From Calico Ghost Town to Las Vegas

Finally I'm able to post again - yeah! :))

Well... my last post was about our stay in a ghost town in the desert of California with the name CALICO. (see my post from some days ago).

We left Calico towards Las Vegas and we have seen this road sign. Can anyone of you spell this name of the street?...LOL...

Death Valley
is a desert located in the southwestern United States. It is the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America. Badwater, a basin located within Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 85.5 m (282 ft) below sea level. This point is only 76 miles (123 km) east of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Death Valley holds the record for the highest reliably reported temperature in the Western hemisphere, 134°F (56.7°C) at Furnace Creek in 1913—just short of the world record, which was 136°F (58°C) in El Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922.

Located on the border between California and Nevada, southeast of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, Death Valley constitutes much of Death Valley National Park and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve. It is located mostly in Inyo County, California. It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west; the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about 3,000 square miles (~7,800 km²). Death Valley shares many characteristics with other places around the world that lie below sea level.

We went over high hills and even over a pass - and still 72 miles to go to Vegas

Breathtaking desert scenes with white sandy hills are leaving you really speechless!

We are driving now the last miles in California over white desert sands before we will be crossing soon the border into the State of Nevada

Nevada welcomes you!

We are arrived in Las Vegas!
We had first no idea where to go and get pretty much lost in the Down Town area and finally we have found the way out to a Casino that offered affordable parking spaces for RV's.

Las Vegas (Spanish for The Meadows)
is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of casino resorts and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, it is the 28th most populous city in the United States with an estimated population by the U.S. Census Bureau of 603,093 as of 2008. The estimated population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area as of 2007, was 1,836,333.

Established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, at the close of the century Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in the 20th century (a distinction held by Chicago in the 19th century). The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. Outdoor lighting displays are everywhere on the Las Vegas Strip and are seen elsewhere in the city as well. As seen from space, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is the brightest on Earth.

The name Las Vegas is often applied to unincorporated areas that surround the city, especially the resort areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip. This 4 mile (6.5-km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard is partly in the Las Vegas city limits, but mainly in the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and continues partly into unincorporated Enterprise.

As we drove trough the town with an immense traffic jam and a lot of waiting time at the red lights, I had time to capture some impressions of this extremely dynamic city - that people say - she never sleeps :))

Constructions are going on, everywhere!

I love the architecture of this town!

Casinos at the strip are calling the gamblers and the tourists.... :)

Many of the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in the world are located on the world famous Las Vegas Strip. Eighteen of the world's twenty five largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 67,000 rooms

On the back side of the strip are the delivery entrances to the Luxor and to the Excalibur Casinos

The Beatles are alive! The group "Cirque-de-Soleil" is performing to the Beatles songs

The Australian Chippendales - Australians hottest export is also in town! ...wow...Ladies! To have a closer look, click into the picture! :))

And these two "guys" we do know too, right? :))

Hi my friends,

I'm so happy, we are arrived today on a nice Campground in Williams,AZ and finally I have here a perfect Wi-Fi Connection!!! I hope to upload more photos of our adventure trip in the last days.

Stay tuned and thank you for all your wonderful comments!

See ya later!
Susanne and David