Nevada - Las Vegas

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Suzanne here...

We arrived in Las Vegas and easily found our hotel, the Gold Spike. Nothing fancy but clean, modern rooms, if a bit stark. As with so many Vegas hotels it was also a casino, finding people propping up the bar first thing in the morning took some getting used to...

The first night was a bit of a disaster. We'd been camping in peaceful national parks, and all of a sudden we were on the Vegas Strip. Probably one of the most full-on and insane places on the planet. It all got a bit much for us, too many people and all too tacky. We couldn't even find any rock, the Rockhouse seemed our best bet but was about as rock as a mackerel. We ended up back at the hotel feeling very subdued and that thinking perhaps Vegas was just not for us.

On day two we decided that we were not going to let Vegas beat us, and this time everything clicked into place. First of all we went for a champagne brunch buffet at the Fremont. At only $13 each we fully expected the food to be mediocre and the 'champagne' cheap, nasty, and rationed. We couldn't have been more wrong. The food was amazing, and the champagne decent quality sparkling Californian wine, and our glasses were constantly refilled before we could empty them. Alas we are not to be trusted with such variety and quality, and ate until we felt sick. Back to the hotel for a nap then.

That evening was so much better than the one before. Rather than pay the high bar prices we bought cans of beer and strolled along the strip. Normally this would mark us out as totally chavvy, but everyone else was doing exactly the same. We spent all of $8 on the slot machines, we're never going to make great gamblers. Mainly it was just great fun people watching and marvelling at the tacky but fun hotels.

We finished the night in our own hotel bar, where we used the buy 1 get 1 free vouchers that we were given on check-in. You did have to join the free casino club to use the vouchers however it was worth the effort to do this as we got four vouchers to use and didn’t have to put a single cent in a machine. Plus, we finally got a little bit of rock, including some Judas Priest. It was also hillarious to watch a bloke sitting at the bar offer some random woman a sip of his drink... and to see her accept!

Now we've got our heads around Vegas I'd definitely go again,but a couple of days is probably long enough. Anyway, time is running out. Onward to our last destination, California.

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