Las Vegas

We took an early morning flight from Chicago into Los Angeles with plans to rent a car from Avis and drive to Las Vegas. When we got to Avis, they tried to stick us with a big Lincoln Continental, which we refused, so they provided a Toyota Camry. When we stopped for lunch outside L.A., we realized this was a mistake as the car would not start because the battery was dead. So we had to wait around for Avis to send someone out to jump start the car, then drove to a Sears store to pick up a different rental, which was a smaller Pontiac.

We made the long drive through a dust storm and arrived in Vegas much later than we had intended. We were staying in a hotel near the airport so we parked at Luxor and walked up the strip. We wanted to avoid sleazy Las Vegas but didn't succeed due to being so late getting into town. The highlight was being handed pamphlets for hookers while walking down the street with a seven-year-old girl. Unfortunately, due to high winds, we also couldn't see the Bellagio fountains so we went back to our hotel for the night.