I drove through the desert last night

As the weather continued to drop, I chased the sun west into the heart of the desert in the fourth largest populated city in America; Phoenix.

I first headed east of the city centre where a short trip across the bridge brings you to Tempe, a college based town of Arizona State University. Since being in the states I have fallen in love with colleges and here especially I found myself wondering why I didn’t do an exchange. Back in Phoenix, downtown is dominated by the two main sporting stadiums of Chase Stadium and US Airways Arena, as Phoenix is another city home to a team in all four major sporting leagues. Inside Chase Stadium is a TGI Fridays, which allows you to enjoy some buffalo wings and fries whilst looking over center field, which is a pretty exciting lunch. Afterwards, I found myself in Arizona Center, a downtown parkway where, on a breezy 20 degree day, INXS played over the speaker system. As the sun went down on the desert I again headed east to two major tourist stops, with the first being the Desert Botanical Garden. The orange glow of the disappearing sun gave the gardens a picturesque setting as the gardens are literally in the middle of the desert. Just down the road is the Phoenix Zoo, and as holiday season has arrived, the Zoo offered up nighttime exhibit most of the animals, but the main attraction was the light display, which was pretty much Christmas street lights on steroids. The next morning, I took a two-hour walk through the outskirts of the CBD along Roosevelt row; a collection of street art and murals depicting significant moments of politics and society. Although it was only a 48 hour stopover, I really enjoyed my time in sunny Phoenix, however it was time to bear down.

A two-hour bus trip south takes you to Tucson, another college town as home of the Wildcats of The University of Arizona. There have only been a few occasions on this trip where someone knew me more than the Aussie guy on his own, and Tucson was one of them as a mate from highschool and university was smart enough to do a semester here. After a night of reminiscing and impersonating teachers, Thanksgiving was spent very un-traditionally, first with Pizza and Soda for lunch, before throwing around a pigskin on campus. A tip if you do find yourself in the states over thanksgiving – find a family to adopt you for the day as everywhere shuts down like on Christmas Day. Friday was a much more lively day as the Wildcats prepared to take on the Sun Devils of Arizona State (Fuck ASU). After some pregame Fantas, I found myself in the Zona Zoo with around 10000 UofA students going absolutely mental – and it was amazing. Anytime anything happened, the crowd had something different to say, chant or clap and was one of the better experiences of the trip. The Wildcats eventually got up causing fans to storm the field in yet another incredible experience, as the claimed the Territorial Cup and Pac-12 South Champions. BEAR DOWN FOR WHAT!?

Early the next morning, we made our way to the airport as we were headed to Sin City for the weekend. Las Vegas is crazy, just ridiculous. Firstly, there are pokies in the airport terminal, like literally as you step off the plane you can gamble. Secondly, their lax liquor licensing laws allow you to drink on the street at any time of day. And the place is just full of hotels. Whilst walking from one end The Strip to the other on a Saturday wasn’t the best idea, it did give us a chance to see the city in daylight and it is a lot bigger than I expected. Hotels and Casinos dominate the area, as everywhere you look there’s somewhere to eat, drink or gamble. After dumping our bags and checking out the number one family hotel in Vegas (a mistake we made in booking) we were ready to see what was installed for our first night. Despite being solicited by every third person, we first found ourselves at Caesars Palace (not too dissimilar to three other best friends that anyone could ever have), before moving onto Treasure Island. If I’m honest, I only know this because of what the boys told me the following day, I don’t actually remember. Sunday night was much more subdued as gambling became priority, and after loosing on roulette, it was time to check out the view of Vegas at night,and it’s about 10 times better than the daytime view. An ocean of colour and light, Las Vegas boulevard is playground for anyone wanting to do anything. So whilst losing my Vegas virginity was a lot of fun, I would definitely come back with a bit more money to spend. Right now, I’m driving down the 101; California here we come, right back where we started from.