Scott's Vintage in California: Post 11. Vegas pt 2 plus a gross P.S.

Hi All,

I Just got home from work and I thought I'd finish the Vegas weekend. I left off with the visit to the Pawn shop featured in Pawn Stars on 7Mate. I had a look through their stuff, a lot of gold and Jewelry and some items that have been featured on the show and A LOT of merchandise (Mer's I got us all matching "I love Pawn Stars" T shirts with mine saying "I'm a Pawn Star" on the back. Cool hey? Anyway, it was around 7 pm and I looked around the neighbour hood and the accommodation that was available, when getting a start on the journey home seemed like an awesome idea. Outside the populated strip gets a bit seedy after dark, so I thought I'd take a chance at "Whiskey Pete's". So I drove back to California and grabbed a room at Whiskey Pete's Casino for $50; bargin. As I said in my last post, there is desert in every direction from Pete's, the Medieval styled buildings just rise up at the border with a fun park the other side of the highway with the two sides connected by a monorail. There is no reason for this place to be here. There is also a fuel station, which I can understand, but a rollercoaster??

I checked in thinking there would be bugger all people there. I was wrong, while it wasn't packed it was bustling (it was Saturday night). The gaming tables were full and a band started up at nine (embedded below). I don't know where all the people lived, they couldn't all be travelers. There was even a McDonalds inside the Casino along with an iHop (another type of franchise where I had tea that night and breaky the next morning), Angus, you would have loved the pancakes. it was while I was eating my pancakes when I found out Napa had been hit with a pretty big earthquake.

One cool thing Whiskey Pete's had was the car that Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down in in 1932 (I think). Boy's, Bonnie and Clyde were two criminals in America that killed a heap of people and robbed banks and stores. The police ambushed them one night in their car and shot heaps of bullets into it and in the process killed them. The photos below show the shot up car. There was also a display about the Mob involvement in the development of Las Vegas.

There's not much more to tell. I had a few beers, looked around and listened to the band (music style was on the country side of rockabilly).

The picking has slowed right down at North Canyon. We handpicked a number of 2 year old blocks over the last two days. So all the Pinot is off. There is just a bit of chardy to go. I just found out they want me in the Napa on the 7th of Sept. The plan was that I would help the manager of Napa South, Harinder, who was in Australia a couple of years ago. We sent a Pellenc up to the Napa from North Canyon this afternoon. I guess as a comparison to Australia, we are nearing the end of February so Coonawarra would (in a warm year) be just starting whites. I know that Be's are racing in Napa and Napa south has a lot of Chardonnay so into the thick of it possibly next weekend. I will be living with three other guys in Yountville (centre of Napa Valley) when I get there. That'll be a bit of a change to the present where I've been by myself for nearly four weeks. The 7th will be the first night we are all there together so the company has generously shouted us a night out as a "get to know each other/welcome to Napa" night. Should be fun.

Now the P.S

San Luis Obispo is a college town with Cal Poly the local university. As such there is a good vibe in town and a lot of pubs, some of which I've managed to visit. The other day I was walking down the street and I got an overwhelming smell of bubble gum. I looked down an alley and I saw several people taking pictures of the brick walls. When I looked the walls were very colourful. So what, I hear you ask? Well, the colours were from bubblegum stuck to the walls. And I don't mean a few chewed up balls of gum. It was as if the gum was holding the buildings up there was so much. The photo's are below. And yes, it is all chewing gum.