Vegas baby!

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A 3.30am alarm call sent us on our way to our next destination. We had a very brief stop in Houston which brought great disappointment. You go to Paris, you expect to see the Eiffel Tower; you go to London, you expect to see Big Ben. I go to Texas and I expect to see real cowboys in cowboy hats. Okay so we didn't leave the terminal building but still - it's Texas! I had an interesting character sitting next to me on the plane. The lady received a phone call just before we set off, informing her that a friend's ex-wife had been murdered! I heard the full story about how she was a hooker in Vegas and lived on the streets. "One of those kind," were the words the lady used to describe her!!

Las Vegas was a means to an end for us. We didn't have any desire to come here, it was just the easiest way to get to the Grand Canyon which is somewhere we all wanted to visit. I know lots of people who have visited Vegas and most have loved it, it's just never been somewhere that has interested me. I decided to keep an open mind and booked us into Circus Circus, recently voted best family hotel in Vegas. I booked it because it was cheap and most of our budget for this section of the holiday was blown on the helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon! We arrived at the hotel tired and hungry and immediately fulfilled Izzy's longing for a buffet meal. We ate a weird and wonderful concoction of food before finally finding our way out of the hotel to explore the strip. Heading in and out of all the hotels and shopping malls to keep cool, we made our way to the Bellagio to watch the impressive water display. The fountains in front of the hotel give a spectacular performance to music every thirty minutes and is a definite must see.

I had pre booked us on the Slotzilla zipline which runs though the Fremont Street area. There are two lines, the zoom line which travels from 114 feet in the air for 1750 feet and the zip line which is slightly lower and goes for half the distance. We all wanted to do the high zoom line but unfortunately little miss skinny minnie wasn't heavy enough so I booked two of us on each. Bruce and I argued over who should ride with Izzy - he eventually won and I rode the high one with Lily. It was another Mr Grey and the red room of pain moment, strapped into a harness with legs trussed up behind as we flew down over the street, coming to a jolt at the end when the brakes kicked in. Izzy and Bruce enjoyed their ride too but Izzy was gutted she wasn't allowed to do the high one.

So, my first impressions of Vegas? It's like Blackpool on drugs. It's blingy, tacky and cheap. You've seen one casino, you've pretty much seen them all. Some of the hotels are nicer than others but I honestly thought the top end hotels would be classy - I've found them either grubby and tired or overly blingy. I will take a look with fresh eyes tomorrow and hopefully see it in a different light. I may revisit Jimmy Choo too, just to check the shoes and sunnies are all still there!

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