Day 1: U.S. and Canada West Coast Drive
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Landing in Las Vegas and Driving to Barstow
The sun set beautifully over the desert as we drove from Las Vegas to Barstow
If you’re hoping to read about an exciting Las Vegas experience here, well, that’s not going to happen. Our reason for being in Vegas was to start our trip from the Las Vegas Airport, pick up our rental car, and then head to Barstow to spend the night to get a head start on our drive to the Sequoia National Park the next day.
We both grew up in Southern California and have been to Las Vegas for business and pleasure countless times. But we are not the type of people who like to gamble and we don’t drink excessively. I’ll share in another story about a quick visit we had in Vegas a few years ago, but many people might find it boring because it involved visiting Red Rock Canyon, visiting The Strat Observation Deck, eating and walking along the Strip – no gambling, partying, dancing, getting drunk or whatever other things Vegas is associated with. Not even a show.
But now, back to this Vegas visit. We landed in Vegas late in the afternoon. We had a car booked through Turo, a car rental service sort of like AirBnB for cars. We made sure we booked a newer car that was in excellent condition because we wanted a very slim chance of anything going wrong with the car, especially because we knew we would be driving the car a very far distance from the location where the owner of the car resides. If anything went wrong and the car needed repairs for a couple of days or longer, that would have been a major bummer. It’s not like renting a car from a normal car rental agency where they can meet you and bring you a replacement rental car for no extra charge if anything goes wrong. We were saving money compared to renting from a normal car rental agency, but there was that slight risk that we knew we were taking. So I guess in a sense we were gambling in Las Vegas after all! Ha ha!
The process for picking up the car was very easy. After picking up the car, we were hungry and craving burgers from In-N-Out Burger. We went straight to In-N-Out Burger. Then we went to See’s Candies because I was craving that too! It’s been quite a few years since we moved from California, but it seems you can take the girl out of California, but you can’t take California out of the girl!
With our food cravings satisfied (for now), we went to Costco to get a couple of things. One thing we have realized is that a comfortable pillow is one essential part of a good night’s rest, and its an easy, cheap fix. We bought a low cost, double pack of comfortable pillows for our road trip just in case any of the pillows at the hotels we would be staying at were not comfortable – and we did end up needing those pillows. We also bought a couple of packs of bottled waters for the trip.
Now we were ready to head to Barstow. We enjoyed the drive there because it’s nostalgic for us and also because the desert can be lovely, especially at the time we were driving. As the sun sets over the desert you get some beautiful color combinations with the sky and the mountains and the desert sand. The mountains have various shades of blues, purples and grays, the desert has its tans with speckles of green, and then that sky with the all the different colors atop the mountains! It really is pretty. And so peaceful. I snapped a few shots as we drove, but the dust on the window and the reflection in the glass is a bit in the way. I’ll share some of them anyway.
After checking into our motel we went to Walmart to get snacks for our road trip and upcoming hikes. Then we did another thing we miss about California – we went to Tommy’s! The first time I tried Tommy’s I didn’t like it. But I kept going there because some of my friends liked it, then it grew on me – big time! There is nothing like a chili cheese burger from Tommy’s. In-N-Out is my favorite, but there is just something unique and yummy about the burgers, and especially the chili, at Tommy’s. I hated their chili the first time I had it, but now I love it. Oh, and those chili cheese fries! So yummy! So unhealthy, but so yummy! Looking at the photos makes me want some Tommy’s right now!
After eating at Tommy’s we went to wind down at our motel. It was a very long day because we had one of the first flights out that morning. We were ready to sleep – and excited for our road trip!
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