Home (an epilogue)

Bonus of flying out from the city centre

Sometimes, a story doesn't have the happiest ending. But that shouldn't ruin all of the good things that happened in the previous chapters, nor leave the reader with a bitter taste - it's just another way to finish the story. As happy as this story's chapters have been, it does not have a happy ending. And that's okay - it happens - but it will not taint the rest of the wonderful story in my head, nor in my memories of my time on this grand adventure, this great road trip. It will only become the part I remember the least about all of this.

One day after returning from the US, I went back to work to restart all of the prep for the restaurant. Mario stayed home to deal with the disastrous state the city left our yard and gardens in after having finished the summer-long paving project on our street. Of course they did the work requiring the most detail while we were away, and of course they botched the job. When I saw the work they did upon our return, I cried.

Not our plane, but a beautiful sky to fly into.

Traffic jam! 14 planes needing to taxi before us!

 
One  day after return from our trip, most of the laundry was done, groceries bought for the week, and I lost my brand new expensive sunglasses. I was very upset and called around everywhere until I found out they had stayed in the car when my parents had given us a lift home from the airport. However, the panic I experienced while frantically searching, coupled with the destroyed gardens, and the fatigue I was feeling after only 3 hours of work, was seriously making me wonder if all this travelling was worth it if we just came back to more stress and frustration.

Flying over the Valley of Fire - we drove that road!  

Two days after getting off the plane, I was tired, but slowly getting back into things. I tried to finish up the blog but couldn't concentrate. I figured another day of rest would do it, and looked forward to returning to a routine. 

Three days after touching down, work was HARD. I was hot, I was tired, I was slow and I had a serious cold, which had begun in the plane ride home. I often get colds at the end of the trip, so I thought nothing of it, but MAN, was it ever hard to get through that evening shift without sitting in a ball on the floor and shutting out the world. Mario came in with me and made sure I sat down and cooled off as much as possible. 

Amazing views from the plane

Four days after our road trip, I was cooking a pot of butternut curry, and realized that I could not smell the sauteeing onions, or garlic, or bowl full of aromatic spices. Four days after getting off a plane and going about my normal routine, I tested positive for Covid-19 and suddenly everything came tumbling down and made sense all at the same time. 

And so there you have it - as wonderful as comping in the middle of nowhere is, as liberating as it is hiking on trails with no one else around, there is still the threat of big nasties lying in wait. I don't know if maybe all those crowds walking along the Strip in Las Vegas is where I caught it, or crossing paths with others at the hotel, waiting to check in, or maybe just getting crammed like sardines into the elevators on the tours of Hoover Dam, but when travelling in a place where life has returned to "normal" I guess it was to be expected. 

Circular fields seen from above

In the end, we gambled with our personal safety and health, and lost this time around. Will it scare me off from doing another trip in the future? NEVER. The tickets are already bought for the next adventure. Will it make me a little more aware, even a little more cautious? Definitely. We followed everyone else and essentially gave up on masking, distancing and disinfecting, and I think that was maybe too much. There needs to be a balance struck where we can be relaxed about travelling, but still feel safe, and I believe we need to find that balance again. Until then, lots staying home, rest and way too much tea. And keeping my fingers crossed that my scent will come back soon, because a chef that can't smell what she is cooking is a lost soul indeed.

Until the next time, stay safe.

What can you say about Las Vegas?

Las Vegas. 

Wow. 

What can I say about Vegas?

Arriving by air, 9 days ago

Maybe I should say that it is amazing to think about the fact that this place was built from nothing, in the middle of the desert? That people continue to flock here for reasons I cannot even guess at, causing the city to expand continuously, and drastically, in the last 20 years? And that it has ONLY been here for 118 years?! Crazy, I know.

The Veer towers and pedestrian crossing

Maybe I should say that the strip that we all have a picture of in our heads(likely from the movies), is not that old scrappy image? It is actually a bustling 8-lane highway passing through town, and that the only way to cross it is via the raised pedestrian bridges, or by adventuring through numerous casinos, soaking in the blast of ice-cold air conditioning as you go? And that it is actually 4 MILES LONG, and lined with Hotels and Casino Resorts, which seem to stretch on forever, they are so big?

