfection and enable thousands to see such landscapes everyday.

But there's part of me that doesn't find it as fun as the wilderness of UK/NZ/Aus. There's a lot fewer people though so those 3 hikers per day probably aren't eroding the landscape on unpaved muddy tracks. Likewise emptying last nights stale beer or Coke onto some tree roots once a year is simply going to feed the local ant colony. However if a tenth of the Americans who visit these parks did such a thing the place would be over run with ants!

At first I wasn't too sure about the National Parks. They seemed too constrained and uneventful compared to other places. The purpose of them is different however, and it seems fitting that they are run as they are. A museum of North America's geology and a botanic garden rolled into one whilst trying to teach the public here how to look after a place. 

I just wish they'd take the messages of don't litter and look after the environment back into the city with them!

We made use of Zion's infrastructure that evening. Taking the free shuttle bus we went down to the start of the paved track to the Emerald Pools. These are comparative puddles, filled with green slime, compared to their namesakes in New Zealand. The walk was nice though, under a long waterfall, through woodland, over rocks, up cliffs. We even saw a number of the park's Mule Deer- small shaggy coated, big eared, deer, there were a few does and a couple of calves. We'd even see a mother and child pair carefully fording a shallow river later. 

That evening we cooked dinner on the gas stove. Light was provided by gas lamps attached above the gas tanks. In the days of electric lamps, especially solar ones, I feel like this is inefficient and a poor use for a fossil fuel. But this is 'Merica, and it's what they do.

At least we had marshmallows for the camp fire later on that evening.