Day 8 - Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

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Another early rise today but there was no chance to get any more photos of the canyon because it was raining heavily again. The Sat Nav estimated it would be a 5-hour drive so we set off fairly quickly.

The traffic was quite light on the freeways and we made good time until the thunderstorms hit again, the weather channels say that these storms and flooding are unusual and unseasonal, so that's alright then!

About 30 miles South of Las Vegas we stopped to have a look at the Hoover Dam. It's an amazing feat of engineering and provides electricity to cities in half a dozen different states. There's still a lot of construction going on as they are building a flyover to reduce traffic at the dam and we had to go through a (anti-suicide bomb) security checkpoint before we drove across it.

We got to Las Vegas and could see the hotels on the strip from miles away. Our hotel, the Mandalay Bay, has got to be the biggest hotel I've ever seen. It has over 1100 rooms on 43 floors, a huge casino, dozens of restaurants and nightclubs, a chapel (of course) a two-storey shopping centre, a huge shark aquarium and its own water park complete with beach, lazy river and wave pool. It's the second time in two days I've been amazed. We checked-in and headed straight for the pool but the thunderstorms arrived shortly after we did and wrecked that plan. Thunderstorms and rain in Las Vegas? Rain? Las Vegas?

We then headed for the strip and found that most of the other major hotels on the strip are like themed mini villages and are huge. One thing that did strike me was the number of drunken people staggering down the strip in the middle of the afternoon, but it’s easy to understand why when the bars in the casinos are open round the clock. This little walk also made me realise I didn't bring nearly enough money, I was already over budget after LA but I don't think my credit card will survive this place intact as there is definitely a Las Vegas premium added to the price of just about everything.

Even after just a short time here I can see the attraction of the place as an adult playground, there are lots of rides and attractions for the kids but I think the place is at it’s best when the kids are in bed.

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