I woke up sad on Day 6. It was the last day of my Knight Rider Road Trip.
Pulled into Vegas just before lunch and took a ride down the strip.
I think Britney Spears just got married/anulled at this little chapel.
This chapel was much more convenient. It had a drive-through.
The old Stardust was just down the way.
Britney was probably coming from here when she got the wacky idea to get married. "Mud Wrestling/Dirty Girls/Cold Beer."
Treasure Island Casino used to have this big huge Skull and Crossbones sign, but they decided to modernize it with this dorky new one. Then "Pirates of the Carribean" came out and made pirates cool again. Bet they were kicking themselves...
The MGM Grand.
Siegfried and Roy still dominated The Mirage's marqee, two months after Roy was mauled by one of his tigers.
New York, New York casino.
The Excalibur, where some friends got married and were almost killed by Martians. Long story.
I'm not really a gambler, but I figured I couldn't go to Vegas and not go to a Casino. So I paid a visit to Caesar's Palace.
Everybody was getting into the Christmas spirit. (Statue possibly Not Safe For Work.) I decided to gamble two one-dollar tokens. Lost both.
Ah, well. Give unti Caesar.
The Caesar's Palace bathrooms have extravagant gold-plated kleenex boxes.
The Caesar's Palace mall has one of the world's biggest FAO Schwarz toy stores.
The front window has a bizarre display of moving teddy bears and monkeys.
It seems the Teddy Bear Caesar has seized control of the whole plush department.
The monkeys are his toadies. they force others to do his bidding. Notice this one kicking the enslaved bear in the butt.
He's backed up by an army of bear gladiators...
All wearing the FAO Schwarz logo, of course.
This is what happen when monkey servants misbehave.
In the dungeon below, enslaved creatures toil in the urn factory. Putting urns in boxes, taking them out, putting them back in again.
People in vegas will do anything for luck. There's a small space between these two windows, and people toss coins inside.
Zoltar wouldn't take my dollar, so I paid a visit to Merlin instead.
For a mere 75 cents, he promised to tell my future.
Three quarters later, Merlin waved his hand over his crystal ball...
...And printed out this fortune. Merlin says that I have a neat and tidy nature, and can't tolerate slovenliness around me.
Merlin obviosly hasn't been seen my bathroom.
FAO Schwarz Las Vegas was a flagship store, part of the "boutique" market strategy that led to two bankruptcy filings and a selloff of stores and assets in December '03. I used to work the FAO in Boston. There's not much hope.
K.I.T.T. and I hit the road with regret, knowing we were only one stop from home.
The last stop was the Bun Boy restaraunt in Baker, California.
Baker is home to the world's largest thermometer. As you can see, it was a balmy 61 degrees.
In the summers it regularly breaks 100 degrees. (Eggs frying on rock courtesy the Baker Tourist Bureau and U.S. National Parks service.)
An AWACS military surveillance plane passed overhead on the last leg of our trip, descending into the thick brown smog of Southern California.
And then there was traffic. And I knew I was home.
It was an awesome trip. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!