Days 274 - 279. Blackjack, Elton & Hooters...... it's got to be Vegas!!

Arriving at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport just after midnight, we cleared immigration and customs alot quicker than we expected, then went to get our hire car. It was about 2 am before we left Los Angeles for our drive through the night to Sin City, Las Vegas!! We had been upgraded to a convertable car, so we'd be able to have a few days of topless action in Nevada. It was daylight already when we arrived and I woke Sarah for her first glimps of Las Vegas and the world famous strip. We were staying in Motel 6, and they allowed us a very early check in, as soon as we arrived. Though we were tired, we were more hungry and decided to kickstart our day with a good old fashioned breakfast, complete with pancakes and mayple syrup, Yum.

Though we had an idea of what we wanted to do in Vegas, we needed a map and some advice, so we headed to the information centre on the strip, where we were given the first of our 'freebies', 2 for 1 buffet at the Monte Carlo casino. This coincided with the casino setting up a wheel of fortune on the pavement where we both won $10 of free slot points, which Sarah turned into her first win of $45, great start!

Vegas takes on an even more glitzy feel at nighttime, so we decided to walk the strip on our first night. Seeing the glamorous facades and taking in the Bellagios fountains along the way. It is incredible to see these dancing fountains set perfectly to various styles of music. The lighting is great and it is easy to see why large crowds gather for each show every fifteen minutes. We had planned to see the Treasure Island show too, but high winds had meant the show was cancelled. With our feet throbbing from the long walk, we decided to get the $2 duece bus back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep.

Our main reason for being in Vegas was for Elton John's "Red Piano" concert at Ceasers Palace on Saturday night. As this was Sarah's Christmas present, she wants to tell you about it herself...


I love Elton John's music, so when Mike bought me tickets to see him in Vegas, I was very excited. As alot of you will know,

MGM Casino

my excitement has been growing to the point of screams when an Elton song comes on the Ipod, which has lead to numerous strange looks coming my way..... We went to Ceasars before the show to have a delicious Italian meal, then we made our way through security to where the show would be held. Mike had got us some great seats, right in the centre of the circle, just perfect. While we were waiting for the show to start, Mike asked me if I could repeat any concert again, which one would I choose.. My answer was Elton John, even though I still hadn't seen him yet, the excitement and anticipation were immense. The show started with a standing ovation and his first song, Benny and the Jets was a real crowd pleaser. He sang for over 2 hours and my top 3 (and it's very hard to narrow these down) were, "Believe", "I guess that's why they call it the blues" and "Rocketman". I also liked "Your song", well I did say it was hard to narrow it down!!. Elton is such an amazing pianist and emotional singer I was grinning from ear to ear for the whole

New York New York at night

thing.

Now the set is also worth a mention, choreographed by David Lachapelle had created a Las Vegas tribute with lights, inflatable flowers, legs , boobs, bananas (don't ask) and of course, the Red piano itself, positioned on an illuminated star. I'm not going to tell you anything else for fear of spoiling it for you, but I would say if you are an Elton fan, or a Las Vegas fan or both, you'll LOVE IT!!! I had a wonderful night with Michael and Elton. Thank you so much, I don't think that present will easily be topped!! xx


After the hype and excitement of Elton's one man show, that we both enjoyed so much, we wanted to see an other show the next night. We settled on the Crique du Soleil show called Mystere. This is located at Treasure Island Casino and features incredible acrobatics, from trapeze artists, to people climbing up poles upside down only using their hands, it is very hard to describe just how good the show was, but we would certainly recommend it. Afterwards we went outside to see the "Sirens of Treasure Island", one of the free shows on the strip. This is two pirate ships fighting with pyrotechnics and scantily clad sirens singing badly... There are other free shows including the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Vegas. This is old school Las Vegas with casinos much closer together and some iconic lights. Sarah even made it onto the big screen telly on the roof, being interviewed about her trip to Vegas...


After a trip on the rollercoaster at New York New York casino which includes a loop the loop and corkscrew, Sarah was pretty shakey saying it was much worse than her bungy jump. I find this hard to believe! We decided on blackjack for our last nights gambling in Hooters casino, (Sarah's choice of casino not mine). We had a great nights fun at a full table with lots of cocktails.

We would be leaving Las Vegas on Tuesday, although there was one last thing to do before we left, a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. (Pictures are on Page three). Our morning flight would leave from Boulder City with Hoover Dam one of the first things we saw. From there it was onward to the Colorado river and the Grand Canyon. At 277 miles long, 17 miles wide and one mile deep in places, it is difficult to fully grasp the scale of the Canyon. We descended in the helicopter towards the bottom of the Canyon following the river, passing the new attraction; the glass walkway. This is a U-shaped walkway for tourists to appreciate the Canyon. Seeing it from the sky made us even more aware of the size and scale of this place. The colours of the canyon were amazing, vivid red walls and a mass of rock. We flew through the Canyon for around 20 minutes before sweeping back up to five thousand feet and the flight back to Boulder. The helicopter flight lasted for over one hour and we both really enjoyed seeing this iconic American landscape. Sarah and I had the front seats giving us the best views of this spectacular natural wonder. We would definitely recommend spending some of your winnings on a flight around here!

All in all, Las Vegas has been great fun and a brilliant way to start our North American adventure.

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