Las Vegas

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After getting married a few days earlier, we were really tired by the time we were going on our honeymoon. We had to catch an early flight from Dublin so we headed off to the airport at 5 am. Our first stop was Gatwick, where our flight to Vegas was delayed 2 hours. We were so tired so just slept in the terminal until we were called for our flight. The 11 hour flight to Vegas was good. We slept a lot!

We got a taxi from Vegas airport to our hotel, Bellagio. It was a short drive. It was beginning to get dark, and the lights were all coming on, so we took in the sights on our way to the hotel. We got to the hotel and we were so impressed. It was a far cry from our hostelling and backpacking days! There were huge autumnal floral displays in the lobby, with coloured glass flowers on the ceiling. Beyond that, we could see the big casino. We joined the queue to check in and the lady very kindly upgraded us to a front-facing room on the 25th floor. We felt like Monica and Chandler on their honeymoon.

We strolled through the busy lobby past the casino and the cafe's, past the world's largest chocolate fountain, past the conservatory which had a beautiful autumnal display, down a long corridor past the pools (yes, poolS) and got a lift up to our floor.

The room was amazing. There was a mini bar which we didn't touch at first because the lady at the check in desk told us it is weight activated. As soon as you lift something out of its place, you're charged for it. The curtains were operated by a switch on the wall. The bathroom was huge with a bath, a shower and 2 sinks. We had a great view of the strip and the fountain from our window, so we had a look at the fountain display. On our TV, we could listen to the music that goes with the display. We decided to open a bottle of champagne and have it in our room to celebrate.

Once we had freshened up, we went downstairs to the buffet for dinner. We were only half way through when the excitement left us and tiredness took over. We headed to bed early and slept for 11 hours.

The next morning, we called down and ordered breakfast to the room. We had muesli and waffles. The waffles had a Bellagio "B" in the middle. Fancy. After breakfast we headed to the concierge to ask a few questions and book a show. We booked tickets to Britney Spears the following night, and went across the road to the Planet Hollywood hotel to pick up the tickets at the box office. Planet Hollywood was really dark and like a maze, we couldn't find our way to the box office or our way out! We did find a Britney slot machine, though! Eventually, we saw the box office and picked up our tickets. Dave had a go on the Family Guy slots, but we didn't really know how to play.

We got a bite to eat in a cafe on the strip, in the Paris Hotel, opposite the Bellagio. We watched the fountain displays as we ate lunch (mac and cheese and loaded fries). We had a walk around the strip, found a Bubba Gumps, and planned to go there the following night. We walked around the inside of the Paris hotel, which is decked out like parisian streets. We went back to the hotel and relaxed at the pool for a while. There were about 4 pools in the same area, all separated by low walls and trimmed shrubs. There were garden statues, flower beds and plant pots everywhere.

Later that evening, we went to cafe Bellagio for dinner. Afterwards we went to the casino to play some roulette. I didn't do very well at all. We decided to go outside and see some other hotels, so we walked though Caesars Palace and to the Mirage, where we played craps, in which I hit a guy in the face with the dice... After that we played some blackjack. There were so many people milling around the casino; a show had just finished so people were piling out of the theatre and around the tables. After our stint in the Mirage, and after taking ages to find the door, we made our way back to the Bellagio casino. As we cashed our chips in, the lady behind the counter was telling us of her love of the Irish music group "Celtic Woman". We nodded politely. We found a blackjack table and played a few hands. We went to bed with an extra $100 in our pocket (thanks to Dave) and we were pretty happy with ourselves.

We were up early the next morning to be picked up by Pink Jeep Tours at 6:45 am. Our tour guide, Debbie, was there to welcome us. We were going to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. There were 3 ladies from North Carolina on the tour, as well as a family from Brazil. We set off at 7 am and took the the sights of the Nevada desert, which had surprisingly many mountains. We passed though Boulder City, the custom-built town for the workers of the Hoover Dam, as well as Dolan Springs, a proper wild-west town with nothing in it, except a few wooden houses and trailers. On the way to the canyon we saw so many Joshua trees, named after the prophet Joshua because they looked like a man with his arms outstretched. We arrived at the West Rim vistor centre, run by the Hualapai Indians. They own the entire 1 million acres of the West Rim. We decided to do the Skywalk- a glass bridge that reaches out over the canyon- and we really enjoyed it. The canyon below us dropped 4,000 feet. We weren't allowed cameras or phones on the skywalk, but we got our picture taken by a staff member. The bridge looked out over Eagle Point, a ridge that looks like an eagle spreading its wings

Afterwards, we took a walk around the different dwellings built by different Indian tribes like the Navajo, Plains and the Hualapai too. We took some photos, and also saw the plant that makes tequila, much to Dave's delight. We hopped on the shuttle bus and headed off to Guano Point and had lunch in the Guano Café (not a very nice name for an eatery...). Guano Point gets its name from a big cave nearby full of guano (bat poo- for those of you who haven't seen Ace Ventura). In the 1930s, two men were fishing in the canyon and spotted the cave. They didn't have the money to excavate the guano, so they sold it to two businessmen. The businessmen didn't have enough money to excavate the guano either, so they sold the cave to the US Guano Company who set up cable cars and a massive operation to retrieve the guano. They spent $2 million on the operation, and only managed to harvest $1 million worth of guano. After lunch, we explored the area, taking photos and climbing ledges. We headed back to the gift shop before getting back into the jeep.

Debbie then took us to Hoover Dam which was built from 1931-1935. It wasn't built to create hydro-electric power, but to prevent flooding in California. The funding was gathered throughout the 1920s so was still able to go ahead even after the Great Depression hit. Half of the dam is in Arizona, the other half in Nevada. And because for most of the year the states have different time zones, there are two towers: one with a clock showing Arizona time, and one with a clock showing Nevada time.

The dam has caused a build up of water upstream, creating a lake now known as Lake Meed. We past a monument of two angels, built for the 95 men who died during the building of the dam, before driving over to the Arizona side. We stopped at a view point and took some photos. We saw a herd of big horn sheep, which look like goats really. We could see the overflow tunnels which have only been needed three times in the last 80 years.

We had a great view over Lake Meed, where people were jet-skiing and water- skiing. We got back on the jeep, and back to Las Vegas. We got to the hotel and showered and changed, and headed straight for Bubba Gumps to get some shrimp before the Britney show. As usual, Bubba's was great craic, with good food and Forrest Gump memorabilia. After our dinner, we headed to the Axis Theatre in the Planet Hollywood hotel for the Britney show "Piece of Me". Outside the theatre in the lobby were loads of Britney's outfits, including the flight attendant outfit from "Toxic", but my favourite was the red catsuit from "Oops! I Did It Again". We got to our seats and waited for her to come on stage. The atmosphere was electric, you couldn't help but get caught up in it. We bopped the night away to all her big hits, and the show was spectacular, with pyrotechnics, glitter and great dancers. After the show we had a quick game of Blackjack in the Bellagio and lost the $100 dollars we made the night before.

The next morning, we were up early to catch our flight to Honolulu. The views of Vegas from the plane were amazing, just seeing the city by itself in the desert. After an eight our flight, we arrived at Honolulu airport.

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Photos

View from our Room
We could see the Paris and Hollywood Hotels, as well as the Bellagio Fountains

Our First Morning
What a view!

The Bellagio
We stopped for some lunch across the road at the Paris hotel, and had a great view of the fountains.

The Biggest Chocolate Fountain in the World
Because they can.