One thing I realized about California is that all of the action is on the coast. There is a an amazing amount of... well nothing, in this state. Miles and miles of desert with no humans in site (other than the ones driving through at least). The emptiness was good though since it was a big change from the frantic pace of the trip up to this point. Turning on the cruise control and letting the bike do most of the work while letting your mind wander, just a little, is a good thing. Motorcycle riding, at least when you do it right, takes some work. In a car you can just point it in the general direction you want to go and things just sort of take care of themselves without a lot of fuss. The bike is a little different animal however. Besides the glaringly obvious issue of getting run over by a careless driver there is a never ending stream of things to deal with when riding - wind, road debris or pot holes, rain, heat, cold, etc.. Normally you have to stay on hyper-alert all the time watching for anything that could be a problem because if it is a problem then it could be a really BIG problem. Getting a slight break from having to give absolute full attention to all of those things at once makes riding these long distances easier.
The ride went ultra smooth and we rolled in to Las Vegas just before nightfall. We managed to snag a couple of rooms at the Paris Hotel on the strip for a bargain price of $59/night. After going through the long check-in process (long because we did a lot of walking to/from the bikes in the parking garage) I found myself in a very nice corner mini-suit.
Can't complain about the room...
... or the view...
... my room is right on the corner of that wing just left of the balloon about even with that row of lights a few floors from the top...
With the Bellagio fountains right across the street we had to run out and catch the show before dinner...
Dinner was $$$$ since we opted to eat at the Chef Ramsay Steak House at the Paris. I'm not a huge fan of those TV shows with the fabricated drama and painfully repetitive sound bites so I wasn't really keen on going to the place owned by one of those nimrod's. After trying and failing to get into any of the other options at the Paris (everything was full) we went for it. Getting a seat in the dining area was a long wait but we could stake out a table in the bar area and get the same food and service. After a day of riding it was a good option.
The food was good and the beer was VERY good - a Samuel Smith's The Famous Taddy Porter. After picking up the tab for this dinner I was able to build up a credit with John so he ended up buying pretty much every meal for the rest of the trip :-)
My view of the place...
Salad, it would have been cheaper if that green stuff was money but it was good...
... and the amazingly rich pudding and ice cream dessert...
The next morning we dined at the cafe out next to sidewalk and watched the people show. The weather was perfect and food wasn't bad either. A good start to the day (cheezy cell phone pic)...
No comments:
Post a Comment