Well well, after our fun in Miami chilling on the beaches we flew into vegas. Arriving at midnight the view from the plane flying into Vegas was mental, I have never seen so many flashing lights. Our first stay was at a low key hotel just off the strip, but even this had a large casino. We crashed out for the night to energise ourselves for a full day of vegas in the morning.
After a small lie in we checked out and walked over to our next hotel.... the MGM Grand! The worlds biggest hotel, and it is pretty large, the Casino floor houses a Lion Habitat!! We checked in, got lost in the mayhem of flashing lights in the casino and found our way onto the strip, across the road at the tropicana hotel was a queue for a free pull on a one armed bandit. the potential prizes being a car, $15000 or free tickets to a Vegas show, so up i walked with my lucky digit at the ready. And he only went and bloody won it! The free tickets... but still, Dirk Arthurs Xtreme magic is not to be sniffed at. We claimed our prize amd continued our walk down the strip to Mandalay bay, where in the hotel gardens there is a shark Aquarium.... obviously. So we looked around the aquarium, saw some sharks, turtles, and many other fish, before walking on. We passed a giant faux sphinx and pyramid at Luxor and a hotel/medieval castle at excalibur before reaching New York New York hotel. NYNY is a giant replica of the manhattan skyline, with the chrysler building, empire state etc, oh yeah and it has a looping rollercoaster around it. you might be getting the impression that Vegas is mental, well..... It really is. So we Went inside and had a ride on the rollercoaster, which gives awesome views of the strip, if you can concentrate on the view. After this it was time to hop back to the MGM to get ready for our free show.
The show was pretty cool, Dirk Arthur is very camp, and while this normally wouldnt be much to comment about, it was amusing when he was surrounded by his scantily clad female helpers and attempting to seem like some sort of playboy. The magic was good, although he obviously hasnt heeded the lesson of sigfried and royd as it included huge tigers. After the show we were back on the strip to see Vegas by night, we gambled like the high rollers we are by feeding a massive $1 into the 5cent slot machines at a few hotels, and ended the night a dollar to the good. we were back in our swanky room at about 2am after a crazy day in the most ridiculous city on earth.
Change of scenery and atmosphere the next day as we hired a car for 2days and drove to the grand canyon via the hoover dam. The hoover dam is tall, but after the second largest dam in the world in south america is wasnt that impressive. Maddy was indifferent so we looked at it for 30mins then hit the dusty trail to the canyon. Indifference was definately not on the cards there, its MASSIVE!! Too big to comprehend really, we watched the sunset from the south rim at Mather point and then drove to our campsite. MGM one night, a reclined seat in a Dodge Calibre the next.
We were up at 4am the next day to watch the sun rise, it was a bit cloudy but still awesome. Next we parked the car up and caught a free shuttle bus to the start of the south Kaibob trail, where we walked for 2hours to the strangely named Ooo Aaa Point, we Oooed and Aaaed for a while and took soem amazing photies which i will upload soon. After our early start we were back in the car and heading back to Vegas at 2pm. Back urban madness we checked into our next hotel, Circus Circus, where trapeeze artits and other circus acts perform daily for free avobe the casino. Quick shower and we were back in the car for a very american experience, a drive in theatre! The movie we watched wasnt the best but for the experience it was worth it.
For our next and last day in Vegas we walked the rest of the Strip, to Paris where there is a 2/3rd size Eiffel Tower, and an Arc de Triomphe. To Flamengo, which has a rare bird habitat in its gardens, and to Treasure Island where there is a nightly mock battle on its two pirate ships out front. We bought a pass for the indoor theme park in Circus Circus, and found that we were 10years older than everyone in there, it seems everyone old enough to drink or gamble in Vegas is out drinking or gambling. Apart from me and maddy who go on childrens theme park rides.
So that pretty much brings you up to date, this morning we caught a bus to LA and it is there that I am, in a very nice hostel on hollywood boulevard. Plans for our 4 days in LA are beach for some surfing and star spotting and house oggling around hollywood. Hope you are all well.
Blog soon
Rich
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