September 21st
We left Barstow and joined the I-15, which takes you straight up to Las Vegas, some 160 miles north. After 60 miles or so, you reach Baker where we left the freeway and took a circular detour into the Mojave National Preserve.
This puts you onto dead straight roads which run as far as the eye can see, before disappearing in the heat shimmer.
Along this road we passed cinder cones and lava rock flows, evidence of the region’s past volcanic activity.
After some time we arrived at Kelso, where there is a visitor center in an old restored railroad station house. Kelso exists as a result of the railroad - when the railroad was built, the track heading up out of Kelso was too steep for the steam locomotives to pull their wagons up, so five helper engines ’lived’ at Kelso, whos purpose was to help push the freight trains up the incline. When they reached the top they simply freewheeled back down the line to the depot at the bottom and waited for the next train to come through.
The vistor center was very informative with lots of interesting displays. The building itself had been very well restored, having nearly been demolished some years back. With the introduction of diesel locomotives they were powerful enough to pull the freight cars up the incline without assistance, so Kelso diminished in size.
We left Kelso and headed back towards the I-15, on a different road which took us through the largest Joshua tree forest in the world. Calling them ’trees’ is a bit misleading as they are actually members of the yucca family and a bit short, but they can grow as tall as 30 feet - the majority of the ones we saw were much smaller than this though.
From here we made our way straight to Las Vegas to check in at the hotel - “Terrible’s Hotel and Casino”, and whilst it may be called Terrible’s, it’s far from terrible in reality. The room is spacious, and whilst it’s nothing compared to the likes of the Bellagio, it more than meets our needs, whilst being very light on the wallet. It even has a pool, next to which I am currently sat typing this - it’s a hard life! 
In the evening we headed to the strip, which is about a 15 minute walk away. We walked from the Wynn, near the top of the strip, down to the MGM Grand, stopping off in the Venetian for a meal in St. Mark’s Square. The insides of these hotels are something else, and you really have to see it to beleive it. You can’t really capture the size and scale of these places with pictures, although Claire has been trying her best!
We also stopped outside the Bellagio for a while, watching the fountain displays. These are set to different pieces of music, and are simply spectacular. They last about 5-6 minutes, and start every 15 minutes with a different show, so you don’t have to wait long in between shows, and they become quite addictive waiting for the next one! We could actually sit and watch them all evening - just outstanding. 
