Hi Everybody!
We just got back from our 12 day Vegas trip last night, and I thought I’d post a few reflections (this is Mundane, Pointless Stuff I feel like Sharing, after all. 
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DRIVING
Interstates rock my world. Holy moleys, driving 75 mph legally is the cat’s bum. Hey, guess how much a ticket for going 88 mph in a 75 mph zone in Idaho costs? $62. My husband really wanted to know that, I guess.
We were, apparently, the fastest drivers in the State of Montana (even when we weren’t going 88 mph).
Mileage markers and exits and towns all marked in mileages also rocks. It was very easy to navigate using those.
Drivers in Salt Lake City are idiots and assholes, and drivers in Las Vegas are assholes and idiots. Apparently, Salt Lake City drivers are all trying to kill pedestrians, and have no concept that there are any other cars on the road other than them. Drivers in Las Vegas at least honk or wave when they cut you off at 75 mph when they come diving into traffic (that was what we noticed most in Vegas - the dive into traffic/the other lane manoeuver). Actually, if you think that most drivers in Vegas are two sheets to the wind, it all makes a lot more sense.
Stopping for red lights is optional in both places. I think people stop for green lights in Montana.
Suicide lanes for left turns are bad, very bad. We had been in Vegas about 5 minutes when we saw the aftermath of a head-on collision in one of these bad ideas.
Reflectors marking the lanes is very cool at night in Vegas.
FOOD and DINING
Snack foods are better in Canada, mostly because we just have more choices. We’ve got all your stuff, plus we have the Canadian stuff.
We didn’t find the amounts of food at restaurants huge until we hit Utah and Nevada. Then we were getting meals with salad, bread, muffins, you name it, as well as a huge main course. I had lots of lunches the next day from my leftovers from suppers.
If you don’t care for dairy stuff in the U.S., I urge you to try Canadian dairy before you write it off completely. There’s no way around it - we have much better dairy products in Canada.
Meals were mostly cheaper, but not significantly so.
They’re not washrooms or bathrooms in any state on our trip - always restrooms.
Service was almost uniformly friendly, but not always completely competent.
It doesn’t take very long before you get used to hearing “uh huh” instead of “you’re welcome” when you say “thank you” to someone.
I’m still not sure if I like having someone come over and ask if we plan to have dessert and give us our bill as soon as they’ve served us dinner. It’s very efficient, but it feels a bit like being given the bum’s rush.
MISCELLANEOUS
No taxes in Montana is great.
I was surprised that the cost of stuff in stores and malls was virtually the same as stuff here, with the one big exception of electronic stuff (batteries, flash drives, camera memory cards, etc.)
State and Federal park fees are a bit of a hose-job. The Bryce Canyon was amazing, but $20 to get in to drive around for an hour? Ouch. And the Federal and State parks around Vegas - we already paid to go through the Federal park, now they’ve got their hands out for us to drive through the Valley of Fire State park. The parks themselves were very nice and well-maintained, though. I guess that’s the trade-off.
Holy crap, Vegas is hot, and this was just in spring. The Strip is just as advertised - loud, bright, crass, commercial. We’ll be going back to Vegas, but not for the Strip. And not in full-on summer. 
(waves to DMark and LVGeogeek)
All in all, we had a very pleasant, fun trip, and we saw many incredible things (like a bison giving birth in Yellowstone Park.) Now we’re just trying to get over our end-of-vacation blues. 
