Viva Las Vegas

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We ended up having to take a flight from San Francisco. We looked into going to Reno and then driving down to Vegas, but rental companies either didn't do one way rentals to those locations, or they were charging far to much for 1 days rental. The flight was only an hour long. We could see Lake Mead and the strip as we came into land. The airport is right behind the strip. Too close really for comfort. The approach to the airport was a little bumpy, as Vegas is in a valley surrounded by mountains. Only on our arrival did we find out it was monsoon season too. When you disembark from the plane you are greeted by one arm bandits. Not the real thing but the slot machine, so you can start gambling straight away.

After grabbing our bags we headed outside to be hit by the heat of an oven. We had to hang around for a shuttle,with no shade. There was a slight breeze but that was little help. Once on board the shuttle we were lapping up the cold air conditioning.

We spent a week in Vegas. We stayed on the strip but not in one of the big lavish hotels where you have to walk through a big casino to check in. We did have to walk through the casino to get to our room. People can still smoke in the casinos so they stink a bit. Vegas is about doing everything to excess. People can come to Vegas eat and gamble to excess.

We spent our first day shopping at an outlet mall at the south end of the strip,past the airport. The next day at the mile long shopping centre, then we walked to The Mandalay Bay via the free sky train. Then hopped in a cab and went electronic shopping. Phil was after a Nintendo DS but wanted to wait until the airport to get it duty free. He ended up getting it at the electric store in Vegas, good thing too as the airport had no electronics. On the Wednesday we went went to see the car collection at our hotel before heading over to the Mirage to see the Dolphins in the Secret Garden.


The following day we went to see the famous fountains at the Bellagio. Once the show had finished a massive thunder storm was under way. We were stuck between water on one side, trees on the other and the mini Eiffel tower across the road. As we were walking we heard and show a massive crack of lighting. After that I ran through the flooded path and into the Bellagio. It was the wrong place to be as everything in the hotel was over priced. Eventually the rain eased, so we headed back to out hotel.

On Friday we were up before the crack of dawn. We had a long day ahead of us as we got ready for a day at the Grand Canyon. We got picked up at 6am and didn't return until 7pm. We travelled in a luxury van. It was a small group of 12. We passed lake Mead and Boulder City. It was too misty to see anything. Next we stopped at the Hoover Dam for a quick photo. Then we drove through the Arizona desert.

We were taken onto route 66, the mother road. This road is no longer used by the main traffic as there is an interstate not 5 minutes away. We had a buffet lunch just outside the entrance to the National Park.

We had decided to go to the South rim. If you go to the West rim you will have to travel along a dirt track for some of the journey. We got to visit too locations at the South rim. Unfortunately at the 2nd location it began to rain.


In the casinos you can't use quarters in the slot machines. The minimum bet is a 1 dollar note. You maybe able to bet 1c a time but you can't spend less then 1 dollar. It is a con.

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