The Casino floor in New York, New York

Maybe I should say that the opportunities to gamble in this "town" are everywhere, and that it's very hard to escape the draw of the flashing lights and attractive screens? The Casino floor is central in every hotel that we wander through, and so in our search to escape the 100-degree heat outside, we are forced to traverse many such landscapes of temptation. But boy! Are they ever cool and refreshing inside!

Maybe I should say that, though people come here for the gambling, the closest thing I did to gambling was choosing which lever to pull on an Art-o-Matic, an old cigarette machine-turned art installation, where the cigarette packs have been replaced with miniature art stuffed into similar sized boxes? I may have lost 5 dollars, but I won a tiny cactus garden planted in a beer cap. 

Maybe I should say that, regardless of location, the burgers at Shake Shack are always delicious, and reasonably-priced when it comes to food in Vegas. Forget the all-day brunches and all-you-can-shrimp buffets in the hotels, Shake Shack is good eats.

Love these burgers!

The Eiffel Tower - it's only a model

Maybe I should say that, if you have never travelled the world, Vegas is a good place to get a taste of what lies beyond the US borders, but don't believe for one second that it is comparable to actually visiting any of those countries. Have been to all of them, I say that it is a fun exercise to visit them all, and a good walk, but it is a poor facsimile for the actual countries. Mario and I got a kick out of walking through a miniature Times' Square and down the back alleys of New York City in New York, New York. We enjoyed the views of the Eiffel Tower, and the people sitting out eating at the cafe tables of Paris. We marvelled at the sunset views in the Piazza San Marco, and watched the gondolas sailing by even though we were inside the hotel at the Venetian, but the singing of the gondolieri was just as enchanting(and the rides just as expensive). We even took a walk into the nearby Luxor to marvel at the hieroglyphs decorating the colonnades. We caught views up to the top of the pyramid, walls lined with hotel rooms, center filled with the buzz of slot machines. The tombs in the Great Pyramids of Egypt were never this roomy. 

Looking out the arches of the Venetian

Piazza San Marco, but INSIDE the hotel?!

Maybe I should say that the one thing I think everyone should do in Vegas is see a show? There are so many to choose from, it is impossible to not find a time, a theme, a location, or a price point, that you will not like. There are cheap ticket options available for same-dame performances, too - which is what we used - and we chose to see one of the many Cirque du Soleil shows. Mad Apple is a New York-themed variety show of sorts, with great singers, cheesy comedians with exaggerated accents, all of the big city streets and rough-n-tumble imagery you can imagine, elevated through the inclusion of high caliber circus acts seamlessly blended into the show. Asian tumbling acrobats are combined with Harlem Globetrotters-style basketball stunts, or others jumping inside spinning hoops are dressed as Wall Street businessmen. We snag front row seats in one of the side balconies, and find ourselves eye-to-eye with some of the acts, and laugh and scream and clap right along with the entire show. It's a riot, and WAY better than gambling that money away.

 

Great seats!	Juggler
Balancing acrobat	Finale number with all the acts on stage

Maybe I should say that another amazing thing about Las Vegas is the sheer amount of restaurants everywhere? You can find something for all tastes here, and we did! While wandering along during the afternoon, we happened upon a branch of David Chang's Monofuku, where we had ordered takeout last summer and fell head-over-heels for the noodles. After the Cirque du Soleil show, we headed over to the Cosmopolitan, and with no reservation, took a chance on getting a seat or two. Luckily, there was still place at the "bar", which is actually not around the bar but around the kitchen, so Mario and I have front row seats to another great show! We discuss a little with the chefs working the grill, which is right in front of us, but not too much, as we don't want to disturb them during their service. They are friendly, but also very concentrated on their work, which I completely understand. We concentrate on our food: Fried Shishito Peppers with smoked salt, Ginger-Scallions Noodles with pickled shiitake mushrooms, cucumbers and wakame salad, and a fantastic Bigeyed Tuna Tartare, with shaved foie gras and pine nuts - a very good suggestion from our very attentive waiter. He explained some of the best dishes we should try, which included higher-end as well as reasonably-priced options, and commended us for our choice of sake with our meal, a Ginjo Shibata Black Aichi. 

