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We arrived in Las Vegas on Monday the 24th and decided to check in to the Sin City Hostel, which was basic but clean. We had a private room whcih turned out to have a connecting door to a dorm full of very random people, most of which were usually pretty mashed.
The first night we walked half way down the strip and found a penny casino - perfect for us non-gamblers on a budget. We went crazy and changed 3 whole dollars....and as we popped our 5 cents in the machines, the dolly-birds kept bringing us big beers. Four beers later, we felt quite merry which we put down to the jet-lag so we called it a day - and at this point we were 30 cents up so we were over-the-moon!
The following day, we caught the bus down to the MGM Grand and New York New York for our first taste of Vegas hotels. Then we headed to the Crown & Anchor, Vegas' English bar, so that Garry could watch The Arsenal beat Villa Real....
We continued with our hotel tours, but after a while the sight of the rows of fruit machines became quite tidious
so we called it a day. We carried on that night and we both agreed that the Venitian was absolutely amazing - there is a gondola river running from outside the hotel up to the second floor, where you find yourself walking through a typical Venitian street complete with a beautiful blue sky, which was trippy because it was night time outside! The fountains at The Bellagio were wonderful too and reminded me a lot of Barcelona, with the water 'dancing' to the classical music - cracking! There are great opportunities to blag free beer and food here - all you need to do is sign up for a casino card (you don't actually have to gamble though, they just assume you will), and then they give you free tickets. At one casoino, we had to spin a wheel and we one a free buffet. So, when it came to my turn, I wasn't so lucky and it landed on a free hat, so I moved the wheel on a few spaces and blagged another free buffet - we ate so much we could hardly walk after.
There are a lot of loons in America and most seem to
The Grand Canyon
One damn big hole in the earth.... want to talk to us. They are fairly harmless but always after a dollar (which they never get from us!). People seem to be drunk constently due to the 24 hour drinking and gambling going on. Our final thoughts on Vegas was that it was like Southend-on-Sea on acid - the lights are shocking, the hotels are huge but it doen become 'a bit much' after a couple of days, although I think it would be a different experience if I was staying at the Venitian with a couple of grand to spend!
We met quite a few other travellers at the hostel, in particular, Kim & Trevor from Kent, who are coming to the end of a 6 month tour. We picked their brains for tips etc and it turned out they were off to the Grand Canyon nex so we decided to all go together. Garry & I hired what should have been an ecomomy car for two weeks but with a bit of charm and some cheek thrown in, we drove away in a brand new 4X4 Jeep.
The trip to Arizona was great - we stopped off at the Hoover Dam. We were just
The Canyon Crew
Kim, Trev, Nic & Gaz....and a very steep drop having a look and out of nowhere a voice boomed, ''You are in a restricted area'' which we found hilarious but decided to get out of there pretty damn quickly. Then we joined the old Rounte 66 and cruised all the way to Flagstaff, taking in some strange little towns on the way (Hackberry rules!).
Flagstaff is a really pretty town with a fab mountain backdrop. We stayed in a lovely,well-run hostel called The Grand Canyon International and we got to shop at the local Wall Mart supermarket, which made our day!
On Friday the 28th, we drove to the famous Grand Canyon.....it was breath-taking! The immensity, depth and vastness is quite something and it took me sometime to get used to walking around it. Garry went straight to a ledge which had a shire drop behind him so that he could have his picture taken! Kim and Trevor were equally blown away with it, bearing in mind they have taken in some amazing places over the last few months. We hiked down the Canyon for a good hour but it is so deep, it would take at least a day to make it all the way to
Pancakes, bacon & syrup
Keeping up my strength in Kathy's Cafe in Flagstaff the Colorado River so we hiked back up (it was bloody steep and hot!) and went for some beers instead!!!!
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Jodie
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Yummyyyyyy
Is that a milk shake in that glass. I want one..........