Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Waking up in Reno was a shock. I threw open the curtains to see massive rolling red hills in the distance behind a city set deep into the valley. It sort of looked all splayed out and dirty with no real rhyme or reason to it. My friend once called it ‘the largest trailer park in the world’ and I can sort of see why? Not that I really got a great look at it though since we hopped into the car and drove straight out of sight.

We drove up the side of a mountain and back into the hills where we stopped at a small town called Virginia City which, get this, is basically cowboy Skagway. (If you’ve never been to Skagway I’m sorry for that analogy but it’s perfect.) All these old time-y western buildings stood tall on either side of the Main Street, as cowboys set up shop and got ready for their daily shows. I was smiling the entire time- the whole thing felt hilariously like a movie set (minus all the cars).

We had another long driving day ahead of us through the backroads of Nevada so we didn’t stay too long. Red rocks and insane twisty-spiky trees (Palo Verde trees apparently) dotted the hillsides. Roads stretched on in straight lines right to the horizon and the sun felt hotter and hotter the further south we went.

Before I knew it we had reached the outskirts of Las Vegas! Lights and water fountains and huge buildings and sounds bombarded our senses. I had my hands and face pressed up to the window, excitedly trying to take in everything. The directions to our hotel took us right down the strip, because as it turns out we had booked a room in the Treasure Island Casino and Hotel. Which was a huge but welcome surprised to me!

Inside Treasure Island we were again met with a bombardment to the senses. Slot machines rung and beeped and wailed over the loud music as people milled about. We weaved our way through the crowd towards the elevator where we had planned to meet up with our friend Alexandra! YAY! Alex and Kat and I have known each other since elementary school, and Alex now lives in Seattle and decided to join us for the rest of our road-trip!

We piled into the hotel room, changed into some not travelling clothes and ran outside to check out some of the strip! I WAS SO OVERWHELMED. LIGHTS. NAKED LADIES. HAWKERS. TOURISTS. MORE LIGHTS. A LOT OF PEOPLE OFFERING FREE THINGS. My eyes were so wide the entire walk. We went into The Venetian and Caesar’s Palace which I had seen in movies but was not at all prepared for. The ceilings were disorienting since they were painted like a blue sky so I spent a lot of time looking up and almost bumping into people (not a great idea).

Seriously Vegas feels like the city version of the font ‘wing dings’. I don’t understand anything. It’s all overwhelming and confusing and insanity.

But.

I feel excited and I love the energy of everything around us. I can’t wait for more.

Sav