 

Sake for two - we want to enjoy it, not get drunk!	Bigeyed Tuna | shaved foie gras, peach, pine nuts
Shishito peppers | smoked salt, lime	Ginger Scallion Noodle | pickled shiitake, wakame salad, cucumber

Even better, as we slowly picked out way through the three plates, enjoying and complimenting every taste, every mouthful of delicious food, he remarked on our enjoyment, how we looked like we were really enjoying ourselves, and offered us each a glass of the restaurant's private label sake to enjoy with our meal, mentioning how it would pair perfectly with the tuna and foie gras. The food, the ambiance, the sake, the experience - we gambled on a restaurant and definitely won big.

Maybe I should say there is a humm, a buzz of activity that only gets louder when the sun goes down and the lights turn on? It being a Saturday, we find ourselves in dangerous waters: people are here to party tonight, and it shows in the level of sophistication and attire that we now see around us as we walk along the Strip. The heels are higher, the dresses classier, the suits are now making an appearance in place of the shorts and flip-flops that were center stage this afternoon. Everyone glows a little more in the lights of the Resorts and Casinos. Our big outing for the night was dinner and a show, and now we wander lazily back to our hotel room at the Excalibur, but not before one last look at the splendor of the fountain at the Bellagio, albeit a little less inspiring from the other side side of the boulevard, and behind construction fencing. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. But I guess that is the way of things in Vegas. And we definitely won this time. 

Plus, I got a piece of cake to go, and that makes for a fantastic bedtime snack. But don't tell anyone.

Because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. 

Even bedtime cake.

Hoover Dam and the heat.

 To wake up with the sun in the middle of the desert - it makes you realize why caravans travel mostly at night. One minute, we are sitting on the bed with the doors open, waiting for the pink sky to light up, the next we are trying desperately to hide from the burning rays of the sun! It gets sooo hot, and sooo quickly! To think that we were using the heater to stay warm not 24 hours ago, too! But we anticipated this heat, this need to shelter from the sun, and so we make our way out of the desert wash, down the road, and to one of the most impressive feats of engineering in US history, the Hoover Dam. If we can't find shade and cooler temperatures deep in the walls of the massive cement structure, then I think we are doomed.

	Driving out of the canyon

Once upon a time - though only about 15 years ago - the roadway across the dam was the only way to cross the river from Arizona into Nevada and nearby Las Vegas. But it got dangerous, as a "state line" painted on the dam became a popular spot for photos, and cars stopped in the middle of the roadway...Now the line is gone, there is a fancy new bridge built over the canyon which can also accommodate all the cargo trucks, and the only cars crossing the dam are the ones seeking out parking spots! Still, people come in droves to see the marvel, take their pictures, walk over the top and stare down into the bottom of the canyon. But you can also take a tour INSIDE the dam, inside the inspection tunnels and ventilation shafts that help keep the place running and safe?! Yes please!

Driving OVER Hoover Dam

Water intakes behind the dam

Map of how the dam works

The sweet coolness of the air-conditioning sweeps over us as we enter the Visitor's Centre, as we pass through obligatory security checks, as we file into a small cinema that bombards us with how great the building of the Hoover Dam was, borderline propaganda(but don't tell anyone I said that). From here, and elevator whisks us down into the heart of the dam, to the pipelines that once diverted the water's flow from the canyon river bed and further downstream, so that work could be done in a dry environment. Now remember that the Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s, often times using mining and drilling equipment frankensteined together with farm equipment, because that's what they had. The pipes used were so large, they could not be shipped by any means available at the time, so a factory had to be created on site to fabricate them! That fact alone puts things into perspective at how big of an undertaking this project was.

