

Holiday to Las Vegas in Dec 2013: Day 12 – Death Valley to Las Vegas
By Nige
on December 30, 2013
at 8:58 pm
Type: Post
Story: Holiday to Las Vegas in Dec 2013
Category: Travel
Tags: Death Valley | Furnace Creek
Woke early to deal with work email. Floor is noisy so concerned about waking people below.
Not sure what we will do today. Would have liked to head up to the Grandstand and the Racetrack but really need a high clearance vehicle and there could be some significant walking to reach the moving rocks.


Will be heading to Vegas later on.
Decided to stay for breakfast at The Furnace Creek Inn. It wasn’t cheap but was decent value for money.
I had read that they charge for top ups of coffee and refills without advising you of the cost, but we got none of that.
We packed up in the car and then had a wander around the hotel to the swimming pool to take some photos, then we checked out, popped down to get $20 worth of fuel and were on our way to Vegas.
Made swift progress for the first 60 miles or so. The number of long stretches of road we could see 8-10 miles into the distance to the road bending away was amazing.


We have been guessing how many miles it would be before turning each time, and the time (and miles) soon fly by. The longest we have ever counted was a long stretch between LA and Vegas which was 17 miles long.
We stopped off at Pahrump for our first Starbucks of a few days, which was lovely. We had the top down all the way and it had been relatively cold (about 50 deg f). At Pahrump we bumped into a couple who had family who lived in Lichfield of all places!
The last 15 miles into Vegas was slow and busy – felt like a bit of a racetrack with everyone changing lanes all the time.
Checked in to our hotel – the Hilton Garden Inn at Henderson and it’s lovely. We have a suite overlooking the pool on the top floor, and I’ve rearranged my subsequent nights to stay here. I should be able to leave a bag between my trips to Cancun.
We put the washing on and went for a swim. Finally a heated swimming pool and the jacuzzi was boiling hot. We’ve been chilling in our room since. And we plan to drive to Caesar’s Palace so that Vick can go to Victoria’s Secret and we can then get tea at the Cheesecake Factory (we didn’t really have lunch today honest).
Getting into Vegas on the day before New Year’s Eve was mad – the last 3 miles to the strip were horrendous, but we got through and parked in Caesar’s Palace self-park, and then followed instructions to exit via the stairway in the middle of the parking structure, crossed over the road and in to the Shops via a “secret” door to avoid 20 mins of walking through the hotel and casino – straight to the Cheesecake Factory.
Vick sorted her nighties from VS, and then we had a lovely meal in the Cheesecake Factory. We took our cheesecake back to the hotel.
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