Electrical generators inside the dam

Generator No 3 getting some work done

Hoover Dam was actually built not for the creation of hydroelectricity, it was built for irrigation control. The rivers here would often flood in the spring - a result of the snow melting in the Rockies and flowing downstream. The communities downstreams would experience horrible flooding conditions every spring, followed by drought later in the year, with no way to balance this out. Hoover Dam would hold back all of that snow melt, creating the largest man-made lake in the US, Lake Mead, but also allowing for the controlled flow of all that water to people who desperately needed it for agriculture and living. But the creation of electricity using the flow of all that water was always part of the plans, and at the base of the dam sit 8 giant turbines, harnessing the power of all that water to help power Las Vegas. Right now, we count ourselves lucky, as some routine maintenance is being done on turbine number 3, and so it has been pulled from its housing and manoeuvred onto the power plant floor in front of us. At 560 tons, it is a great beast, and watching workers pounding at massive bolts holding used magnets in place is captivating. It's fun to see that big machines break in similar ways to small ones, and that sometimes the only solution is a bigger hammer to hit it with.

Next, we enter some of the most interesting places on the tour. Interestingly, the Hoover Dam was always build with tourists in mind, and it shows - the corridors leading from the power plant are clean and tiled, with gorgeous art deco-style aluminum doors and signage for hidden washrooms. Our guide informs us that interest in the dam was peaked from the start of construction, with locals often found lining the edges of the canyons, cheering on their favorite trades' people. So it was normal to include more polished accesses for all of those eventual tourist who would flock from all over the country to see the splendor of the dam. But we get to see further, into the service tunnels, where one of 4 ventilation shafts used to supply fresh air it located. You can see these grates in the vast curved surface of the dam from the observation deck at the Visitor's Centre, and we have fun spotting where we were later on. 

	View through the ventilation shaft
Those are some steep stairs!
See the opening on the lower left? We were THERE.
New O'Callaghan-Tillman Bridge spanning the river
	Crossing the new bridge for the best views

We get to walk through some inspection tunnels before heading out. There are over 2 miles of tunnels within the walls of the dam, and though they are lined with electronic sensors and seismographs to repot any anomalies, actually workers will walk those tunnels and perform a visual inspection of the place 2 times a year. They note new cracks in the cement, marking their findings directly on that walls, and so we have fun pinpointing the scribbles and trying to decipher what they might mean. And then we crowd into elevators that whisk us back to the surface, and all that dry heat again. Boo. 

So, how do you keep cool when it's 35 C outside and you are in the middle of a desert? You head to the nearest body of water, which, lucky for us, happens to have been made right next to the dam, in the form of Lake Mead. Not only that, but it is a National Recreational Area, with boat launches and picnic areas, and BEACHES, and we jump at the chance to get into the water and cool off. But it is a lake, so the ground is rocky, and mucky, and the water is cooling but not always - it feels good on the skin, and is a welcome break in the middle of the day. We can't do anything else anyways, as hiking would be crazy in the sun. In fact, many of the trails here and in neighbouring parks are closed for the season, on account of the heat, and will reopen only in October. Instead, we drive through the park, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the landscape we pass, layers of rock so distinctly different in colour, it is like driving through a rainbow. And then sometimes it is like driving through a flood of lava, so red and wave-like that it almost seems like waves of the stuff will crash over the road and swallow up the van. In fact, past Lake Mead, we drive through the Valley of Fire State Park, which has less to do with the heat and more to do with the redness of the surrounding scenery. 

Valley of Fire State Park	They are not kidding around with the warnings!
Hiking the Mouse's Tank trail

Sunset finds us just leaving the Valley of Fire and descending to the outskirts of Las Vegas. We won't head completely into town tonight, but stop just short at another of our favorite truck stops. Tomorrow, we return the campervan, and so our evening's activities will consist of eating up the rest of our food supply in the form of a massive cheesy bacon potato pancake, packing up the clothes that seem to have spread their way to all corners of the living space, and attempting to sweep and wipe out a week's worth of dust and dirt from the vehicle. Wish us luck.

Heading back down into Las Vegas

Love's Service Station camping for the night